Armenia and Azerbaijan moved a step closer to normalizing relations on Tuesday with the installation of the first border marker as experts from both countries worked to demarcate the border after a bitter dispute over territory.
The two countries are working towards a peace treaty after Azerbaijan regained full control of Karabakh province, which had been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces since the 1990s. As a result of the six-week war in 2020, Azerbaijan recaptured most of the breakaway territory, and in September 2023, Azerbaijani forces launched a blitzkrieg offensive, forcing Armenian authorities in Karabakh to surrender in negotiations mediated by the Russian military. It was done.
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A few days ago, Armenia and Azerbaijan reached an agreement on a stretch of border through four Armenian villages in Tavush region, which means Armenia will cede some territory to Azerbaijan.
Armenian and Azerbaijani authorities announced on Tuesday that the first border markers had been installed. It was not immediately clear where exactly it was placed.
Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh sit after arriving in Armenias Goris, Syunik region, Armenia, Thursday, September 28, 2023. Armenia and Azerbaijan have moved a step closer to normalizing relations after a bitter dispute over territory. (Vasily Klestyaninov/AP Photo)
Protests have erupted in Armenia, with demonstrators blocking roads in the northeastern region where the planned border passes. They also set up barricades on two other major routes in the country, including one leading into neighboring Georgia. Photos published by Armenian and Russian media showed cars and trucks lined up on a rural road with demonstrators standing in groups around them.
Still, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said Baku and Yerevan were inching closer to a common understanding of what a peace deal would look like.
“We are closer (to a peace agreement), perhaps closer than ever before,” Aliyev said.
Last month, Armenia’s prime minister said the Caucasus country needed to urgently demarcate its border with Azerbaijan to avoid new hostilities. Many residents of Armenia’s border areas have resisted delimitation efforts, seeing this as an encroachment on what Azerbaijan considers its territory.
Earlier this month, Russia began withdrawing troops from Karabakh, where they had been stationed as peacekeepers under the Moscow-brokered ceasefire that ended the 2020 war.
The peacekeepers’ mission included ensuring free passage on the only road connecting Karabakh and Armenia. However, although Azerbaijan began blocking the road in late 2022, claiming that Armenians were using it to transport weapons and smuggle minerals, Russian forces did not intervene.
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Azerbaijan launched its offensive last year after months of severe food and medicine shortages in Karabakh due to the blockade.
After Azerbaijan regained full control of Karabakh, the majority of its roughly 120,000 population fled to Armenia, which welcomed them and promised that their human rights would be guaranteed.
