Disinformation is spreading in the press that as if the police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are carrying out "special operations" in Tavush Province. The information does not correspond to reality. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Armenia (RA) noted this in a statement it issued Thursday.
The statement adds as follows: "The Ministry of Defense is carrying out demining work on the Armenia-Azerbaijan state border. Within the framework of the implementation of the noted work, in order to ensure the safety of the citizens, the police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is implementing an enhanced service in the demining zones to prevent civilians from entering the demining zones.
It should also be noted that 30 people were taken to the police for committing an offense under Article 182 of the RA Code on Administrative Offenses during enhanced service, and they were released after drawing up a report on the administrative offense.”
Early Thursday morning, large police forces arrived in Kirants village of Tavush Province, from where, they detained, using brute force, the residents, including minors, who blocked the road,. Eyewitnesses say that the police brought people into custody by beating them.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs issued a statement noting that the Ministry of Defense is carrying out demining work in the Kirants-Kheyrimli sector of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, for which the roads have been closed. Reporters also are not allowed to enter Kirants.
According to Kirants village head Kamo Shahinyan, the people were taking turns to prevent the demining work.
As reported earlier, on April 19, the Armenian and Azerbaijani border delimitation commissions agreed to start border delimitation from Tavush Province of Armenia. The description of the given sections of the border line will be drawn up taking into account the clarification of the coordinates made as a result of geodetic measurements on the site, and this will be worded in a corresponding protocol-description, which must be agreed upon and signed by the two parties before May 15.
The office of the Prime Minister of Armenia had announced that as a result of all this, Azerbaijan will receive 2.5 villages, and Armenia will get a reduction of security risks related to border delimitation. A few hundred meters of the motorway will be changed in the Kirants village section, whereas Voskepar village will not have a motorway problem. After the border delimitation, the armed forces of Armenia and Azerbaijan will withdraw in the area of the four villages, and they will be replaced by the border guards of the two countries.
Residents of Tavush’s border villages have been protesting on the Armenia-Georgia interstate motorway since April 19. They are against the aforesaid version of border delimitation agreed between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
