Land ownership certificates issued to some Tavush residents ‘do not prove’ portions of land handed over to Azerbaijan are de jure Armenia – Ministry of Justice

YEREVAN, 20 May. /ARKA/. The Armenian Ministry of Justice responded to a news.am inquiry commenting on an earlier statement by Vardan Poghosyan, a ‘Constitution expert’ who claimed Armenia handed over its sovereign territory to Azerbaijan, on Monday.

In its opinion piece for Radio Azatutyun, Poghosyan said that the Armenian land registry had been previously issuing certificates of land ownership to some residents of Kirants, a border-straddling village in Armenia’s Tavush province, confirming their ownership of land that was recently handed over to Azerbaijan, which allegedly proves this territory is de jure Armenian.

“It stands to mention that the state registration of ownership was based on inaccurate data. Such certificates of ownership do not legally prove that these lands are part of the sovereign Armenian territory,” the Ministry said in a statement.

Representatives of Yerevan and Baku signed a border delimitation protocol on 15 May that recreated the old border between Soviet Armenia and Soviet Azerbaijan, based on a 1976 map. The border will separate the Armenian settlements of Baghanis, Voskepar, Kirants and Berkaber in the Tavush province from the abandoned Azerbaijani villages named Bağanis Ayrum, Aşağı Əskipara, Xeyrimli, and Qızılhacılı.

Armenia and Azerbaijan also agreed that they would further refer to the 1991 Alma-Ata Protocol when delimiting other portions of the state border.

Armenia’s Security Council Secretary Armen Grigoryan stated on 17 May that not an inch of Armenian land was ceded to Azerbaijan during the border delimitation process.