Tuesday, January 26 2021 12:23

ArmInfo. Armenian Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan touched upon demarcation issues and related facts from history in connection with this issue.

On his Facebook page, Tatoyan, in particular, wrote that in 1923, on  the initiative of Stalin, presented in 1921, there was the province  of "Red Kurdistan" was artificially created to divide Armenia and  Artsakh.  This division was made to cover with borders from Karvachar  to the Iranian border and from Mrav to Araks. Moreover, at that time  the territories that were partly part of the borders of Soviet  Armenia were annexed to Azerbaijan (this issue requires a separate  consideration). Archival documents related to the definition of the  boundaries of that period are currently fundamental for the  protection of the rights of residents of the border regions of  Armenia. For example, in 1923, the Central Executive Committee of  Transcaucasia formed a commission in October to resolve border  disputes between Red Kurdistan and the Zangezur region of the  Armenian SSR. At that time, work on the demarcation of the border  with Azerbaijan continued with particular difficulties. In  particular, various gangs attacked and plundered the Armenian border  villages of Syunik from the territory of Kurdistan, there were  constant clashes, theft of livestock from Armenian villagers. These  violations of the border are evidenced by the archives of the Central  Executive Committee of the Armenian SSR for March 1924, which were  compiled on the basis of statements by the Zangezur Provincial  Executive Committee. At that time, there were serious disputes over  the delimitation of arable land, pastures, forests and even mountain  peaks.

In 1926, a local commission was formed, which included Axel Bakunts,  an excavator by profession and paying special attention to these  issues. It is clear from his reports that the residents of the  villages of Armenia suffered the most, and their rights were not  taken into account. A. Bakunts in 1926 noted that when determining  the boundaries of Zangezur, one should take into account the ties  between villages, possible difficulties of people and economic ties,  for example, the connection with Kapan. At that time, about 50% of  the villagers worked in the Kapan copper mines. For example, on the  issue of the borders between Meghri and Zangelan, the importance of  winter pastures in the west was noted back in 1925.  These pastures  played a special role for the Armenian villagers of Syunik, who at  that time had virtually no meadows.

Moreover, it was especially noted that without these pastures, the  livestock farming of the surrounding villages would be paralyzed (the  same situation is now). These historical facts show that at present  the issue of demarcation is of fundamental importance for the rights  of the border residents of Teg, Goris, Kapan, and other communities  of the Syunik region, both in terms of their right to life and  security, and in terms of socio-economic rights.   They can be used  not only by villagers to maintain their daily lives, but also in  terms of economic rights.

Archival documents convincingly prove that the more vague border  issues that are resolved with the help of today's unacceptable  mechanical approaches, the more the rights of villagers will be  violated, disputes and conflicts will arise. It should be borne in  mind that now in the peaceful settlements of Armenia, in the  immediate vicinity of the place of residence of civilians, there are  Azerbaijani soldiers and armed people.  "We must take into account  all the mistakes made in the past, learn the necessary lessons from  them and prevent violations of the rights of the people of Armenia,"  the Ombudsman said in a statement.