Saturday, January 9 2021 11:00

ArmInfo. Armenia's Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan is in Syunik region of the Republic of Armenia (RA) with his staff on a three-day working visit. Visits to  Goris, Shurnukh, Vorotan, Kapan, Meghri and other communities are  planned.

As the Human Rights Defender's official Facebook page informs, the  visits to Goris, Vorotan and Shurnukh confirm that the mechanical use  of the Global Positioning System (GPS) or Google Maps poses a serious  threat to the right to life and security of Armenia's border  residents, their physical and mental integrity and other vital rights  which are guaranteed internationally and by the Constitution of our  country.  The security of the RA state borders is endangered.

In particular, the mechanical application of this principle brought  under control of Azerbaijan, for example, various sections of the  road connecting Goris, Vorotan, Shurnukh and other communities, which  directly endangered the movement of civilians.

Today's meetings of the Human Rights Defender with the residents of  the border communities, and the discussions and studies with the  community confirm that the Azerbaijani military is carrying out  missions of provocations. Armed men regularly appear on the roads in  the immediate vicinity of peaceful neighborhoods and do so by  displaying weapons to intimidate civilians, primarily women and  children.

In addition, as a result of the mechanical use of the Global  Positioning System (GPS) or Google maps, for example, in Vorotan and  Shurnukh, people have simply been deprived of their own homes and the  opportunity to make a living. Residents of those communities were  deprived of the opportunity to use their privately owned and  community-owned vital agricultural land (for example, as a garden,  arable land or pasture).

Observations of the Human Rights Defender's Office confirm that due  to this principle, houses and lands belonging to Armenian citizens  have come under the control of Azerbaijan, for which certificates of  state registration, including property rights, have been issued to  either Soviet Armenia or independent Armenia by competent bodies of  different periods of the republic (Cadastre Committee, etc.).

Consequently, as a result of all this, people's rights have been  grossly violated, they have been deprived of their property and, an  uncertain situation has arisen, which in turn has created an  atmosphere of alarm and anxiety among civilians.

The life and health of the residents of the border areas of Armenia,  their physical security and mental immunity are directly threatened  because, for example, in the case of Shurnukh, the village was  divided into "Azerbaijani" and "Armenian" parts and was used as a  basis for division by that community, crossing the interstate road.  To be clear, the point is that on one side of the road, in the  "Armenian" part [including the places where children are used to  playing], there are civilians, and directly on the other side, there  are Azerbaijani armed forces.

Therefore, resolving the issue of Armenia's borders with the  applications of a private organization, Google or GPS [Global  Positioning System], which also endangers the inviolability of  Armenia's state borders and the country's security, is absolutely  unacceptable from the point of view of ensuring the rights of people  living in our country.

Moreover, during the visit of the Human Rights Defender's Office,  several versions of Google maps on the spot showed different results,  including in some cases representing the village of Shurnukh as part  of the territory of the Republic of Armenia.

During today's visit, important meetings were held with the Mayor of  Goris, the heads of Vorotan- Shurnukh rural settlements, other  community bodies, the residents of the communities, as well as the  staff of the RA NSS frontier troops. At the same time, the personnel  of the RA Armed Forces and the frontier troops of the National  Security Service carry out selfless heroic service, although in  addition to their duties, they often face an unfair, and a  customarily unrelated additional workload.  In the coming days,  visits to other settlements of Syunik region are planned, during  which the necessary professional studies and observations will be  carried out.