Saturday, May 7 2022 13:27

ArmInfo.Armenia, officially and in practical terms, years ago assumed the role of guaranteeing the security of the Republic of Artsakh.  During the 2020 Artsakh war,  Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyans administration failed to provide such  security, losing the entire Artsakh district of Hadrut and parts of  the districts of Shushi, Askeran, Martuni and Martakert. The fortress  town of Shushi was also lost, Hetq.am writes.

Thus, according to the source, by the agreement of November 9  Pashinyan handed over Aghdam, Kelbajar and Lachin regions adjacent to  the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) to Azerbaijan.  Azerbaijani forces captured Fizuli and Jabrail in the war, as well as  most of Zangelan and Ghubatlu. Armenian forces withdrew in December  2020 (according to a verbal agreement), from the remaining small  areas that were liberated in the 1990s and became part of the Artsakh  Republic.

On May 12, 2021, Azerbaijani armed units, taking advantage of the  inaction of the militarily defeated Pashinyan administration,  captured a number of strategic hills in Armenia (Syunik and  Gegharkunik), and forced Armenian troops to withdraw from their  poorly equipped military positions.

In May 2021, Azerbaijani troops occupied a minimum of 32 square  kilometers (3,200 hectares) in the Vardenis region of Armenia's  Gegharkunik Province (in the border section from the  Norabak-Karvachar road to Big and Small Al lakes.)  

3,200 hectares is equal to 4,482 football fields.

Using a Google map (the aerial images taken by the European Airbus  and American Maxar Technologies satellites), Hetq has measured the  territory of Armenia occupied by Azerbaijan in the spring of 2021.

Google Maps and Google Earth regularly update their satellite  imagery. However, it is not the whole system that is updated, but  specific segments depending on the images received from the  satellites.

As it is known, Azerbaijani troops have also appeared in the vicinity  of the Kut settlement in Vardenis since the spring of 2021, but we  have measured the size of occupied Armenia sovereign territory south  and southeast of the neighboring village of Norabak. (This is why we  note at least 3,200 hectares). The last satellite image of the Kut  border area in Google Maps and Google Earth was taken on October 18,  2019, before the occupation, and south of Norabak, on October 23,  2021, after the occupation.

Thus, we base our findings on the positional situation as of October  23, 2021. We measured the size of the occupation by drawing a  straight line between the Azerbaijani vanguard positions. The 3,200  hectares is the area that is now behind these positions. However,  Azerbaijani troops monitor a much larger area from their positions on  the strategic heights.

As can be seen in the map, the area of the first occupied zone, from  the Norabak- Karvachar road to the neighboring positions of Nerkin  Shorzha, is 11.4 square kilometers (1,140 hectares). The area of the  second zone, 20.7 square kilometers (2,070 hectares), which includes  the section from Verin Shorzha-Tsar road to Mets Tsarasar (elevation  - 3441 meters, the mountain is outside the territory of Armenia  according to Google Maps.)

The Armenia-Azerbaijan border runs from the Sotk gold mine to the Big  and Small Al lakes along the Eastern Sevan Mountain range. One of its  highest peaks is Tsarasar, which is 3,426 m high. (Blue sign in  picture and map). This mountain, the dividing point of the  Armenian-Azerbaijani border, appeared 3.8 kilometers behind  Azerbaijani military lines in May 2021. Thus, Azerbaijani troops  advanced 3.8 km in a straight line in the Tsarasar section. The whole  Vardenis region can be observed from the top of the mountain,  including Lake Sevan, which is 29 km from the shore to Tsarasar. The  distance from the center of Vardenis is 22 km. This area vulnerable  to artillery.

On May 27, 2021, on the eve of snap parliamentary elections, Prime  Minister Pashinyan circulated his famous thesis of the mirror  withdrawal of troops in the Sotk (Gegharkunik) - Khoznavar (Syunik)  section. Responding to Azerbaijan's false claim that Azerbaijani  troops had advanced to clarify the border, Pashinyan offered to hand  over border monitoring to a third party.

"International observers are coming, either from Russia or OSCE Minsk  Group Co- Chair countries. They will come and take up positions to  ensure that troops on both sides: If this is the case, why do we, or  they, need soldiers on the top of that mountain covered in snow for  half of the year?" Pashinyan said at the time.

On May 27, 2021, shortly after Pashinyan's remarks, Armenian Foreign  Minister Ara Ayvazyan resigned.

At a farewell meeting with ministry staff in June, Ayvazyan said he  decided to leave to "ensure that there is never any suspicion that  this ministry could take measures or accept certain ideas,  initiatives, which go against our national and state interests".

Last month, Ayvazyan revealed that it was Pashinyan's border policy  that led him to leave office.

Former Armenian Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan, noting  Azerbaijani advances in the Parukh-Khramort section of Artsakh, also  criticized Pashinyan in this regard.

"The government's proposal to withdraw troops in parallel is  destructive for the security of Armenia and Artsakh. The objective  evidence is the recent illegal actions and invasions of Azerbaijan in  Artsakh (Parukh, Khramort, Karaglukh). This idea was deplorably  brought to the public domain, promoted and became part of an agenda  favorable to Azerbaijani interests."

Pashinyan's proposal never saw the light of day because Ilham Aliyev,  to put it mildly, paid no heed. Instead, Azerbaijani armed groups  continue to pose a threat to the population of the entire Vardenis  region, and especially to residents of the border villages of Kut,  Norabak, Nerkin Shorzha and Verin Shorzha.

Moreover, on January 11 of this year, Azerbaijani troops launched new  attacks in this area using firearms, artillery and unmanned aerial  vehicles. They targeted Armenian military positions, killing three  soldiers and wounding others, Hetq.am concludes.