Our
territorial losses were exacerbated when governments did not base their
decisions on the rights of the residents of the villages during border
disputes.
For
example, the Adji section of 1002 desyatinas located between the Armenian
villages of Barana (now, Noyemberyan in Tavush province), and the Azerbaijani
village of Ghaymakhli (Ghaymakhlu) was part of the First Republic of Armenia
(1918-1920) and then a part of Soviet Armenia up until 1924.
The
forests of this area were heavily wooded and the pastures were extremely
suitable for raising cattle, and hence they were vital for the villagers. They were
also significant from the point of view of security.
At
that time, the Azerbaijani authorities made great efforts to take possession of
this territory, realizing that in that case they would be able to separate the
northeastern territories of Armenia from each other and establish control over
the roads. For the rights of the inhabitants of the villages of the Armenian
SSR, this solution would have created serious problems not only in
socio-economic but also in security terms.
The
government of that time did not look at the issues from the point of view of
human rights, and demonstrated an indifference to this vital issues.
As
a result, with its decision of October 31, 1924 land dispute commission of the
Central Committee Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic the
northeastern part (612 desyatinas) of the Adji section was handed over to the
Azerbaijani SSR, while the southwestern part (390 desyatinas) was located to
the Armenian SSR. Meaning Armenia was deprived of a large part of that section.
This
proves once again, that the Azerbaijani authorities have always had ambitions
for the territories of Armenia which could give them the opportunity to divide
them, to pierce the territory of Armenia like a wedge, and to establish control
over roads and civil infrastructure. This was not accidental either, as they
did not stop and continued the same policy towards the new territories.
The
Armenian governments have always continued to ignore the issues of the rights
of the residents of the villages and their security, approaching with the
border issues only with territorial-political and mechanical methods.
Now
we need to learn from the past and put human rights at the basis of border
issues, and remember that the
PS:
Desyatina is an an archaic land measurement- 2400 square meters or 1.09
hectares.
Mr.
Arman Tatoyan
The
Human Rights Defender of Armenia
Հայերեն
