Protests continue in Armenian border village

Protests in Kirants, a border village in Armenia’s Tavush Province, continued overnight Monday.

Local residents keep blocking an interstate road passing through the village in protest against the deal to cede adjacent border areas to Azerbaijan.

Armenia has agreed to hand over four border villages in Tavush to Azerbaijan as the initial step in defining the frontier between the two countries.

A statement issued by the Armenian Foreign Ministry said that the agreement was reached at the eighth meeting between Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan and his Azerbaijani counterpart Shahin Mustafayev held at a border section on April 19.

People in Kirants are concerned about the safety of the village as some parts of the road in the area will also fall under Azerbaijani control.

Davit Ghahramanyan, a photographer from Artsakh, posted a photo from the protest site, writing, “The Voskepar-Kirants highway: Women stayed awake all night near the bonfire.”