Armenian families leave 12 houses in eastern Shurnukh

In the village of Shurnukh, people left 12 houses in the eastern part of the village, claimed by Azerbaijan. An owner of one of the above houses was allowed to stay, but he refused to live 100 metres from the border, the local Armenian authorities reported.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 24, 2020, Azerbaijani officials, according to the head of the Armenian village of Shurnukh, demarcated the border and demanded that a part of this village with 12 houses be transferred to Azerbaijan. On January 2, the headman of Shurnukh said that an Azerbaijani military post had been set up in the village, and residents of the eastern part of the village were ordered to move out by January 5.

Today, Akop Arshakyan, the head of the Shurnukh village, has said that he and other villagers left their 12 houses in the territory that turned out to be behind the recently installed Azerbaijani checkpoint. Residents of the above 12 houses moved to their relatives, said Menua Ovsepyan, the deputy head of the enlarged community of Goris. According to him, during the negotiations, the Armenian side managed to defend one of the houses, but its owner left it anyway, because he did not want to live in the immediate vicinity of the Azerbaijani checkpoint, the "Sputnik Armenia" reports.

Earlier, Melikset Pogosyan, Governor of the Syunik Region, has also reported that the Azerbaijani side refused to claim the twelfth house. "We managed to keep one out of 12 houses. The remaining 11 should be transferred to the enemy until January 5," Melikset Pogosyan said on January 3.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on January 4, 2021 at 05:56 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.