Azerbaijani army units advanced on March 30 into what Yerevan regards as sovereign Armenian territory adjacent to the Lachin corridor connecting Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh. According to the National Security Service (NSS), they crossed a section of the border just outside the Armenian village of Tegh. The community lost a large part of its agricultural land and pastures.
The NSS claimed on April 1 that the situation in that border area “improved significantly” after negotiations held by Armenian and Azerbaijani officials. Tegh residents countered, however, that the Azerbaijani troops did not retreat from any of their newly occupied positions.
Andranik Kocharian, the pro-government chairman of the Armenian parliament committee on defense and security, essentially acknowledged that.
“There have been no major positional changes so far,” Kocharian told reporters. He expressed hope that as a result of ongoing negotiations the Azerbaijani troops will withdraw from Tegh’s community lands occupied by them.
Echoing statements by opposition leaders, Kocharian said that the Armenian army or border guards should have taken up positions along the Armenian side of the Tegh border section ahead of the Azerbaijani advance. There must be an internal inquiry into their failure to do that, he said.
“Why did it not happen? We must find answers to this question because … it was avoidable,” Kocharian went on.
“I presume that we failed. If we did, those who failed continue to run some structures in the lower or middle echelons, local governments,” he said.
The Armenian opposition has blamed Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian for the latest loss of Armenian territory, saying that he failed to issue necessary orders to the military and other security forces.
Pashinian said on Thursday that Armenia should continue to exercise caution and avoid another escalation even after the fresh Azerbaijani gains. He reaffirmed his commitment to his “peace agenda.”
According to the mayor of Khnatsakh, an Armenian border village about 10 kilometers northwest of Tegh, later on Thursday, Azerbaijani forces opened fire at Khnatsakh residents cultivating their land.
The official, Seyran Mirzoyan, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that none of the villagers was wounded by the cross-border fire witnessed by him. But they had to stop their work, he said.
The Armenian Defense Ministry did not report any shooting incidents from that area.