Azerbaijan has notified Armenia about the installation of a customs point on the section of the Goris-Kapan highway and the Armenian side will establish its own checkpoint there, Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan said. The Kapan-Tatev alternative road is prepared for the passage of all types of transport, the Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure of Armenia said.
On September 11, an Azerbaijani police post established on the border section of the road between Goris and Kapan. According to the Ombudsman of Armenia Arman Tatoyan, Azerbaijanis stop trucks with Iranian numbers and demand payment. Two Iranian truckers transporting cement were detained by Azerbaijani police in September on charges of illegal border crossing. However, on October 21, the drivers were released after Iran banned their drivers from passing through the territory of Armenia to the unrecognised Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.
The Azerbaijani side informed Armenia that from 00:00 local time on November 11, a checkpoint will open on the 21-kilometer section of the Goris-Kapan Road, where customs and border procedures will be carried out, Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan said on November 10.
The same actions, according to Grigoryan, will be carried out by the Armenian side, which will also establish its own checkpoint. The Armenian side has already carried out preparatory work in this direction, he added.
The Kapan-Tatev alternative road is already ready for all types of vehicles, said Armen Grigoryan.
The information on the readiness of the alternative road was also confirmed by the Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures of Armenia Gnel Sanosyan. According to him, the road was put into operation on November 10. Work is currently underway to asphalt the intercommunal roads of the villages located on this section of the road - Shurnukh, Vorotan, Chakaten, he said.
As a result of a secret agreement between the Armenian authorities and the Azerbaijani authorities, the latter established control over the Goris-Kapan Road. Azerbaijan acts with the tacit consent of the authorities, said a deputy of the "Armenia" faction Gegham Manukyan.
He called the authorities' policy of treachery, which, according to him, led to the fact that the south of Armenia - Syunik - was cut off. "Pashinyan concludes secret agreements to the detriment of national and state interests. During the parliamentary hour, he admitted that he was the one who ordered the withdrawal of troops, which allowed Azerbaijan to establish control over the Goris-Kapan Road,” Manukyan told.
A deputy of the "Armenia" faction Anna Grigoryan stated that residents of three villages - Vorotan, Shurnukh and Bartsravan - will find themselves in a difficult situation, since the alternative roads to the villages are in poor condition. "A year after the conclusion of a secret agreement, the authorities did not deserve to lay asphalt, repair roads. This is not a political issue, it is a question of sovereignty, as well as state and national security. Azerbaijan unreasonably, with the connivance of the authorities, seised Armenian territory, and hinders the movement of Armenian citizens," Grigoryan stated during the action.
During the protest action in Yerevan, the security forces detained 16 activists, the Armenian Police said.
