Azerbaijan takes control of four villages on border with Armenia as part of deal
Azerbaijan takes control of four villages on border with Armenia as part of deal/node/2516576/world
Azerbaijan takes control of four villages on border with Armenia as part of deal
An Armenian flag flies on a roadside outside the village of Voskepar (Azerbaijani name is Ashaghi Askipara) in northeastern Armenia on March 27, 2024. Armenia on May 24, 2024 returned to Azerbaijan four border villages it had seized decades ago, a new step towards normalizing ties between the historic rivals. (AFP)
Azerbaijan takes control of four villages on border with Armenia as part of deal
Armenia had said in April it would return the uninhabited villages to Azerbaijan, which both sides said was a milestone on the road toward a peace deal
Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan's decision to hand over the four villages has triggered protests at home, with demonstrators calling for him to step down
Updated 25 May 2024
Reuters
MOSCOW: Azerbaijan’s border service has taken control of four villages in the Gazakh district on the border with Armenia under an agreement struck with Yerevan, Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev said on Friday.
The size of the territory returned to Azerbaijan under a border delimitation agreement on Friday was 6.5 square kilometers (2.5 square miles), Mustafayev said.
Armenia had said in April it would return the uninhabited villages to Azerbaijan, which both sides said was a milestone on the road toward a peace deal between Yerevan and Baku who have clashed for more than three decades.
The decision by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to hand over the four villages has triggered protests at home, with demonstrators calling for him to step down over what they cast as a betrayal.
Pashinyan, in an address to the nation late on Friday, described at length how Armenians had long sought a homeland within a specific geographic area and how demarcating national borders was part of that process.
He said the aim of all Armenians was to act “so that a sovereign and democratic Armenia with demarcated borders becomes a national ideology and concept.”
Azerbaijan’s retaking by force of the entirety of its Nagorno-Karabakh region in September last year, a move which sparked an exodus of ethnic Armenians living there, dealt a painful blow to Yerevan.
But it has also paved the way for an elusive deal by removing a long-running source of disagreement from the table.
Azerbaijan and Armenia still have other unresolved territorial disputes though, mostly focused on enclaves which the two sides want the other party to relinquish control of or provide access to.
‘Today’ show’s Savannah Guthrie pleads for safe return of missing mother
TV news host asks presumed captors to ‘reach out’ to family
‘We need to know … that she is alive,’ Guthrie says
Updated 6 sec ago
Reuters
TUCSON, Arizona: Popular US morning news anchor Savannah Guthrie posted a video message on Wednesday addressing anyone who might be holding her missing elderly mother, presumed abducted from her Arizona home this week, pleading for them to open a line of communication. “We need to know without a doubt that she is alive and that you have her. We want to hear from you and we are ready to listen. Please, reach out to us,” the co-host of NBC’s “Today” show said in the video message posted to Instagram. The emotional appeal came three days after Nancy Guthrie, 84, was reported missing from her home at the edge of Tucson by family members in what investigators said they believe was an abduction. It coincided with a two-hour flurry of intense police activity at Nancy Guthrie’s home, where yellow crime-scene tape was strung up around the property for the first time this week and investigators were seen coming and going from the house. FBI agents are assisting in the investigation. Savannah Guthrie, 54, who appeared with her brother and sister in the video, said the family had heard media reports of a ransom note but was taking into account the fact that electronic images can be easily manipulated or faked. The elder Guthrie was last seen on January 31 when she was dropped off at her home by relatives after having dinner with them, and she was reported missing the following day. ‘Her health is fragile’ Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has said the elder Guthrie had limited mobility and could not have left her home unassisted, and that her disappearance was being treated by investigators as a kidnapping. Among other concerns for Nancy Guthrie’s well-being was that her health was dependent on daily medication. “Her health, her heart is fragile. She lives in constant pain. She is without any medicine. She needs it to survive. She needs it not to suffer,” Savannah Guthrie said during the four-minute video. The TV journalist, who has been co-anchor of “Today” since 2012, began Wednesday’s Instagram message thanking supporters for the outpouring of prayers. “We feel them, and we continue to believe that she feels them too. Our mom is a kind, faithful, loyal, fiercely loving woman of goodness and light. She’s funny, spunky and clever. She has grandchildren that adore her and crowd around her and cover her with kisses. She loves fun and adventure. She is a devoted friend. She is full of kindness and knowledge. Talk to her and you’ll see,” she said. In an update on the case issued earlier in the day, the sheriff said investigators had yet to identify any suspect or person of interest in connection with the presumed abduction. A press conference is scheduled for Thursday. Nanos said investigators were aware of reports that some media outlets had received what appeared to be ransom notes, but he did not say whether those were being taken seriously. US President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post that he had spoken with Savannah Guthrie to let her know that all federal law enforcement would be at the “complete disposal” of the family and local investigators. “We are deploying all resources to get her mother home safely,” Trump wrote, adding, “GOD BLESS AND PROTECT NANCY!”
