Ministry of Justice: Cadastre certificates cannot be legal basis for  recognizing territories as part of RA sovereign territory 

ArmInfo.Cadastral certificates for real estate to residents of the Tavush village of Kirants on the  border with Azerbaijan were previously issued by mistake, and therefore cannot serve as a legal basis for the claim that these territories are considered part of the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia. The Ministry of Justice of Armenia made a similar denial statement.

This is how the department responded to a recent interview with  constitutional law expert Vardan Poghosyan. In it, the expert noted  that the Cadastre Committee provided residents of the village of  Kirants with certificates of registration of property rights,  therefore, these territories are the territory of the Republic of  Armenia.

"Notably,  the state registration of the relevant rights was carried  out on the basis of unreliable data. These registrations cannot serve  as a legal basis for the assertion that these territories are  considered part of the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia  due to the fact of state registration based on inaccuracies," the  Ministry of Justice said in its response.

Regarding criticism that the state border can be delimited only after  reaching an agreement along the entire border on the basis of an  international treaty, the Ministry of Justice stated that the ongoing  process is a reproduction of the state border, and not the process of  drawing a new border.

"Currently, guided by documents approved by the decisions of the  Presidiums of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and the  Council of Ministers of the USSR from 1969 and maps drawn up on their  basis, the border between countries mutually agreed upon during the  years of the USSR is reproduced on the basis of the principles  mutually agreed upon by the Alma-Ata Declaration.

Notably,  following the meeting of the commissions of the two  countries on April 19, 2024, it was indicated that the delimitation  in the area of 4 villages is preliminary, until the delimitation  process is fully completed. And the document confirming the complete  completion of the delimitation process should be an international  agreement on the state border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which  will be subject to ratification by the National Assembly of the  Republic of Armenia.

Therefore, the procedure being carried out is completely legal. As  part of the current process, both commissions will also soon agree on  a draft regulation for the joint activities of the commissions and  will submit it for approval to the parliaments," the ministry noted.

According to the protocol-description of the commission on  delimitation and demarcation of borders, Azerbaijan will have to  receive two houses, a bridge, a section of the interstate road to  Georgia and about 50 land plots in the area of the village of  Kirants, Tavush region of the Republic of Armenia.   Earlier, MP Taguhi Tovmasyan, in a conversation with journalists,  stated that in order to maintain its power, the regime put the  territorial integrity of Armenia up for auction and was handing over  lands, considering them Azerbaijani. "These people have certificates  issued by the Cadastre Committee of Armenia. If the Cadastre  Committee issued documents stating that this is the property of  Armenia, how can you say that this is not Armenia?", Tovmasyan  expressed bewilderment.