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Due to the new approaches to the determination of state borders between Armenia and Azerbaijan, residents of Syunik and Gegharkunik Provinces of Armenia have been deprived of access to their lands, including pastures, Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) Arman Tatoyan told a news conference on Tuesday. 

"The property rights of our citizens have been violated. They have not only lost the opportunity to make a living and are facing serious problems, but also the opportunity to do business after large investments have been made in those places," he said.

In Tatoyan’s words, the enlarged Tegh community was deprived of the opportunity to use more than 2,000 hectares of private lands. Residents of the village of Vorotan lost access to more than 326 hectares of private and community lands. In the village of Agarak, people were deprived of access to more than 60 hectares of private and community lands, Yeghvard residents – to 110 hectares of arable lands and 50 hectares of pasture, with similar problems reported in other border settlements.

After losing their pastures, villagers sold their livestock in many cases, the ombudsman said. He noted that there are cases when a large number of horses crossed to Karvachar controlled by Azerbaijan, but the owners of the animals cannot bring them back. The defender noted that such problems may get worse in the spring.

"We have two main problems related to property. At this point, there are lands and private houses left in the territory considered to be Azerbaijani, the ownership certificates of which were issued to people either by the authorities of Soviet Armenia or independent Armenia at different times. According to the Cadastre Committee certificate, those lands belong to Armenia. For instance, there are ownership certificates for 11 houses that have fallen under Azerbaijan’s control,” he said.