EU mission brings hope for peaceful days in Armenian border towns facing near-constant fear of Azeri gunfire

Politics

YEREVAN, MARCH 16, ARTSAKHPRESS. Residents in Armenian towns bordering Azerbaijan say they’ve begun hearing less sounds of gunfire with the launch of the European Union Mission in Armenia (EUMA).

The arrival of the EU monitoring mission has given a hope for peace for many people in the Armenian border towns living in constant fear of an Azeri cross-border shelling or attack.

So what exactly does the EU mission do?

Aside from carrying out monitoring along the entire Armenian border with Azerbaijan, the EU mission is also patrolling the border areas, villages, to talk to the local residents and obtain information on when and how many gunshots they’ve heard. The mission’s weekly reports are sent to Brussels.

EU mission brings hope for peaceful days in Armenian border towns facing near-constant 
fear of Azeri gunfire

ARMENPRESS visited the Forwarding Operating Base of the mission in Yeghegnadzor to get insights into the daily activities of the observers. ARMENPRESS had an exclusive chance to travel alongside the observers from the mission’s field office in Martuni to Sotk on their routine patrol.

Martuni Deputy Mission Leader Christos Hadjitheodoulou, from Cyprus, points to the distance from the entrance to Sotk village to the border with Azerbaijan – 8 kilometers – by the internationally recognized borders- however the Azerbaijani military have pushed further into territory of Armenia 3 or sometimes 4 kilometers deep.

EU mission brings hope for peaceful days in Armenian border towns facing near-constant 
fear of Azeri gunfire

The team is receiving notifications from villagers about gunshots especially at nights. The Azerbaijani military continues to open fire in the direction of the villages that are very close to the border.

“But even here in Sotk, people have told us several times that the shootings happen especially at nights. The people tell us that they are a bit scared, but now, after our arrival they feel much safer. They are saying that the Azerbaijani shootings are gradually decreasing. We receive information on shootings, and sometimes we hear the shootings ourselves. And of course we prepare reports every day and send it to Brussels through our headquarters in Yeghegnadzor,” Hadjitheodoulou told ARMENPRESS.

“We noticed it’s become a bit peaceful. There was a lot of shooting before. The people are scared. But now there is a bit hope, you can feel that it has changed a bit, their [EU observers] arrival is helpful,” Kim Karapetyan, a resident of Sotk, told ARMENPRESS.

EU mission brings hope for peaceful days in Armenian border towns facing near-constant 
fear of Azeri gunfire

“The main task of the EU mission in Armenia is to patrol the international border with Azerbaijan and the confrontation line and make reports about it. We send patrols every day to wave the flag and ease tensions. The second task is what we call a humanitarian security patrol. We regularly visit villages that have been affected by the conflict, to give a sense of security to the people, so that the people living there see that the international community cares. And our third task, which is more of a mid-term task, is to take some measures in the direction of strengthening trust with the Azerbaijani side. But at this moment this is very difficult. Thus, we must find ways to stop this. But at this moment our main task is to carry out patrol,” the head of the European Union Mission in Armenia (EUMA) Markus Ritter said.

EU mission brings hope for peaceful days in Armenian border towns facing near-constant 
fear of Azeri gunfire

A week prior to each near-border patrol, the mission notifies the Azerbaijani side in order to avoid any “confrontation or misunderstanding,” Ritter explains.

EU mission brings hope for peaceful days in Armenian border towns facing near-constant 
fear of Azeri gunfire

45 of the over 100-member mission will be observers, while the rest will be administrative staff.

EU mission brings hope for peaceful days in Armenian border towns facing near-constant 
fear of Azeri gunfire EU mission brings hope for peaceful days in Armenian border towns facing near-constant 
fear of Azeri gunfire EU mission brings hope for peaceful days in Armenian border towns facing near-constant 
fear of Azeri gunfire EU mission brings hope for peaceful days in Armenian border towns facing near-constant 
fear of Azeri gunfire EU mission brings hope for peaceful days in Armenian border towns facing near-constant 
fear of Azeri gunfire EU mission brings hope for peaceful days in Armenian border towns facing near-constant 
fear of Azeri gunfire EU mission brings hope for peaceful days in Armenian border towns facing near-constant 
fear of Azeri gunfire EU mission brings hope for peaceful days in Armenian border towns facing near-constant 
fear of Azeri gunfire EU mission brings hope for peaceful days in Armenian border towns facing near-constant 
fear of Azeri gunfire EU mission brings hope for peaceful days in Armenian border towns facing near-constant 
fear of Azeri gunfire EU mission brings hope for peaceful days in Armenian border towns facing near-constant 
fear of Azeri gunfire EU mission brings hope for peaceful days in Armenian border towns facing near-constant 
fear of Azeri gunfire EU mission brings hope for peaceful days in Armenian border towns facing near-constant 
fear of Azeri gunfire EU mission brings hope for peaceful days in Armenian border towns facing near-constant 
fear of Azeri gunfire EU mission brings hope for peaceful days in Armenian border towns facing near-constant 
fear of Azeri gunfire EU mission brings hope for peaceful days in Armenian border towns facing near-constant 
fear of Azeri gunfire EU mission brings hope for peaceful days in Armenian border towns facing near-constant 
fear of Azeri gunfire EU mission brings hope for peaceful days in Armenian border towns facing near-constant 
fear of Azeri gunfire EU mission brings hope for peaceful days in Armenian border towns facing near-constant 
fear of Azeri gunfire EU mission brings hope for peaceful days in Armenian border towns facing near-constant 
fear of Azeri gunfire Photos by Hayk Manukyan

Anna Grigoryan

Photos by Hayk Manukyan


ARTSAKHPRESS
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