Azerbaijan registers no provocation on Georgian border - State Border Service

By Azernews

By Akbar Mammadov

No provocative incident has happened on the territory of Keshikchidag on the Azerbaijani-Georgian state border, the State Border Service (SBS) said on June 4.

The SBS noted that as a result of preventive measures implemented by the State Border Service of Azerbaijan in cooperation with the Georgian Border Guard, no provocative incident has been registered on the territory of Keshikchidag State Historical-Cultural Reserve on the Azerbaijani-Georgian state border.

“As reported, on June 4, Azerbaijani SBS received the information that a group of Georgian citizens had planned to commit provocative actions aimed at violating the state border at the “Keshikchidag” State Historical and Cultural Reserve on the Azerbaijani-Georgian border.

“We reiterate that the State Border Service of Azerbaijan has always stood guard over the state borders”, the SBS said.

Earlier on June 3, Azerbaijan’s State Border Service (SBS) officially informed the Georgian Border Guard about the possible violation of the state border between the two countries.

It should be noted that on July 14, 2019, Georgian citizens committed an act of provocation in the service area of the "Shamkir" border detachment of the Border Troops of the State Border Service at the Keshikchidag area on the Georgian-Azerbaijani border.

The border between Azerbaijan and Georgia was defined during the Soviet era. After gaining independence, a joint commission on the demarcation and delimitation of the 480 km Georgian-Azerbaijani border was established in 1996. However, one-third of the borderline (166km sections) between the two countries, including the area where part of the complex is located, remains unresolved.

On December 19, 2007, by the Presidential Order No. 2563, a historical and cultural reserve was declared in the area in order to further study, protect and promote the rich historical and ethnographic and cultural monuments in the cave complex.