copenlu/druid huggingface dataset:
Claim: Melilla is a territory of Morocco (Melilla, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-06-22): "Both Spain and Morocco have exonerated their security forces following flawed or insufficient investigations into the violence at the Melilla enclave border," said Alice Autin, Europe and Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. "And what happened to dozens of the people who attempted to cross on that day is still unknown.". [...] The Moroccan government says 23 people died on June 24, 2022, when between 1,300 and 2,000 men, most of them from Sudan, South Sudan, and Chad, attempted to scale the 6- to 10-meter chain-link fences around Melilla, one of two Spanish enclaves in North Africa. UN experts estimate that at least 37 people died, and the nongovernmental Moroccan Association for Human Rights in Nador (Association Marocaine des Droits Humains, AMDH Nador) says 77 people are still missing. [...] Spain and Morocco should agree to an independent, impartial, and comprehensive investigation of the June 2022 event at the Melilla border to bring those responsible for serious human rights violations to justice and to ensure that violations are not repeated, Human Rights Watch said. The violations include the use of excessive force, collective expulsions, and pushbacks. The authorities on both sides of the border should cooperate to help the families find missing relatives and provide them with timely information about the investigation.
Claim: Melilla is a territory of Morocco (Melilla, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-06-23): Melilla, one of the two Spanish enclaves in Morocco, shares a physical land border of 11.2 km with Morocco and is separated from the Northern province of Nador by three fences. These fences, and particularly the four official border crossing points along it, have been the sites of deaths and injuries of many people trying to leave Morocco and enter Europe. Melilla is a fortified zone, with fences, concrete walls, ditches and barbed wire fences, all designed to prevent people from accessing Spanish territory. Amnesty International has long documented how the militarization and securitisation of these border management systems, as well as the use of weapons to stop people from crossing the Ceuta and Melilla borders, makes it difficult for people to access safe routes for asylum. [...] On the morning of that fateful day, between 1500 and 2000 refugees and migrants, mostly Sudanese, attempted to cross the border between Morocco and Melilla.
Claim: Melilla is a territory of Morocco (Melilla, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2022-06-25): The Spanish prime minister on Saturday described a deadly migrant rush on the enclave of Melilla from Morocco as an attack on Spain's "territorial integrity", as human rights activists demanded an investigation. [...] Melilla and Ceuta, Spain's other North African enclave, have the European Union's only land borders on the African continent, making them a magnet for migrants. [...] In the days just before Morocco and Spain patched up their ties, there were several attempted mass crossings of migrants into Melilla, including one involving 2,500 people, the largest such attempt on record. Nearly 500 made it across.
Claim: Melilla is a territory of Morocco (Melilla, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-06-23): Families of the dead and missing are trapped in limbo as their attempts to find out what happened to their loved ones and efforts to ensure justice, truth and reparation are being impeded in an apparent cover up by Spanish and Moroccan authorities, said Amnesty International on the eve of the first anniversary of the deadly events that took place on the border of Spain’s Melilla enclave. [...] "One year on from the carnage at Melilla, Spanish and Moroccan authorities not only continue to deny any responsibility but are preventing attempts to find the truth. Bodies are still lying in a morgue and in graves and efforts to identify the dead and inform their relatives have been blocked," said Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Agnès Callamard. [...] "What happened in Melilla is a salutary reminder that racist migration policies aimed at fortifying borders and restricting safe and legal routes for people seeking safety in Europe have real and deadly consequences. It is hard to escape the racialized element of what happened in Melilla and the dehumanising way in which Black people are treated at Europe’s borders, when they are living, missing or dead," said Agnès Callamard.
Claim: Melilla is a territory of Morocco (Melilla, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2017-12-01): Melilla sits on the north coast of Africa, surrounded by the waters and territory of Morocco. For the ceaseless tide of African and Asian migrants working their way northwards, it has a compulsive attraction: by accident of military conquest more than 500 years ago, this city which is geographically African is legally part of Spain. As the migrants reach the Mediterranean, where so many of their predecessors have died, Melilla offers them a safe bridge into Europe – if they can smuggle themselves across its barricaded perimeter. [...] Gregorio Escobar, governor of Melilla, sits in his well-appointed office in his neat grey suit. "We have a responsibility to take care of this border," he says, "not only for our own citizens but for all of Europe. Also, Spain has a responsibility to take care of the people who happen to get inside." He is no monster, and explains that he understands the pull of the city when the average per capita income inside Melilla is 15 times higher than it is on the other side of the fence in Morocco, and almost immeasurably higher than in sub-Saharan Africa, from where most of the migrants come.
Claim: Melilla is a territory of Morocco (Melilla, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-05-01): Fought over for millennia, Ceuta is officially classed as an autonomous Spanish city. It’s also part of the European Union and is one of two Spanish exclaves on North Africa’s Mediterranean coastline. The other is Melilla, a city also of some 85,000 people, around 250 miles east of Ceuta, that also borders Morocco. [...] While Morocco gained independence in 1956, Spain held onto Ceuta and Melilla. It’s a dispute that still runs deep, and in 2023, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez complained to Moroccan authorities when Moroccan maps included both Ceuta and Melilla within the country’s borders. The year before, Spanish media reported Sanchez as stating that "Ceuta and Melilla are Spain, full stop" after Morocco had complained to the United Nations that "Melilla is a prison occupied by Spain."
Claim: Yukhari Askipara is a territory of Armenia (Yukhari Askipara, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2022-01-14): Yukhari Askipara (Azerbaijani: Yuxarı Əskipara, lit. 'Upper Askipara'; Armenian: Վերին Ոսկեպար, romanized: Verin Voskepar, lit. 'Upper Voskepar') is a destroyed village in an exclave of the Qazakh District of Azerbaijan, currently under the control of Armenia and surrounded by the Tavush Province of Armenia. The exclave has been under control by Armenian forces since the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, which also included fighting in Qazakh. Today, the village is destroyed, with only the foundations and some lower portions of the houses remaining.[1] [...] - ^ a b "Əskipara: illərin məsafəsində". MEYDAN.TV (in Azerbaijani). 2014-04-18. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
Claim: Yukhari Askipara is a territory of Armenia (Yukhari Askipara, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2018-07-30): Both Armenia and Azerbaijan had exclaves in the other’s territory during Soviet times. Artsvashen was an Armenian exclave, a 40 km2 territory (an area about half the size of Manhattan) completely inside the Azerbaijan SSR. It was a mostly agricultural area with 719 families. During the war, the villagers were forced to leave while their houses were leveled to the ground by the Azerbaijanis. Today there are several military posts within the abandoned village. On Armenia’s territory, there were three exclaves, two in the Tavush region – Verin Voskepar (previously known as Yukhari Askipara) and Barkhudarli – and one in the Ararat region: Tigranashen (previously known as Karki). The Azerbaijani populations of these areas all left the region during the war.
Claim: Yukhari Askipara is a territory of Armenia (Yukhari Askipara, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-01-01): Georgia - President Salome Zurabishvili called for reconciliation and expressed her support for the maintenance of regional peace and security. Mikhail Saakashvili, third president of Georgia, gave his opinion on his Facebook page, "My position is based on the principle of territorial integrity, ie. Nagorno-Karabakh is the sovereign territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan and nothing will change that." Georgia forbade the transport of military cargo to Armenia across its territory and airspace during the 44-day war. [...] Israel - Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the Yisrael Beiteinu party and former foreign and defence minister, reiterated in a statement to the local newspaper "Vesti" that Nagorno-Karabakh was Azerbaijani territory. "That is why no UN member state, including Armenia, has recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as a sovereign body. In terms of historical reality and international law, as well as the interests of the state of Israel, our position is absolutely unequivocal. We support Azerbaijan's territorial integrity. We think that it is impossible to resolve the issue in the region without restoring that territorial integrity. In terms of history and international and national interests, Azerbaijan's territorial integrity is Israel’s official position," he said.
Claim: Yukhari Askipara is a territory of Armenia (Yukhari Askipara, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-03-20): Voskepar (Armenian: Ոսկեպար) is a village in the Noyemberyan Municipality of the Tavush Province of Armenia, located close to the Armenia–Azerbaijan border. [...] History [edit]Voskepar was founded in the 6th century.[1] The village contains the 7th-century Armenian Holy Mother of God Church.[3] [...] Geography [edit]The town lies in a valley to the south of the Voskepar Ridge, which reaches heights of 1,538 metres (5,046 ft).[8] The average temperature is 30 °C (86 °F) in summer and −2 °C (28 °F) in winter.[1] The abandoned villages of Yukhari Askipara (Upper Askipara, Verin Voskepar in Armenian) and Ashagi Askipara (Lower Askipara, Nerkin Voskepar in Armenian) are located near the village. The village is located 163 kilometres (101 mi) north of Yerevan.
Claim: Yukhari Askipara is a territory of Armenia (Yukhari Askipara, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2022-03-24): Azerbaijani enclaves in Armenia are located in the Tavush and Ararat regions. These are the villages of Baghanis-Ayrum, Nerkin Voskepar (Ashagi Askipara) and Verin Voskepar (Yukhari Askipara), Barkhudarly, Sofulu, and Tigranashen (Kyarki).
Claim: Yukhari Askipara is a territory of Armenia (Yukhari Askipara, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-07-16): Four of the eight Azerbaijani villages—i.e., Baghanis Ayrim, Kheyrimli, Gizilhajili, and Ashagi Askipara—are border villages, belonging to the Gazakh district. Four other villages are exclaves within Armenia. These include Karki in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic and three villages of the Gazakh district located in two exclaves: the Sofulu exclave, consisting of two villages—i.e., Sofulu and Barkhudarli—and the Yukhari Askipara exclave.1(see Maps 1 and 2, below.) [...] Baghanis Ayrim was the second territory of Azerbaijan to be captured by the Armenian militia on 24 March 1990, and the logic was similar. The border village was on the way to another strategic road in Armenia, namely the M16/H26 highway from Yerevan to Tbilisi. During March-June 1992, with the outbreak of full-scale hostilities, Armenia occupied the border villages of Kheyrimli, Gizilhajili, and Ashagi Askipara and the exclave villages of Barkhudarli, Sofulu, and Yukhari Askipara. A common feature of these now defunct and depopulated villages is that they are situated along or near the M16/H26 highway, which crisscrosses de jure Azerbaijani territory five times.
Claim: Yukhari Askipara is a territory of Armenia (Yukhari Askipara, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-01-01): Artsakh, Homeland of Armenians Azerbaijan (Country) / Northern Artsakh (Area) / Ghazakh (District) / Yukhari-Askipara (Village)
Claim: Yukhari Askipara is a territory of Armenia (Yukhari Askipara, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2014-04-18): Yukhari Askipara (Azerbaijani: Yuxarı Əskipara|lit=Upper Askipara; Armenian: Վերին Ոսկեպար|lit=Upper Voskepar |translit=Verin Voskepar) is a destroyed village in an exclave of the Qazakh District of Azerbaijan, currently under the control of Armenia and surrounded by the Tavush Province of Armenia. The exclave has been under control by Armenian forces since the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, which also included fighting in Qazakh. Today, the village is destroyed, with only the foundations and some lower portions of the houses remaining.[1] [...] According to the 1915 publication of the Caucasian Calendar, Yukhari Askipara (Аксибара Стар., Aksibara Star.) had a predominantly Tatar (later known as Azerbaijani) population of 278 in 1914.[3]
Claim: Yukhari Askipara is a territory of Armenia (Yukhari Askipara, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2021-12-13): "They were looking for vacant homes in Voskepar in which road construction workers might live. Voskepar administrative head Serop Makhsudyan said that he had heard about the building of a new road but did not know anything definite. Let me add that a Russian Federation Demarcation Committee has arrived in Armenia, which under the leadership of General Muradov is going to carry out demarcation of the border," specified Sargsyan. Alluding to the concession of the enclaves, he concluded, "Demarcation and delineation in Voskepar will be very painful. A few days ago, a cartographer informed me that the administrative area of Yukhari Askipara (Upper Voskepar), in the past an Azerbaijani enclave above the village of Voskepar in the community of Noyemberyan of Tavush Province, comprised 2,650 hectares, while the administrative area of Voskepar Village was 1,250 hectares. Moreover, the most fertile, flat expanses, the most valuable lands belong to Yukhari Askipara (Upper Voskepar). It is not clear which maps the General Staff of the Russian Federation will use for border lineation and demarcation. The residents of Voskepar at present are engaged in keeping large and small cattle.
Claim: Yukhari Askipara is a territory of Armenia (Yukhari Askipara, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2020-11-05): Yukhari Askipara is a region under Azerbaijan’s Qazakh District. This region, which has an area of approximately 37 square km, has no connection with Azerbaijani lands. Yukhari Askipara is an exclave region located completely inside the Armenian territory. The village, which was occupied by the Armenian Armed Forces in 1992, was destroyed and the Azerbaijani population there was expelled. The region is an old Turkish settlement among the historical artefacts of Azerbaijan Turks. Today, around 650 people live in Yukhari Askipara, which is in the Tavush region of Armenia. [...] Karki is a region connected to the Sadarak District of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan. This region has neither connection with Azerbaijani lands nor with Nakhchivan. It is an exclave area located completely inside the Armenian territory. The name of the village, which was occupied by Armenia in 1990, was changed by the Yerevan administration to "Tigranashen". The area of the land, located near the strategic Yerevan-Jermuk highway, is approximately 19 square kilometers.
Claim: Yukhari Askipara is a territory of Armenia (Yukhari Askipara, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-04-19): Three of the 7 Qazakh villages—Yukhari Askipara, Sofulu, Berkhudarli—are enclaves within Armenia, while the remaining four villages— Baghanis Ayrim, Ashagi Askipara, Kheyrimli and Gizilhajili —are attached the mainland Azerbaijan. [...] Despite the fact that the four villages in Qazakh have been occupied for 30 years, Armenians have not settled there. The houses abandoned by the Azerbaijanis were demolished, and the local people used the land to graze their animals. Regardless, some political commentators, including the opposition in Armenia, continue to see these four villages as part of the Tavush region of Armenia and claim that the main road connecting Armenia to its neighbor Georgia passes through these villages. In fact, parts of one of the 3 roads connecting Armenia to Georgia pass through the village of Ashagi Askipara, and the main road passes through the Alaverdi, Vanadzor and Dilijan regions of Armenia, far from the Azerbaijan-Armenia border. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan touched upon this issue at the press conference and emphasized that a new road could be built instead of the roads passing through Azerbaijani land: [...] After Pashinyan’s statement, Garnik Danielyan from the opposition Hayastan party visited the Tavush region and said that if Armenia returns these 4 villages, the Gasprom (Russia) gas pipeline will be under the control of Azerbaijan. In fact, the natural gas pipeline passes through the enclave Yukhari Askipara village, not through the non-enclave villages. Answering the media’s question, Deputy CEO of Gazprom Armenia, Chief Engineer Artashes Gabrielyan said that there is no disscusion regarding the relocation of the natural gas pipeline for now.
Claim: Yukhari Askipara is a territory of Armenia (Yukhari Askipara, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2021-01-12): Submitted by christian on Wed, 12/01/2021 - 14:57 - Abkhazia: Republic of Abkhazia and Georgia - Aegean dispute, Imia/Kardak: Greece and Turkey - Artsyashen exclave of Gegharkunik province, de jure part of Armenia; Karki exclave of Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic, Yukhari Askipara and Barkhudarli both exclaves of Qazakh Rayon de jure part of Azerbaijan; Yuradullu is controlled by Azerbaijan along with occupying the much marger de jure Armenian territory surrounding it: Armenia and Azerbaijan - Border’ checkpoint near Strovilia: United Kingdom and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus - Carlingford Lough and Lough Foyle boundary dispute: Ireland and United Kingdom - Crimea: Russia and Ukraine - Croatia-Serbia border dispute: Croatia and Serbia - Croatia-Slovenia border disputes: Croatia and Slovenia - David Gareja monastery complex boundary dispute: Georgia and Azerbaijan - Dollart bay: Germany and Netherlands - Gibraltar: United Kingdom and Spain - Gulf of Piran: Slovenia and Croatia - Island of Vukovar: Croatia and Serbia - Kokkina/Erenköy exclave: Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and Cyprus - Kosovo: Republic of Kosovo and Serbia - Lake Constance: Germany, Austria, Switzerland - Military complex near Sveta Gera: Slovenia and Croatia - Moldovan-controlled area of Dubasari district: Moldova and Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic - Mont Blanc summit
Claim: Yukhari Askipara is a territory of Armenia (Yukhari Askipara, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-08-28): As a result of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020 and the anti-terrorism operation conducted by the armed forces of Azerbaijan in September 2023, the territory of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast and seven adjacent districts, which had been under Armenian control for over 30 years, returned to Azerbaijani control. However, the only unresolved issue regarding territorial disputes between Azerbaijan and Armenia is enclaves. Azerbaijan has eight enclave villages on the territory of Armenia – Yukhari Askipara, Ashaghi Askipara, Barkhudarli, Sofulu, Baghanis Ayrim, Gizilhajili, and Khairimli of the Gazakh region, as well as the village of Karki in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. The first four of them are considered non-enclave villages by the Azerbaijani side because these villages are located on territory adjacent to Azerbaijan, on the border with Armenia. The rest are completely surrounded by Armenian territory. [...] Just recently, on April 19, at the 8th meeting of state commissions on the delimitation of the state border between Azerbaijan and Armenia, an agreement was reached on the return of four Azerbaijani villages – Baghanis Ayrim, Ashagi Askipara, Kheyrimli, and Gizilhajili.
Claim: Yukhari Askipara is a territory of Armenia (Yukhari Askipara, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2020-10-16): Nagorny Karabakh and adjacent administrative regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan – Lachin, Kelbajar, Gubadli, Zangilan, Jebrayil, Agdam (regional center and a large part of the territory) and Fizuli (regional center and a large part of the territory) were occupied by Armenia from 1989 to 1993. At present, Armenians transgressed a total of 558 km of the state border – the 198 km Azerbaijani-Iranian border from Horadiz settlement of the Fizuli region to the borders of the Zangilan region, and 360 km Azerbaijani-Armenian border. These territories are now under complete control of the Armenian military forces. Armenian forced destroyed buildings, outposts, frontier posts and demarcation lines from the USSR period along the border. The occupied areas along the Azerbaijani-Iranian borders are currently used for uncontrolled smuggling and sometimes for transportation of drugs. Construction materials for residential and public building and cut forest trees are transported from the occupied regions of Azerbaijan through the seized borders to Iran by Armenia. [...] Other from that, the Kerki settlement of Sadarak region in Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic, Ashagi Akipara, Yukhari Askipara, Gushchu Ayrim, Barkhudarli settlements of Gazakh region and other ones situated at the Azerbaijan-Armenia border were destroyed and occupied. [...] The ways along the river mouth firmly connect these two areas in economical way. Occupation by the Armenians of the Yukhary (Upper) Karabakh, in defiance of all this historical-geographical reality and its forcible separationrom the low land Karabakh created serious problems for the population and economy of the region.
Claim: Yukhari Askipara is a territory of Armenia (Yukhari Askipara, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-05-21): The territories within the borders of the former Azerbaijani SSR (including the enclaves of Yukhari (Upper), Askipara (Verin Voskepar), Sofulu-Barkhudarly and Kyarki (Tigranashen)), which have been under Armenian control since 1990-94, are highlighted in yellow. The territories of Armenia falling within its borders, but located beyond the line of Armenian trenches (neutral territory, not under anyone’s control), are highlighted in pink. The territories of Armenia under the control of Azerbaijani forces are highlighted in dark red. [...] Moreover, upon Armenia’s ceding of the "mainland villages" of the same area – Ashagi Askipara and Baghanis-Ayrum, residents returning to these areas will encounter similar challenges, which in general will significantly complicate the life of villagers, who have also settled in new lowland villages in recent years. During Soviet years, they all used the route passing through Armenian territory. If the enclaves were to be returned, the procedure for entering the village would be even more difficult for residents of Yukhari Askipara. They would have to cross the Armenian border, travel 3.2 km through its territory, then enter Azerbaijan, and once again cross the Armenian border, then cross the border again before entering the enclave. Alternatively, for the initial bypass of Armenia, they would have to ascend the winding road to Odundagh and follow the old route.