Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev and his immediate family members visited the Kovsakan and Vorotan regions that are now under the control of Azerbaijan. They “hugged” the plane tree and took a respective photo, which has become a subject of discussion on the Internet.

A number of community leaders of Armenia’s Syunik Province claim that it is the Plane Grove, which was handed over to Azerbaijan back on December 18 last year.

The Ministry of Environment issued a statement in this regard noting that the area depicted in the photo is not the Plane Grove state sanctuary, but the continuation of the plane tree habitat continuing along the Tsav River valley and located in Azerbaijan.

But Shikahogh village mayor Nare Ghazaryan told Armenian News-NEWS.am that the tree which was “hugged” by the Aliyev was in the Armenian territory. "The plane tree is an ancient Armenian tree. Such a tree grows only in the territory of Armenia. The river in the picture, which flows under that tree, wherever they were photographed, is also of Shikahogh. (…). Aliyev probably crossed the border, was photographed in the Armenian territory. It is definitely handed over. If they think it is an Armenian territory, they interpret it that way, then it turns out that Aliyev violated the border," Ghazaryan said.

She claimed that the river in the photo was of Shikahogh. "But of course I cannot say exactly which tree Aliyev was photographed with," added the village mayor.