[Azerbaijani president Ilham] Aliyev was photographed under our numbered trees. He was at the Plane Grove sanctuary of the Green Artsakh Biosphere Reserve SNCO of the Artsakh Environment Committee. The director of this SNCO, Vahram Hayrapetyan, told this to Armenian News-NEWS.am, adding that the aforesaid area is in the Kovsakan (Zangelan) region.

"We have done a lot of work at the Plane Grove. If you look closely at the famous photo, there is a plate attached; it is our numbering. I don't know; maybe they [the Azerbaijanis] did Photoshop around the tree, but it is certain that the tree is ours," Hayrapetyan added in particular.

As reported earlier, 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 of Armenia 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 is not located in Armenia.