After the defeat against Azerbaijan, the government of the internationally unrecognized Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) has decided to dissolve all authorities under it by January 1, 2024. All state institutions and organizations should cease to exist. Armenian media reported this, citing a document signed by President Samvel Shakhramanyan. “Then the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh will also end its existence,” it continued.
After the dissolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, the population must familiarize themselves with Azerbaijan’s laws on the integration of the region in order to then decide for themselves whether they want to return to Nagorno-Karabakh, Shakhramanyan’s decree is quoted as saying. Accordingly, the decision was made based on the political and military situation. It aims to protect the security and lives of the population in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Nagorno-Karabakh belongs to Azerbaijan under international law, but is predominantly inhabited by ethnic Armenians. They had largely controlled the region for three decades with the help of the Armenian government in Yerevan. On Tuesday last week, however, Azerbaijan’s military attacked the area. A day later, ethnic Armenians there agreed to a ceasefire. The dissolution was part of the terms of surrender.
More than half of ethnic Armenians have already left the Caucasus region since the fighting ended. So far, 65,036 people have arrived in Armenia from there, said Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s spokeswoman. In total, 120,000 ethnic Armenians lived in the area in the middle of Azerbaijan.
The exodus is a challenge for Armenia. Only 2.8 million people live in the country itself, and the number of those leaving Nagorno-Karabakh is increasing rapidly. Many fear so-called ethnic cleansing.
There was an explosion at a fuel depot in Nagorno-Karabakh on Tuesday. The leadership of the area in Stepanakert spoke of 68 dead and 290 injured on Tuesday evening. The cause of the detonation remains unknown.