The president of the self-proclaimed republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, Samvel Shajramanián, yesterday decreed the dissolution of this separatist entity with an Armenian majority in the territory of Azerbaijan. It is the result of the brief war started by the Azerbaijani army, which last week led the Karabakh Armenians to surrender. The decision came as the exodus of tens of thousands of ethnic Armenian Karabakhs continues, who do not trust the promises of the Baku Government and prefer to continue their lives in their sister country, neighboring Armenia. Until yesterday, more than 50% of the population had fled there.
“All state bodies and organizations dependent on them must be dissolved before January 1, 2024, and the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, [which Armenians call] Artsakh, ceases to exist,” the decree states.
This is a consequence of the agreement reached by Azerbaijan and the Karabakh authorities after the overwhelming victory of Azerbaijani forces on September 19 and 20. On this last day, Baku and Stepanakert agreed to a ceasefire. To stop the offensive, the Azerbaijani Government demanded the disarmament of the army and that the Azerbaijani laws and administrative system be reestablished in the region, which means the dissolution of the republic that was unilaterally created in 1991.
Shahramanian's decree insists that it is a “priority to guarantee the physical security and vital interests of the people of Artsakh,” reported the Armenian portal Civilnet. Additionally, he addresses the population of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, including people outside the republic, and tells them that they must “familiarize themselves with the reintegration conditions presented” by Azerbaijan in order to “make a decision” to remain. or return to Nagorno-Karabakh.
But Karabakh Armenians fear retaliation, after more than 30 years of enmity. And more than half of the population has left the enclave since Sunday, when Azerbaijan opened the Lachin corridor, which its troops had blocked since December 2022.
Nazeli Baghdasarián, spokesperson for Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, reported that as of midday yesterday, 70,500 refugees had fled. The total population of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic was 120,000. “Work is being done during the night. And it should be noted that the intensity of arrivals does not decrease at all. We continue to serve about a thousand people per hour,” he said.
Nikol Pashinián again yesterday denounced Azerbaijan for organizing “ethnic cleansing”. Meeting with his government, he said: “The exodus continues. In the coming days there will be no Armenians left in Nagorno-Karabakh. It is an act of ethnic cleansing against which we had already warned the international community.”
From Baku they not only rejected the “alarmist narrative” of the head of the Armenian Government, but also warned that it “undermines the possible prospects for peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia.”
Azerbaijan stressed that it does not want this exodus. “Prime Minister Pashinyan knows well that the current departure of Armenian residents from the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan is a personal and individual decision and he has nothing to do with forced relocation,” the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said in a statement. . And he encouraged those who want to live in the country according to the laws of Azerbaijan to “not leave their place of residence and be part of a multi-ethnic Azerbaijan.”
At the same time, the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, visited Yabrayil to inspect the construction work being carried out in that Nagorno-Karabakh city. The town, which has historically had a majority Azerbaijani population, was destroyed by the Armenian army during the first Armenian-Azerbaijani war (1992 and 1994) and became a ghost town. Recovered in the second war, in 2020, Baku has begun its reconstruction. It appears to be the Azerbaijani leader's first visit to the region after last week's victorious offensive.
In the middle of the two enemies is Russia, which in 2020 mediated to reach a ceasefire in the second war and then left a peace contingent to monitor a situation that the Azerbaijani offensive has put an end to. Yesterday, journalists asked Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov who is responsible for the Karabakh exodus. He responded that it is “difficult to talk about culprits” and that “there is no direct cause.”
“What worries us most is the humanitarian aspect. The most important thing is that decent living conditions be provided to those who made the decision to leave, he added.
To reintegrate Nagorno-Karabakh into the Azerbaijani administrative system, two meetings have already been held between Karabakh representatives and delegates from Baku.
Furthermore, a special government working group was established in Baku on September 24 to examine the humanitarian, economic and social aspects of the integration of Nagorno-Karabakh and its population.
The Azerbaijani authorities have also opened a website, in Azeri, Armenian and Russian, with the motto “Reintegration for peace, sustainable development and coexistence” so that the inhabitants of Nagorno-Karabakh can register electronically. According to the Azerbaijani presidency, this website was designed to facilitate Karabakh Armenians access to all public services in the country and “meet their socioeconomic and humanitarian needs.”
