The president of the self-proclaimed Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, Samvel Shajramanián, decreed this Thursday the dissolution of the separatist entity in the territory of Azerbaijan. It is the result of the brief war started by the Azeri Army, which last week led the Karabakh Armenians to capitulation.
"All state bodies and organizations dependent on them must be dissolved before January 1, 2024, and the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, [which Armenians call] Artsakh, ceases to exist," states the decree reported by media. Armenians.
The decree is a consequence of the agreement reached by Azerbaijan and the Karabakh authorities after the military offensive on September 19 and 20. This last day, Baku and Stepanakert signed a ceasefire agreement that provides for the withdrawal of the Armenian military still present in the region, the dissolution and disarmament of the army of the self-proclaimed republic and the withdrawal of military equipment.
In addition, it is "a priority to ensure the physical security and vital interests of the people of Artsakh," reports the Armenian portal Civilnet.
The document also notes that the population of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, including people who are outside the republic, must "familiarize themselves with the conditions of reintegration presented" by Azerbaijan "in order to make an independent and individual decision on the possibility of staying (returning) in Nagorno-Karabakh".
To reintegrate this region into the Azerbaijani administrative system, two meetings have already been held between Karabakh representatives and delegates from Baku.
So far, more than half of the enclave's population (65,000 of its 120,000 inhabitants) have left their homes since Sunday and moved to Armenia after the Azeri military operation, the Yerevan Government reported.
A special government working group was created in Baku on September 24 to examine the humanitarian, economic and social aspects of the integration of Nagorno-Karabakh and the ethnic Armenians living in it with Azerbaijan. David Babayan, advisor to the president of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, said that more than 120,000 Armenians were leaving the region for Armenia due to their unwillingness to live in Azerbaijan. This is 99.74% of the people living in the unrecognized Republic as of 2015.
The Armenian Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinián, assured this Thursday that "in the coming days" there will not be a single Armenian left in Nagorno-Karabakh and accused Azerbaijan of carrying out "ethnic cleansing" in the enclave.
"The exodus of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh continues. Our analysis shows that 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," Pashinián declared in a meeting of his Government.
