Tens of thousands of opposition supporters have marched through the Armenian capital to call for the resignation of the country’s prime minister because of his handling of the conflict with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh.
In six weeks of fierce fighting that ended with a Russia-brokered peace deal on 10 November, the Azerbaijani army reclaimed lands that Armenian forces have held for more than a quarter of a century.
Armenia’s opposition parties warned the prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, that there would be civil disobedience across the country if he does not resign by midday on Tuesday. Pashinyan has refused to step down, defending the peace agreement as a painful but necessary move that prevented Azerbaijan from overrunning the entire Nagorno-Karabakh region.
More than 20,000 protesters rallied in Yerevan on Saturday, chanting, “Nikol, you traitor!” and “Nikol, go away!” and then marched to the prime minister’s official residence.
“The seat of the prime minister of Armenia is currently being occupied by a political corpse,” Artur Vanetsyan, the leader of the opposition party Homeland and the former head of the National Security Service, said at the rally.
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Several priests of the Armenian Apostolic church joined the protest, denouncing Pashinyan for allowing Azerbaijan to take over some holy sites.
Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a separatist war there ended in 1994. That conflict left not only Nagorno-Karabakh itself but large chunks of surrounding lands in Armenian hands.
In 44 days of fighting that began on 27 September, Azerbaijani troops routed the Armenian forces and wedged deep into Nagorno-Karabakh, forcing Armenia to accept the 10 November peace deal that returned a significant part of the separatist region to Azerbaijan. It also obliged Armenia to hand over all the areas it held outside Nagorno-Karabakh.
Azerbaijan completed reclaiming those territories on Tuesday when it took over the Lachin region located between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia. Azerbaijan celebrated the end of fighting as a national triumph, and President Ilham Aliyev established a new 8 November national holiday called Victory Day to commemorate the event.
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Armenian opposition leaders hold Pashinyan responsible for failing to negotiate an earlier end to the hostilities at terms that could have been more beneficial for Armenia. They have emphasised, however, that the opposition was not pushing for the annulment of the peace deal.
Veteran politician Vazgen Manukyan, who 17 opposition parties have nominated as their candidate for prime minister, said at Saturday’s rally that his transition government would seek to renegotiate some aspects of the 10 November peace deal.
Manukyan, 71, served as prime minister in 1990-91, when Armenia was part of the Soviet Union, and later served as defence minister during the separatist war.
Azerbaijan on Thursday released information on its military casualties from the latest fighting. Its defence ministry said 2,783 troops were killed and more than 100 were still missing and its government said 94 of its civilians were killed and more than 400 wounded.
Armenia’s health ministry said on Wednesday that at least 2,718 Armenian servicemen had been killed in the fighting. At least 55 Armenian civilians were also among the casualties.
Russia deployed nearly 2,000 peacekeepers for at least five years to monitor the peace deal and to facilitate the return of refugees. The Russian troops will also ensure safe transit between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia across the Lachin region.
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