Furious protesters demand Armenian PM resign after peace deal with Azerbaijan

Opposition protest in Yerevan, Armenia

Credit: Alexander Ryumin\TASS via Getty Images

Armenia’s prime minister is fighting for his political life after protesters branded him a "traitor" for signing a deal with Azerbaijan to end the war in Nagorno Karabakh.

Riot police were deployed in the capital, Yerevan, to deal with crowds demanding Nikol Pashinyan’s resignation over the deal, which hands large tracts of land in Nagorno Karabakh back to Azerbaijan’s control.

Mr Pashinyan claims he had no choice but to accede to the agreement after Armenian forces had suffered disastrous losses in the six-week conflict.

But there were warnings last night that it could see him forced from office, potentially derailing the peaceful "Velvet revolution" that swept him to power just two years ago.

“Our prime minister has given our lands away and destroyed our history,” said protester Lena Vardanyan, 30. “He has betrayed the whole nation.”

Tensions have soared in the Caucasus nation since Monday’s peace deal, which includes the deployment of a 2,000-strong Russian peacekeeping force.

While Mr Pashinyan said it was necessary to prevent further loss of life — more than 1,300 Armenian soldiers have died — his critics say it amounts to a humiliation.

Armenian and Azerbaijani forces clash

Under the deal’s terms, Azerbaijan gets to keep the territory its military has recaptured  — including the town of Shusha, regarded by both sides as Nagorno Karabakh’s cultural capital.

On Wednesday, Azerbaijani experts told The Telegraph that Armenians who had been pushed out of Shusha during the fighting would only be permitted back once ethnic Azeris had been allowed to re-settle there.

Ahead of yesterday’s rally, the government had warned Armenian opposition parties against attempting a "coup".

A total of 129 protesters were arrested, including business tycoon Gagik Tsarukian, leader of the Prosperous Armenia Party, one of the main opposition factions.

Azerbaijanis have celebrated the news

Credit: Gavriil Grigorov\TASS via Getty Images

It followed similar disturbances within hours of the deal on Monday night, when protesters stormed government buildings. Mr Pashinyan, a 45-year-old ex-journalist, came to power himself via a street protest movement in 2018, styling himself as a champion against corrupt post-Soviet elites.

Since the he has been lauded in the West for introducing democratic reforms and combating graft. His own popular revolution is now at risk as a result of the conflict, in which Armenia’s Soviet-era tanks proved no match Azerbaijan’s modern drone weaponry.

Dr Artyom Tonoyan, an Armenian expert at the University of Minnesota, told The Telegraph he would be "very surprised" if Mr Pashinyan now stayed in power.

"There are two ways out — either he resigns or he is forced to resign. And a forced resignation would send the country into a tailspin, making Armenia less secure, less stable and decreasing its chances of recovery following the war,” he said.