“Nagorno-Karabakh will cease to exist” You won the alternative Nobel Prize

Nagorno-Karabakh will cease to exist from January 1, 2024 – at least “all state institutions and organizations” of the de facto regime of the Republic of Artsakh in the geographical territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Armenian media reported this on Thursday, citing a document signed by Prime Minister Samvel Shakhramanyan. Nagorno-Karabakh will ‘cease to exist’, they write. International politics has never recognized the Republic of Artsakh, but has included the area as part of Azerbaijan. The Republic of Artsakh was inhabited mainly by ethnic Armenians.

The decision was taken due to the difficult political and military situation, the decree said. It aims to protect the security and lives of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. In fact, dissolution was part of the terms of surrender.

Long and bloody history

The region has been disputed for decades between the ex-Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Armenia. In the 1990s, Nagorno-Karabakh managed to break away from Azerbaijan in a bloody civil war with the help of Armenia. Azerbaijan, which is well supplied with oil and gas revenues and under authoritarian rule, retaliated in 2020 by recapturing large parts of Nagorno-Karabakh.

And the ceasefire that was subsequently concluded and which Russian troops were supposed to monitor also turned out to be vulnerable.

Since the summer of 2023, Azerbaijanis have blocked the Lachin corridor – the only link between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh – and have prevented food or medicine from being delivered to the region, creating a precarious humanitarian situation.

On September 19, 2023, Azerbaijan launched a military offensive on Nagorno-Karabakh. The war lasted a day before the government in Nagorno-Karabakh surrendered.

Since then, there has been a mass exodus of Armenians, who fear violence and persecution by the victors. 65,000 people have now fled to the motherland Armenia. More forced resettlements are in the pipeline.

Following the dissolution of the Republic of Artsakh, the population must now familiarize themselves with Azerbaijan’s laws on the integration of the region, the decree said – and then decide for themselves whether they want to return to Nagorno-Karabakh.

(yam, with material from the sda)