[ad_1]
“Back off!” – Thousands of Armenians protest against the Nagorno-Karabakh Agreement
| Reading time: 3 minutes
Thousands of people gathered in Yerevan, although in reality this is prohibited due to the corona pandemic
Source: dpa
In Yerevan, but also in other cities, discontent with Prime Minister Pashinyan is growing after the controversial agreement on the end of the war. The opposition demands his resignation. But there is also a dispute with Turkey over the role negotiated by Russia.
METERSeveral thousand people took to the streets of Armenia to protest against the agreement with Azerbaijan to end the war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
In the center of the Armenian capital Yerevan, protesters demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, as reported on the spot by a reporter from the German press agency. “Nikol, take a step back!” And “Traitor!” They chanted.
The opposition gave Pashinyan an ultimatum to resign before midnight. Otherwise, his removal should be decided in an extraordinary session of parliament.
Pashinyan had signed an agreement to end the fighting with the Presidents of Russia and Azerbaijan, Vladimir Putin and Ilham Aliyev, sparking massive protests in his country. The police used force against the protesters. “Today the movement to protect the homeland begins. We will go to the end, ”said opposition politician and former intelligence chief Artur Wanezjan.
Dozens of arrests, including parliamentarians
Up to 10,000 people gathered at Freedom Square. There were dozens of arrests, also because demonstrations are not allowed due to current martial law and the coronavirus pandemic. Several MPs were among those arrested. A government spokesman said the opposition would not be allowed to take power.
It was unclear where Pashinyan was. He defended the signing of the agreement in videos on Facebook. In this way, thousands of lives were saved and a collapse of the country’s army was prevented, he said. Pashinyan himself came to power in 2018 as part of a revolution. Now he fears the revenge of his opponents.
Police detain a man while protesting an agreement to end the fighting in the Nagorno-Karabakh region
Source: dpa
The Karabakh Agreement negotiated on Tuesday night provides for the return to Azerbaijan of larger areas that were previously under the control of Armenia. These include important connections between Armenia and the capital Stepanakert in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Armenian opposition wants to reverse the point of the return of territories after Pashinyan resigned in a new agreement.
The core of the agreement is that nearly 2,000 Russian peacekeepers will monitor the ceasefire. Hundreds of forces were already in Nagorno-Karabakh with heavy military equipment, according to the Defense Ministry in Moscow. The troop transfer was ongoing, it was said. Several Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft took off from Ulyanovsk military airfield on Wednesday.
“No, there was no talk of joint peacekeeping forces”
There was still a dispute over the possible participation of Turkish soldiers in the peacekeeping mission. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who celebrates himself as the victor of the war, spoke of a Turkish-Russian peacekeeping mission. Russia, however, stressed that there would be no Turkish soldiers in the Nagorno-Karabakh area.
In contrast, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in Ankara that his country and Russia would establish a center to monitor the ceasefire between Azerbaijan and Armenia. The facility should be built “on Azerbaijani territory liberated from occupation”. Turkey will participate in the peacekeeping forces with Russia to monitor the implementation of the ceasefire, Erdogan said.
On the other hand, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made it clear again that the center for monitoring the ceasefire would be located in the central area of Azerbaijan and not in areas in Nagorno-Karabakh that had previously been conquered by Azerbaijan. “No, there was no talk of joint peacekeeping forces.”
Azerbaijan lost control of the mountainous area with around 145,000 inhabitants in a war after the collapse of the Soviet Union some 30 years ago. Since 1994 there has been a fragile ceasefire. In the new war, Azerbaijan regained much of the area. The country relied on international law and had the support of its “sister state” Turkey. Armenia, in turn, trusts Russia as a protective power.
