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The ceasefire negotiated by Putin is like a surrender for many Armenians. They broke into the Yerevan parliament.
The statement that the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, posted on Facebook in the early hours of the morning was a success. He had agreed with the Azerbaijani president to end the fighting, mediated by Russia, Pashinyan wrote. It is very painful for him and for the Armenian people, but he decided to do it after a detailed analysis of the situation.
Details of the deal followed immediately, in a statement by Russian President Vladimir Putin: Russia is sending peacekeepers to oversee the ceasefire. There are almost 2000 in number. They are already on their way.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has been cursed by the people as a traitor due to the ceasefire.
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Angry protests in Yerevan
Armenia has to make significant territorial concessions: Azerbaijan should be allowed to keep the territories it has conquered in recent days and weeks, including the second largest city of Nagorno-Karabakh, Shusha, or Shushi, as the Armenians call them. A land corridor monitored by Russian troops will connect Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia.
For many Armenians, this all amounts to capitulation: Hundreds of them let out their anger in the center of the Armenian capital Yerevan that night. An angry crowd even stormed various government buildings and parliament: they insulted Prime Minister Pashinyan as a traitor and demanded his resignation. The belief in the invincibility of the troops of the Karabakh Armenians persisted to the end.
The protests against the end of the war in Nagorno-Karabakh spread to the Armenian parliament in Yerevan.
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Karabakh President defends the decision
But then the president of the unrecognized Karabakh Republic, Araik Arutjunjan, spoke. The 46-year-old defended the agreement quietly and visibly depressed. It would only have been a few days before all of Nagorno-Karabakh fell into the hands of the Azerbaijanis, he said. More people would have died.
Indeed, with the capture of the city of Shusha over the weekend, Azerbaijani troops marked the turning point of the war. From the upper town, an ancient fortress, the regional capital, Stepanakert, can be easily attacked.
The city, which Armenians call Shushi, has great cultural significance for both sides. And for Azerbaijan, this conquest was one of the main objectives of the military offensive.
“We will not give up our country”: After the announcement of the ceasefire for Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenians stormed the government building in the capital Yerevan and searched for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. But he was already gone.
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Celebrate in Baku with a preview
Consequently, there was a celebration in Baku over the weekend when President Ilham Aliyev announced the capture of the city. Cheers erupted in Baku on Tuesday, after the ceasefire was announced.
However, triumph was also mixed with disappointment, because Azerbaijan had defended itself from the Russian peacekeeping forces to the last: it wanted to keep its great northern neighbor away from the territory it claims for itself.
Peacemaker Putin is shuffling the cards
But Russia has prevailed. With his skillful tactics, Putin was able to present himself as a peacemaker, and thanks to the dispatch of peacekeeping troops, he was able to expand Russian influence in the southern Caucasus.
The cards of the region have been reorganized. It is unclear if the deal will stand. Contains a lot of conflicting material. But at least the weapons are silent, after six weeks of war and hundreds of deaths on both sides.
