2023-09-28 22:04:04
The head of the Government of the separatist Administration, Samvel Shajramanián, promulgated this Thursday a decree dissolving the self-proclaimed Republic of Nagorno Karabakh as of January 1, 2024. The document signed by the head of the Karabakh Armenians establishes the “dissolution of all government institutions and organizations” under its subordination. Starting next year, “the Nagorno Karabakh Republic (Artsakh) will cease to exist.”
«The population of Nagorno Karabakh, including those outside the republic, after the entry into force of this decree, must familiarize themselves with the conditions of reintegration presented by the Republic of Azerbaijan in order to be able to make an independent and individual decision regarding to the future about the possibility of remaining or not in Nagorno Karabakh,” the order states.
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Coinciding with this measure, David Babarian, one of the advisors of the Karabakh Administration, surrendered this Thursday to the Azerbaijani authorities, who announced that the businessman and former prime minister of the enclave, Rubén Vardanián, detained on Wednesday by Baku forces when he tried crossing into Armenia through the Lachin corridor along with thousands of displaced people, has been accused of “financing terrorism” and will be tried in Azerbaijan.
The dissolution of Nagorno Karabakh as an entity outside Azerbaijan, in whose territory it is located and which the international community thus recognizes, seems one of the logical results of the negotiations currently being carried out by the separatist leaders with Azerbaijani representatives.
Decisive offensive
On September 19, the Azerbaijani army launched an offensive to recover the part of Nagorno Karabakh that it did not put under its control during the war three years ago. The operation lasted twenty-four hours and ended with the surrender of the Karabakhs, whose armed groups had to lay down their weapons. Immediately afterwards, talks began to determine the fit of the enclave’s population into the State of Azerbaijan.
The UN, the United States and the European Union promote international missions to help displaced people
Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis as a result of the avalanche of refugees worsens. The Armenian Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinián, believes that “in the coming days there will be no Armenians left in Nagorno Karabakh” and blamed Azerbaijan for this, whose leaders he accused of carrying out “ethnic cleansing.” The spokesperson for the Yerevan Government, Nazeli Bagdasarián, reported in a statement that so far there are already some 70,000 “forcely displaced persons” who have entered Armenia from the enclave, where there were 120,000 inhabitants before this latest Azerbaijani offensive.
According to Bagdasarián, “those who do not have a fixed place of residence are receiving adequate accommodation from the authorities, but the analysis of support needs continues,” implying that there are still many loose ends in the operation of caring for the newcomers. The Minister of Social Affairs, Narek Mkrtchián, is responsible for this task through a platform designed to determine the immediate needs of the displaced.
Food shortage
But the situation in the Armenian city of Goris, located next to the border, after crossing the Lachin corridor, is already desperate due to the immense avalanche of people arriving from Nagorno Karabakh. Not only is there no accommodation in hotels and what the authorities offer in shelters is scarce, but food and medicine are beginning to run out.
The Minister of Education, Zhanna Andreasián, deplored on Wednesday that the number of displaced minors is “very large”, according to her calculations, about a third of the total. The UN, the United States and the European Union are promoting international missions to help Armenia address this critical situation while Azerbaijan insists that the Karabakh population can remain in the enclave with guarantees that their rights will be respected.
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