ETHNIC CLEANSING

Nagorno-Karabakh will cease to exist by January, say separatist leaders

Roland Oliphant
Thu, 28 September 2023 

Samvel Shakhramanyan announced the dissolution on Thursday - Photolure/National Assembly of Republic of Artsakh

The breakaway republic of Nagorno-Karabakh will cease to exist from Jan 1, its leaders have announced, after Azerbaijani forces overran the region and forced tens of thousands of ethnic Armenians to flee.

Samvel Shakhramanyan, the separatist region’s president, announced its dissolution on Thursday, ending a 30-year struggle for independence from Baku.

The announcement came as the number of people fleeing the region reached 75,000, in what Armenian officials have described as “ethnic cleansing”.


It marks the formal end of the Nagorno-Karabakh project and the intractable frozen conflict there which lasted nearly three decades after the end of the first Armenian-Azeri war in 1994.

Mr Shakhramanyan said in his decree that “all state institutions and organisations under their departmental subordination by January 1, and the Republic of Nagorno Karabkah (Artsakh) ceases to exist.”

Residents were instructed to “familiarise themselves with the contusion of reintegration presented by the Republic of Azerbaijan,” it added.

Ruben Vardanyan, the former head of government, was accused of illegally crossing the border - Reuters

He said the decision followed the Russian-brokered agreement with Azeri officials ensuring “free voluntary and unhindered travel” via the Lachin corridor to Armenia.

Armenian officials said on Thursday afternoon that 75,000 of the 120,000 population had crossed into Armenia since Sunday.

Nikol Pashinyan, the Armenian prime minister, said the number was expected to rise and that there would likely be no ethnic Armenians left in Nagorno-Karabakh in the coming days.

“This is an act of ethnic cleansing of which we were warning the international community about for a long time,” he told a cabinet meeting.

Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry denied ethnic cleansing and said Baku had appealed to local residents to stay put.

Nikol Pashinyan said there would likely be no ethnic Armenians left in the coming days - EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

“We call on Armenian residents not to leave their homes and become part of Azerbaijan’s multi-ethnic society,” it said in a statement.

Russia, traditionally an ally of Armenia, said it was “closely monitoring” the situation but refused to condemn Azerbaijan’s actions.

“There is no direct reason for such actions,” Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesman, said of the exodus.

“People are nevertheless expressing a desire to leave... those who made such a decision should be provided with normal conditions.”

He said that Russian peacekeepers continue to assist people in the area and that Russia had “taken notice” of the decree dissolving Nagorno-Karabakh.

It came as the United Nations called on Azerbaijan to respect the rights of a former leader of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

Residents gather in central Stepanakert to leave Nagorno-Karabakh

 - David Ghahramanyan/Reuters

Ruben Vardanyan, a former Nagorno-Karabakh leader, was arrested by Azeri border guards while trying to evacuate to Armenia on Wednesday.

Azerbaijan’s state security service said on Thursday that he was being charged with financing terrorism and illegally crossing the border.

Azerbaijan’s predominantly ethnic-Armenian region of Nagorno-Karabakh won de facto independence from Baku in a war marked by ethnic cleansing and massacres between 1988 and 1994.

The conflict remained “frozen” until 2020, when Azerbaijan launched a six-week blitzkrieg to recapture the area.

A second 24-hour assault overran the remaining Armenian controlled areas on Sept 19 this year.