Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh dissolve their republic and continue their exodus
Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh on Thursday announced the dissolution of their separatist republic on 1 January, a week after Azerbaijan's military victory forced more than half the population to flee.
In a decree, Samvel Shakhramanyan, leader of the Armenian-majority enclave, announced the dissolution of "all government institutions and organisations (...) on 1 January 2024".
This means that "the republic of Nagorno-Karabakh", known to Armenians as Artsakh and founded more than three decades ago, "ceases to exist".
From Yerevan, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that according to his forecasts "in the next few days there will be no Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh", after some 65,000, more than half the population, fled the enclave.
Pashinyan accused Azerbaijan of "ethnic cleansing" in the Caucasus territory, and urged the international community to "act".
Mass flight
The mountainous region is within Azerbaijan's international borders. Armenians seceded after the break-up of the Soviet Union, and since then have been at odds with Azerbaijani power, with whom they fought two wars, one from 1988 to 1994 and the second in the autumn of 2020, in which they lost several territories.
Last week Azerbaijan launched a lightning military offensive and forced the Armenians to capitulate within 24 hours, without the intervention of Russian peacekeepers, deployed here since late 2020.
Armenia, which supported the territory for decades, did not intervene militarily this time either, paving the way for the effective reintegration of the region into Azerbaijan.
Since then, tens of thousands of Armenians have fled Azerbaijani troops, fearing repression, through the Lachin corridor, the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh with the Republic of Armenia.
The Armenian authorities reported the arrival of "65,036 forcibly displaced persons", according to government spokesperson Nazeli Baghdasaryan.
This is more than half the population of the enclave, which officially had a population of about 120,000.
The Armenian government has so far been able to accommodate only 2,850 people, heralding a humanitarian crisis.
"Armenia lacks resources and will not be able to get them without foreign aid," political analyst Boris Navasardyan told AFP.
More than 100 missing
Adding to the suffering in Nagorno-Karabakh, more than 100 people are still missing after the explosion of a fuel depot seized by villagers on Monday night. At least 68 people were killed and 290 injured.
Azerbaijani authorities on Wednesday detained businessman Ruben Vardanyan, who headed the enclave's Armenian separatist government from November 2022 to February 2023, as he tried to reach Armenia.
Referring to those who eventually decide to stay, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev promised that the rights of the enclave's Armenians would be "guaranteed".
Last week's offensive left 213 people dead on the Armenian side. Baku said it lost 192 of its soldiers and one civilian.
Following US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's call on Tuesday for the protection of civilians, his German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock, asked Baku to allow international observers into Nagorno-Karabakh.