Nagorno-Karabakh: Armenian protesters again demand Pashinian's resignation
Demonstrators gathered in Yerevan to protest against concessions made by Nikol Pashinyan to Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh on May 1, 2022. AFP - KAREN MINASYAN
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The Armenian opposition announced on Monday May 2 the launch of a “
mass protest movement
” to force Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian to resign, accusing the latter of wanting to cede the entire separatist enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan.
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Some 5,000 people demonstrated on Monday in Yerevan to demand the resignation of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, accused by the opposition of wanting to cede the entire separatist enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan.
"
We are launching a popular protest movement to force Pashinian to resign
," said Deputy Speaker of Parliament and opposition leader Ichkhan Sagatelian.
The "protest actions
will not stop until Pashinyan leaves
", he warned.
“
He is a traitor, he lied to the people
,” he again denounced.
Nagorno-Karabakh, this territory populated by a majority of Armenians
that the two countries have been fighting over for 30 years, was the subject of a six-week war in 2020 that left more than 6,500 dead before ending in a Russian-brokered ceasefire.
As part of this agreement, Armenia ceded whole swathes of territory it had controlled since a first victorious war in the early 1990s. Under this agreement, a Russian peacekeeping force is deployed in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Thousands of people on the streets on Sunday
In April, the Armenian Prime Minister had declared before Parliament that "
the international community calls on Armenia to reduce its demands on Nagorno-Karabakh
", remarks which the opposition had denounced as revealing a desire to cede all from the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan.
Thousands of people had already demonstrated on Sunday in the Armenian capital to warn the government against any concession to Azerbaijan.
The demonstrators were already calling for
the resignation of Nikol Pashinian
and brandishing signs bearing the words "Karabakh" or "Armenia without Turks", in reference to Turkish-speaking Azerbaijanis.
The Russian-brokered ceasefire deal was seen as a national humiliation in Armenia and sparked weeks of anti-government protests.
In September, Nikol Pashinian's party, the Civil Contract, won the early legislative elections called following these demonstrations.
(
With
AFP)
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Nagorno-Karabakh
Armenia
Azerbaijan