Thousands of people demonstrated in front of the Armenian government headquarters on Wednesday, as an AFP journalist found. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has been criticized for not sending aid to Nagorno-Karabakh separatists, who are the target of an Azeri offensive.
Protests in YerevanPhoto: Karen MINASYAN / AFP / Profimedia
Pashinian “must go, he cannot lead the country,” said one of the participants in the rally, Sarguis Hayats, a 20-year-old musician.
“We are losing our homeland, our people,” he added.
Azerbaijan, Armenia’s arch-rival, has just won a landslide victory in Nagorno-Karabakh, its breakaway territory with a majority Armenian population.
A part of the Armenian public opinion, traditionally very attached to this region, reproaches the prime minister for not coming to the aid of the separatists in the face of a much better armed and richer enemy.
He denounced calls for a “coup d’état” in his country, with similar demonstrations already taking place on Tuesday.
“These authorities are leading us towards genocide. Everyone has abandoned Artsakh,” the name given to this territory by Armenians, lamented Hasmik Manoukian, in tears.
The man, who is originally from Artsakh, felt that his “homeland” was “alone, without help”.
“We will stay here and hold demonstrations,” promised 26-year-old Souren Javoulian. “If Armenians are united, the enemy will not win.”
At the end of the previous war with Azerbaijan, in 2020, massive opposition-led demonstrations had already targeted Nikol Pashinian, who had been branded a “traitor” for signing the ceasefire, according to AFP.
Azerbaijan said on Wednesday it had halted military action in the separatist Nagorno-Karabakh region after Armenian separatist forces there surrendered and agreed to a truce whose terms indicated the area would return to Baku’s control, Reuters reports.
