YEREVAN, September 19 At the building of the Government of Armenia Thousands of protesters gathered, there are no lights in almost all the windows of the Cabinet building, the correspondent reported.
After dusk, the façade of the government building was illuminated, but the lights were turned off in the foyer and offices.
In the afternoon, protests began in the center of Yerevan amid the worsening situation in Nagorno-Karabakh. People gathered in the central square called for the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. The protesters chanted: “Nikol is a traitor!”, “Shame!” and other slogans.
Police set up a cordon near the building of the Cabinet of Ministers of Armenia. Protesters threw plastic bottles at law enforcement officers. As an eyewitness said, But in general the situation in the city is calm, tension is felt only on the central streets.
This afternoon, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense announced the start of “local anti-terrorist measures” to restore the constitutional order in Nagorno-Karabakh. Baku stated that they are disabling the positions of the Armenian Armed Forces, but the civilian population and infrastructure are not targets.
In Yerevan, in turn, they emphasized that the Republican Army does not have any units or equipment in Karabakh. Pashinyan called attempts to involve Armenia in military escalation unacceptable and said that Russian peacekeepers and the international community should take measures.
The Russian Foreign Ministry expressed alarm at the escalation and called on the parties to return to a diplomatic settlement.
Conflict in KarabakhIn the fall of 2020, the next round of military confrontation around Nagorno-Karabakh ended with the conclusion of an agreement beneficial for Azerbaijan: Armenia returned the Kelbajar, Lachin and Aghdam regions; Russian peacekeepers were stationed in the region. Later, Baku and Yerevan, through the mediation of Russia, the United States and the European Union, began to discuss a future peace treaty.
In April 2023, Azerbaijani border guards established a checkpoint on the border with Armenia – it appeared at the beginning of the road in the Lachin corridor, which leads to Stepanakert . Yerevan announced a gross violation of the 2020 peace agreements by Azerbaijan.
At the end of May, Pashinyan announced his readiness to recognize the sovereignty of Azerbaijan within Soviet borders, that is, together with Karabakh. Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev responded then that a peace treaty could be signed in the near future if Armenia's position does not change.
