Thousands poured into the streets of Armenian cities on Nov. 10, in a frantic protest against what many believe was their country’s humiliating surrender in the war against Azerbaijan.
The new splash of fighting between the two Transcaucasian nations over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh escalated in late September. Amid intense clashes with the Yerevan-supported unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, Azeri forces managed to restore control over a whole range of the region’s key settlements.
The conflict over the disputed region, which is formally an integral part of Azerbaijan yet populated predominantly by ethnic Armenians, continues since the late 1980s, with hostilities resuming sporadically over the years.
This time, despite fierce Armenian resistance, the situation for the Armenian-controlled breakaway region became critical by mid-November as Azeri forces reported the seizure of the town of Shusha, which is of key political and strategic importance for both warring parties.
In the wake of Shusha’s downfall, many international observers considered the Armenian war effort in Karabakh bound to fail, given the circumstances.
The Azeri military had come critically close to the city of Stepanakert, the breakaway region’s capital.
Notably, on Nov. 9, Azeri forces mistakenly downed a Russian Mil Mi-24 attack helicopter in the Armenian territory, killing two Russian pilots. Baku officially apologized for the incident to the Kremlin, Armenia’s formal ally deploying a military contingent in the Caucasian country.
Amid growing fears of Russia’s possible intervention, the talks accelerated.
Late on Nov. 9, hours after the helicopter incident, Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashynyan issued an address to the nation saying that he had to make a “painful decision” for him and the whole nation.
Yerevan accepted Baku’s terms of peace, and they in fact indicate Armenia’s major military defeat.
The Kremlin-brokered agreement particularly envisaged a full ceasefire and Armenia ceding a whole range of territories, including the city of Shusha, to Baku.
Besides, Azerbaijan restores a direct transport connection with the Nakhichevan region, the Azeri enclave surrounded by Armenia.
Instead, Baku agreed to respect the security of the so-called Lachin corridor between Armenian and the Karabakh capital city of Stepanakert. Moreover, the region is supposed to be guarded by over 1,900 Russian troops with the formal status of “peacekeepers.”
Angry crowds immediately stormed the government quarter of Yerevan, with the parliament speaker Ararat Mirzoyan reportedly beaten by protesters.
Meanwhile, the streets of Baku and other Azeri cities are celebrating the major victory in the protracted hateful war.
Moreover, according to Azerbaijan, the agreement also envisages of the deployment of Turkish forces in the region as peacekeepers — although thr Kremlin and Yerevan strongly deny this.
