Protests Against Armenian Prime Minister Grow After Nagorno-Karabakh Peace Deal

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian confronts protests after Nagorno-Karabakh peace-deal. (Wikimedia Commons)

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has faced increasing pressure to resign following a peace deal that marked the end of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Azerbaijan. Protesters had called for him to step down before December 8. 

The war between Armenia and Azerbaijan began in the late Soviet Era, when an enclave of ethnic Armenians in Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region declared independence. While the independence fighters faced enormous odds, backing by Armenian troops resulted in a cease-fire that had held until September 2020.

This autumn, the conflict reignited following an Azerbaijani attack on civilian settlements in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. The fighting lasted for six weeks and resulted in approximately 4,600 deaths. 

Notably, both sides received backing from major regional powers; Azerbaijan from Turkey and Armenia from Russia. 

Both sides signed a peace-deal on November 9 brokered by Russian President Vladimir Putin. In the deal, Armenia agreed to withdraw its troops from the region and would allow Russian peacekeeping forces to stabilize the area while Azerbaijan would retain control over all its territorial gains. 

Protests erupted in Armenia following the accord on November 10 and have only since grown. Many protesters feel that the deal did not reflect the position of Armenians and, for the government excluded the people of Armenia from the negotiations and the public only learned about the agreement after its enactment

Almost 20,000 protesters have gathered in the capital, Yerevan, to call for Pashinian to step down, chanting, “Nikol the Traitor,” and “Armenia without Nikol.”

17 political parties, known together as the National Accord Council, nominated Vazgen Manukian to replace Pashinian as prime minister and lead a transitional government until the election of a new parliament. Manukian served as prime minister and defense minister in the 1990s. He has called for further negotiations with Azerbaijan regarding the administration of the territories lost by Armenia. 

Manukian criticized the current regime in his first speech since his nomination, stating, “We could have prevented the war. We could have won the war. We could have ended the war earlier and with minor losses.”

Despite the backlash against Pashinian, he has not indicated any intention to resign. His faction, My Step, currently holds a 132-seat majority in the Armenian Parliament. Pashinian has made clear that he believes that the deal succeeded at ending the conflict as quickly as possible and that no other alternatives existed. 

Pashinian in a recent Facebook Live event stated that he believes these attempts to force him to resign are nothing more than a grab for power by the opposition parties. He further noted that his party has received praise for its democatratic conduct by outside observers.