The separatist government of Nagorno-Karabakh announced this Thursday that it will dissolve and that the unrecognized republic will cease to exist on January 1, 2024, according to France Presse.
This announcement comes after Azerbaijan carried out a military offensive to regain full control of the separatist region and demanded that Armenian troops in Nagorno-Karabakh lay down their arms and that the separatist government be dismantled.
Nagorno-Karabakh was ruled by Armenian separatist authorities for about 30 years.
Nearly half the population of the Nagorno-Karabakh region in the Caucasus has fled to Armenia since Azerbaijan’s offensive in recent days.
There are currently 53,629 refugees in Armenia, according to the latest data published on Thursday by the Yerevan executive.
The decree on the dissolution of the government of the (unrecognized) enclave was signed by the separatist president of the region, Samvel Shakhramanyan.
The document cites the agreement reached last week on ending the fighting in which Azerbaijan guarantees the “free, voluntary and unhindered movement” of Nagorno-Karabakh residents.
Furthermore, the Armenian forces in the enclave were disarmed.
Nagorno-Karabakh came under the control of forces of Armenian origin, supported by the Yerevan army, following fighting that continued after the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s and 1994.
During a six-week war in 2020, Azerbaijan recaptured parts of Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as surrounding territory that Armenian forces had claimed during the previous conflict.
Source: TSF
