TBILISI (Reuters) – Thousands of demonstrators blocked entry to government buildings in the Armenian capital Yerevan on Friday in the most recent of a spate of protests demanding the resignation of the prime minister.
Pressure in opposition to Nikol Pashinyan has elevated since he moved nearer to normalising relations with Azerbaijan, which defeated Armenia in a six-week battle in 2020.
The unrest additionally coincides with Russia’s battle in Ukraine, which is prompting its former Soviet neighbours to reassess their very own safety and their relations with Moscow.
Protests have simmered in Armenia for weeks since Pashinyan mentioned the worldwide neighborhood needed Yerevan to “decrease the bar” on its claims to the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh area.
Video posted on YouTube confirmed protesters, led by opposition figures, brandishing tricolour Armenian flags and chanting anti-government slogans as rows of cops guarded the buildings.
“With this we’re exhibiting that Nikol (Pashinyan) has no energy in the nation,” TASS information company quoted Ishkhan Saghatelyan, vp of Armenia’s National Assembly, as saying.
Pashinyan’s feedback on Nagorno-Karabakh got here as Azerbaijan has mentioned it was prepared for peace talks to happen quickly however that Yerevan would want to surrender any territorial declare in opposition to his nation.
The Nagorno-Karabakh enclave is internationally recognised as a part of Azerbaijan however was populated and totally managed by ethnic Armenians till they misplaced to Azerbaijan in a six-week battle in 2020.
With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, one other former Soviet nation, Armenia has begun pondering its relations with its neighbours to cut back the exterior threats it may face.
“The battle has induced all of Moscow’s companions to rethink their relationships,” mentioned Laurence Broers, an affiliate fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House in London.
“In Armenia there may be concern that in a worst case situation Armenia could also be coerced into some type of union state relationship with Russia, and consequently that Armenian statehood itself is in doubt.”
Armenia is at present an in depth ally of Russia, which has a navy base in the northwest of the nation and despatched peacekeepers to Nagorno-Karabakh underneath the accord that ended the combating in 2020.
Pashinyan has insisted he wouldn’t signal any peace cope with Azerbaijan with out consulting the ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Mark Trevelyan and Angus MacSwan)
