Modern Diplomacy
Published 2 months ago
The immediate cause came on February 25, when Onik Gasparyan, Chief of General Staff of the Armenian Army, and other senior commanders released a statement calling for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to step down. Pashinyan responded by firing Gasparyan.
Yet the real cause of the uproar is Armenia’s defeat in the Second Karabakh War last year, which has triggered a deeply troubled and long-drawn-out period of soul-searching and consequent instability.
Delving into the details over what are the real reasons and who is to blame may anyway be futile in the cloudy political world of all three South Caucasus states (including Georgia and its current woes). While many Armenians believe that the protests are more about internal democratic processes, there is an undeniable geopolitical context too. Perhaps what matters most is the international ramifications of the conflict, especially as the early phases of the Russian-brokered November 2020 cea
A soldier on the frontline
The Artsakh Armed Forces reported that one of its soldiers was injured when Azerbaijani forces opened fire from Shushi on Artsakh military positions on Wednesday.
The Defense Army said that the 20-year-old soldier, Vartan Kirakosyan was in “serious but stable” condition after undergoing surgery in an Artsakh hospital
The Artsakh Army said that is has launched an investigation into the “blatant violation” of the Russian-brokered November 9 ceasefire agreement.
Azerbaijan did not immediately comment on the reported incident.
The Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno Karabakh said they have no information on the Azeri ceasefire breach.
“We do not have such information,” Russian peacekeeping contingent representative Nikolay Kruchinin told Armenpress.