Karabakh’s de-facto leader announces resignation amid political crisis
- 31 August, 11:03
The de-facto leader of Nagorno-Karabakh region has resigned amid the deepening political crisis. Announcing the resignation in his Facebook post on Thursday, Araik Harutyunyan suggested that holding on to power would hamper the ongoing peace negotiations with Azerbaijan.
“My biography and Azerbaijan’s attitude to it artificially create a number of conditions that cause significant problems for building our further steps and conducting a flexible policy,” Harutunyan wrote. “This is a balanced decision based on the results of analyzing the data available to me, it was made by me personally,” he added. The resignation will enter into force on September 1. His current term was due to end in 2025.
At the same time, he dismissed the second most senior official, State Minister Gurgen Nersisyan who will be replaced by Samvel Shahramanyan, the former head of the region’s Security Council. Days before his resignation, Harutyunyan signed into law changes that would allow parliament to appoint his successor. The changes stipulate that the parliament will appoint within ten days a successor for the president if he leaves office early during the martial law. The region has been under martial since the end of the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan back in 2020. Harutyunyan had promised to resign following Armenia’s defeat in the six-week war that lasted from late September to November. His resignation was also demanded by Karabakh’s former state minister Ruben Vardanyan who was given extended power by Harutyunyan between late 2022 and early 2023. The resignation also comes amid the political row between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Yerevan has accused Baku of blocking the Lachin corridor, the only road linking Nagorno-Karabakh to the outer world and thus creating humanitarian crisis in the region.
