Arayik Harutyunyan © Official Photo
Arayik Harutyunyan, the de facto leader of what remains of the former Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO), has resigned. Though many were skeptical, given similar pronouncements in recent months, Harutyunyan, who held the otherwise unrecognized position of ‘president’ of the mainly ethnic-Armenian breakaway region, was true to his word this time. He left office on 1 September, a day after announcing his intention to do so in a post made on Facebook.
De facto ‘State Minister’ Gurgen Nersisyan and his advisor, Artak Beglaryan, also left their positions while ‘Security Council Secretary’ Samvel Shahramanyan replaced Nersisyan. The move is seen as a culmination of months of rumoured internal power struggle ongoing since Nersisyan’s predecessor, Russian-Armenian billionaire Ruben Vardanyan, was appointed to the position of de facto State Minister in November last year.
Vardanyan was dismissed in February. Despite that departure, however, it was Vardanyan’s appointment as de facto State Minister that arguably led to the impasse on the Lachin highway that began on 12 December last year. It is this that remains partially responsible for the political crisis in Karabakh today, although others believe that Baku’s current focus on Lachin is also a direct result of the failure of Armenia and Azerbaijan to negotiate the latter’s access to the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan.With Lachin and the route to Nakhchivan mentioned in the 2020 trilateral ceasefire statement, Baku had urged reciprocity in dealing with both. That remains a moot point, however, as there is no indication of whether the “Zangezur Corridor” will be launched anytime soon. As a result, access to Lachin remains limited.
In recent months, this situation has deteriorated further, with commercial goods and humanitarian assistance unable to enter Karabakh from Armenia, leading to a much-publicized limited availability of imported goods and concerns over the well-being of the population. The 15 June shooting from the Armenia side on Azerbaijani border guards stationed on the Hakari bridge saw Baku’s checkpoint on the highway almost totally closed down.
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