Astonishment, anger and fear. Several thousand Armenians gathered Thursday evening in the center of Yerevan to demand the resignation of the government, but also to try to understand how to help Nagorno Karabakh after Azerbaijan's lightning victory.
The demonstrators walk in small groups, their eyes vacant, some wrapped in an Armenian flag. At times, shouts of “Artsakh! Artsakh!” (the Armenian name for Nagorno Karabakh) are taken up by the crowd, but the slogan quickly falls away.
Few listen to the exhortations of opposition leaders, on a small stage, who call to block the streets and depose Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. On Republic Square, the traditional setting for protests in the Armenian capital, it is time for disarray.
"We are heartbroken. It's possible to open a (humanitarian) corridor, to help people, at least to evacuate the children. It's possible!", says Victoria, a 26-year-old dentist. who prefers not to give her last name for fear, she says, of being the target of Azerbaijanis abroad, where she often goes.
The young woman, a small flag of Nagorno Karabakh in her hand, appeals without much hope to international organizations, "but above all, we ask our government to help its people."
Nikol Pashinian, who refused to send his army to help the separatists of Nagorno Karabakh in the face of a better armed and much richer enemy, is a “traitor”, she assures.
An opinion shared by almost all of the demonstrators, including many young people who brought this former reformist journalist to power in 2018, following a peaceful revolution.
The Azerbaijani army launched an attack on Tuesday against the separatist region of Nagorno Karabakh, mainly populated by Armenians and already the scene in 2020 of a violent war which allowed Baku to reconquer large portions of territory there.
After only 24 hours of combat, the Karabakh authorities, overwhelmed by the firepower of Baku and without help from Yerevan, laid down their arms on Wednesday and negotiations began on Thursday, under the mediation of Moscow, for reintegration into the Azerbaijan from the secessionist territory, where more than 100,000 people are stranded.
The fate of these inhabitants, subject to a blockade by Azerbaijan since December 2022 and where humanitarian aid arrives in dribs and drabs, remains the major question of the demonstrators in Republic Square.
The most macabre rumors, talking about children being beheaded or civilians being shot, are circulating on social networks. The word “genocide” is on everyone’s lips.
"They are hungry, they have no running water, no light, they no longer have a roof. They are Armenians, we are one people and we must be together. Period", summarizes David Vartanian, a 32-year-old cook before unleashing an insult against Nikol Pashinian.
Assures him that once the Prime Minister leaves, “we will be able to fight”. But many recognize that a military victory against Baku, supported militarily by Turkey, seems unrealistic.
So the demonstrators in Republic Square wonder about the future, accusing Russia, the ally whose aid never came, or the European Union, too attached to Azerbaijani gas.
"We don't know what we have to do. We all gathered here to say, Come on, let's think about what we're going to do. But what can we do?", sighs, the tears in her eyes, Angela Adamian, an Armenian-Georgian lawyer.
"We have no friends. No one wants to save us, we don't have a strong enough army, we have no support. We are alone, everyone has abandoned us," she continues.
“We are afraid that this will mean the end of our nation, because we know that Azerbaijan will not want to stop there.”
21/09/2023 21:47:31 - Yerevan (AFP) © 2023 AFP
