Demonstration against the re-annexation of villages to Azerbaijan.
Police in Armenia detained roughly 150 people on Monday during anti-government demonstrations against the country's decision to hand back several villages to Azerbaijan. The Interior Ministry announced that the protestors' attempt to obstruct roads in the capital city, Yerevan, was unsuccessful. Around 200 individuals participated in the rally, confirmed a journalist from the AFP news organization.
Armenia occupied the border villages in the 1990s. Their significance to Armenia lies in the strategic highway that runs to Georgia and is crucial for foreign trade, as well as a Russian gas pipeline and military installations. Furthermore, Armenian residents worry that Azerbaijan's control of the land would detach them from the broader world.
The transfer of these villages is part of a broader strategy to improve relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, two neighbors who have been at odds for many years.
After the Soviet Union's dissolution in 1991, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been embroiled in a dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. This area is officially part of Azerbaijan but is predominantly populated by ethnic Armenians. In 2020, these two countries engaged in a prolonged battle, resulting in more than 6,500 casualties.
A year later, in September 2023, Azerbaijan seized control of Nagorno-Karabakh in a wide-scale military operation. As a result, almost all of the former 120,000 Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh left the region and made their way to Armenia.
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- Despite the arrests of over 150 protesters in Armenia, demonstrations continue to occur, as people express their concerns about returning several villages to Azerbaijan.
- The return of the contested villages to Azerbaijan could potentially lead to the displacement of Armenian locals, who fear losing their ties to the global community due to Azerbaijan's control.
- International observers and human rights groups have called for an investigation into the police actions during the protests in Armenia, urging for the release of detainees and a peaceful resolution to the villages' transfer issue.
Source: www.ntv.de
