Thousands of protesters gather in Armenian capital after Karabakh surrender

Thousands of protesters gathered in the Armenian capital on Wednesday to demand that the government do more to support ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, after the breakaway region was forced into a humiliating surrender by Azerbaijan. The protesters, many young, gathered on Republic Square in the heart of Yerevan.

Thousands of protesters gathered in the Armenian capital on Wednesday to demand that the government do more to support ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, after the breakaway region was forced into a humiliating surrender by Azerbaijan.

The protesters, many young, gathered on Republic Square in the heart of Yerevan. Many waved Nagorno-Karabakh flags and some scuffled with police, although the protest was mostly peaceful. Trucks carrying Armenian troops were also present nearby.

Azerbaijan said on Wednesday that it had halted its offensive after Armenian separatist forces in Nagorno-Karabakh agreed to a ceasefire - whose terms signalled the area would return to Baku's control. Armenians, who are Christian, claim a long historical dominance in the area, which they call Artsakh. Azerbaijan, whose inhabitants are mostly Muslim, links its historical identity to the territory too.

Samvel Sargsyan, 21, a student at the Theatre and Cinema University in Yerevan, who was born in Karabakh's capital, known to Armenians as Stepanakert and to Azeris as Khankendi. "We need Armenia to join up with Artsakh and fight," he said.

"Armenians can't accept another country, another religion. Why should we? Why should Armenia give a part of itself to another nation?" Sargsyan, who was holding the red, blue and orange flag of Artsakh, added: "If we lose Artsakh, we lose Armenia. Because the next step will be Armenia."

Another protester, Khachatur Kobelyan, said he was "really shocked with aggression of Azerbaijan on Nagorno-Karabakh". "I think that the U.N., USA and Russia, they are the players that could do something, but I'm really very disappointed and I don't see any hope connected with this solution."

Azerbaijan said that it wanted a "smooth reintegration process" for Karabakh's Armenians, and rejected Armenian accusations that it wanted to "ethnically cleanse" the region. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who lost the Second Karabakh War to Azerbaijan in 2020 but still won re-election a few months later, was facing calls from some opponents to resign.

Some of those in the square yelled "Artsakh!", others "Nikol is a traitor!" Pashinyan has publicly accused Russia in recent months of not doing enough to support Armenia. He said on Tuesday that unidentified forces were talking about a coup in Yerevan.

(Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Alex Richardson)