Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced the end of the conflict over the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region in a Facebook post last night, saying that the government signed a deal with Azerbaijan and Russia to cease the fighting. He described the deal as “unspeakably painful for me personally and for our people”.
“I made that decision as a result of an in-depth analysis of the military situation and the assessment of the people who know the situation best. Also based on the belief that this is the best possible solution to the current situation,” he wrote in the post.
“This is not a victory, but there is no defeat until you recognize yourself as a loser. We will never recognize ourselves as losers and this should be the beginning of our era of national unification and rebirth. We need to analyse the years of our independence in order to plan our future and not repeat the mistakes of the past.”
Following the statement, hundreds of Armenians broke into the parliament building in the capital Yerevan in the early hours of the morning. Gathering inside the inner chamber of parliament, they occupied the seats of parliamentarians while shouting “resign!” They then attempted to occupy the podium, before ransacking and vandalising the offices within the building.
Armenian PM .@NikolPashinyan addressed to the nation:
– Those involved in the beating of Ararat Mirzoyan, speaker of parliament, will be punished by law.
– He also announced his plan to organize a rally of his supporters.#Azerbaijan #NagornoKarabakh #Armenia pic.twitter.com/VkWEiUOQkX
— Jahangir Youssif (@JahangirYoussif) November 10, 2020
Thousands of other protestors were also reported to have raided and damaged government buildings and offices in Yerevan earlier in the evening.
Footage was then leaked of the Armenian parliament speaker Ararat Mirzoyan being attacked, stripped and severely beaten by protestors on the street. Footage of Prime Minister Pashinyan’s house being attacked was also released on social media, with unofficial media claiming that he fled to the city of Sochi in Russia.