President of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic signs decree ending unrecognized state’s existence as of January 1, 2024
Samvel Shahramanyan, the president of the unrecognized Republic of Artsakh in Nagorno-Karabakh, has signed a decree declaring that the breakaway state will cease to exist on January 1, 2024, Russian state media reported on Thursday.
“All state institutions and organizations under their jurisdiction will be dissolved,” reads the document.
The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, or the Republic of Artsakh, was first declared on September 2, 1991, on the territory of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region and parts of the Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan. It has never been recognized by any U.N. member state.
On September 19, 2023, Azerbaijan announced an “anti-terrorist operation” in Nagorno-Karabakh before launching an armed offensive in the region. A ceasefire was reached the following day under the condition that the Artsakh Republic’s armed forces surrender their weapons and the Armenian troops withdraw from the area. In the days since, tens of thousands of ethnic Armenians have fled the region.
