Armenian opposition leader Vazgen Manukyan said on Saturday that the cancellation of the November 9 ceasefire deal on Nagorno-Karabakh was off the table, but negotiations to clear up remaining uncertainties were necessary
YEREVAN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th December, 2020) Armenian opposition leader Vazgen Manukyan said on Saturday that the cancellation of the November 9 ceasefire deal on Nagorno-Karabakh was off the table, but negotiations to clear up remaining uncertainties were necessary.
Earlier in the day, thousands of people gathered in the Freedom Square in Yerevan to call on Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to step down.� People protest against what they consider unfavorable terms of the Nagorno-Karabakh peace deal that Pashinyan signed last month on the back of a 1.5-month armed conflict with Azerbaijan.�
"This document works, we cannot change it or abandon it. This would mean a war with Azerbaijan and Turkey and a confrontation with Russian peacekeepers," Manukyan said at the opposition rally.
Earlier this week, Artur Vanetsyan, the head of the opposition Homeland Party, said that 17 political parties had proposed Manukyan to lead the government after he pledged to set a date for early parliamentary elections and refused to run in them.
The trilateral November 9 agreement was signed by the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia. According to the deal, Azerbaijan will keep control over territories it captured during the conflict, including the strategically important city of Shushi located close to the disputed region's capital Stepanakert. In addition, the agreement led to the deployment of Russian peacekeepers in the self-proclaimed republic and transfer of regions surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, seized by the Armenian forces during the 1988-1994 war, to Azerbaijan. The ceasefire agreement was proclaimed as a victory by Baku and led to lasting protests in Yerevan calling for the cancellation of the deal and Pashinyan's resignation.
