Dozens Arrested in Armenia During Protests Against Border Concessions to Azerbaijan

Russian news agency TASS, citing the Armenian Ministry of Internal Affairs, reports that police in Armenia have arrested 41 people during a protest against the transfer of several border villages to Azerbaijan. Participants in the protest on Saturday, May 11, demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Earlier in May, coinciding with the announcement of the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers from Nagorno-Karabakh, the Armenian government agreed to return four more villages to Azerbaijan in the 'Kazakh' region. The four returned villages have been uninhabited for three decades but are strategically important, especially as the trade highway between Armenia and Georgia and the Russian gas export pipeline to Armenia are very close to these villages. This decision has sparked outrage among many in Armenia. Protesters, led by a senior Armenian cleric, arrived in Yerevan on Thursday after a 160-kilometer walk from a village in the northeastern part of the country. Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, the leader of the protesters, called for the resignation of the Armenian Prime Minister at a rally attended by thousands and encouraged civil disobedience aimed at toppling the government. Opposition parties in Armenia have also announced that they have initiated the impeachment process against Nikol Pashinyan. However, Mr. Pashinyan's party holds the majority of seats in parliament, and it is unlikely that the impeachment will succeed. With increasing dissatisfaction in Armenia towards Russia for what they describe as 'insufficient support' in the war with Azerbaijan, the Yerevan government has increased cooperation with the European Union and the United States since last year, and peacekeeping forces from several Western countries have been deployed along Armenia's borders with Azerbaijan. Negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan are also increasingly taking place in Western countries and with their mediation.