14:38, 26 March 2021

Stepanakert: after talks with authorities, opposition suspends protests

Arthur Osipyan, chairman of the Revolutionary Party of Artsakh. Nagorno-Karabakh, Stepanakert. March 23, 2020. Photo by Alvard Grigoryan for the "Caucasian Knot"

The activists who blocked the road in Stepanakert have agreed to provide the authorities with two weeks to draw up a law on confiscation of illegally acquired property. Only protests can force officials to solve forced migrants' problems, the protesters have claimed.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 25, members of the oppositional movement "My Right" blocked a road in Stepanakert, demanding to resolve the issue of accommodating the refugees from the territories that came under Azerbaijan's control. To do this, they offered to make use of oligarchs' mansions built on "corrupt incomes".

The "My Right" movement emerged during the pre-election protests in March 2020. Its activists have held a number of actions calling to recognize the new Karabakh authorities illegitimate and speaking out against corruption.

Vagan Saadyan has noted that his family lives in a rented apartment with normal conditions, but many families, including large ones, have to huddle in store backrooms, basements and shacks, while "many families can be accommodated in oligarchs' mansions."

Norik Arutyunyan, a migrant from Shushi, is the head of a large family, he has six children. Unable to find a suitable temporary housing in Stepanakert, they had to split up and settle with different relatives. According to Norik, he was engaged in business in Shushi, but lost everything as a result of the war.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 26, 2021 at 01:13 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Author: Alvard Grigoryan

Source: CK correspondent