Garabagh separatists’ new “minister of state” Samvel Shahramanyan Reasons behind Arayik’s resignation

The illegal Garabagh regime’s "secretary of the Security Council" Samvel Shahramanyan, has been named "minister of state" of the separatist regime.

Prior to his resignation, the so-called outgoing leader of the regime, Arayik Harutyunyan, dismissed separatist "state minister" Gurgen Nersisyan, and appointed Shahramanyan to this post, providing him with "broad powers".

Ending months of speculation, on August 31, Harutyunyan announced his decision to quit and submitted his resignation to the "Artsakh national assembly" on September 1, amid a deepening political crisis inside the illegal regime.

Harutyunyan had been under pressure from Yerevan to replace former separatist state minister Ruben Vardanyan, who had links to high-ranking Russian officials. Vardanyan's departure was Baku's precondition for the start of the negotiations. His dismissal came 10 days after the sacking of Vitaliy Balasanyan from the post of Karabakh's security council secretary. Balasanyan had been dismissed due to his disagreements with Ruben Vardanyan.

Amid these developments, Harutyunyan replaced the chiefs of the security council and the security service. In January, Samvel Shahramanyan replaced Ararat Melkumyan as the "security council secretary" of the separatist regime. Melkumyan was appointed head of the "security service".

The resignations came after three-day mass protests, sparked by a violent dispute between security officers and local residents. The protesters demanded the resignation of the national security service and police chiefs. However, at a meeting with the local lawmakers, Harutyunyan denied that there was a political crisis in Karabakh. 

Shahramanyan, headed the Garabagh security service back in 2018-2020, and did not take heed of the Armenian government related to the separatist region, preferring to maintain internal stability.

He was among Karabakh representatives who first negotiated with Azerbaijani officials at the headquarters of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in the Khojali town in Karabakh in March 2023.

Previously, Shahramanyan took mainly security-related posts intermittently in the illegal regime. He served as the head of the Khankandi police, the department head at the "National Security Service", "Director of the National Security Service", as well as the minister of "the Military-Patriotic Upbringing, Youth, Sports and Tourism" in Garabagh.

Separatist leader’s resignation

Harutyunyan periodically fueled speculation about his impending resignation since the beginning of protests of the Azerbaijani eco-activists, civil society members, and volunteers on the Lachin road connecting Armenia with the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan in late December.

Azerbaijan had been insisting on installing a checkpoint on the border with Armenia amidst the illegal extraction of natural resources in Karabakh and arms transfers from Armenia to the region.

The participants of the rally have been demanding an immediate end to the illegal exploitation of the mineral resources of Azerbaijan in the Karabakh region and the misuse of the road.

In February, Harutyunyan proposed the regional "parliament" to discuss constitutional amendments that will allow the parliament to elect a president in case the post becomes vacant during martial law. The move to initiate the constitutional amendments has triggered rumours of Harutyunyan's possible resignation.

In March, Harutyunyan helped to enact a constitutional amendment that empowered the separatist "parliament" to elect an interim president in case of his resignation. The latter would serve for the rest of Harutyunyan’s five-year term in office which was due to expire in May 2025. 

Harutyunyan's party Azad Hayrenik (Free Fatherland) controls the largest number of parliamentary seats but does not have an overall majority in the legislature. It helped to install an opposition figure, Davit Ishkhanian, as parliament speaker earlier in August, who will perform the presidential duties pending the election of Harutyunyan's successor.

Tensions over Lachin road

Harutyunyan's resignation appears to have been precipitated after Azerbaijan installed a checkpoint on the border with Armenia at the entrance of the Lachin road on April 23 to prevent the continued systematic and large-scale misuse of the road by Armenia and to put an end to the transportation of troops and military supplies from Armenia to Karabakh.

Over 2,700 anti-personnel landmines produced by Armenia in 2021 and detected in the Lachin and Kalbajar districts of Azerbaijan since August 2022 were illegally transported to the Karabakh region through the Lachin road.

This February, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev proposed installing checkpoints on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border to facilitate the border delimitation process, but Armenia rejected the proposal. Later, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in May that he recognises Azerbaijani sovereignty over Karabakh, provided that Baku would ensure the region's rights and security.

The separatist regime’s main political factions have repeatedly denounced Pashinyan’s readiness to recognize Azerbaijani sovereignty over the region.

The Azerbaijani authorities also insist that the Lachin road should be open for the daily passage of ethnic Armenian civilians, whereas cargo deliveries to Karabakh should be carried out via the Aghdam-Khankandi road. The Azerbaijani side has also repeatedly invited Karabakh representatives to hold talks on the region's reintegration into Azerbaijan.

Meanwhile, dozens of ethnic Armenian civilians, including medical patients cross the Lacin border checkpoint from Karabakh into Armenia with the mediation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on a daily basis. There is also a possibility of replacing the ICRC with Azerbaijan's Red Crescent Society for humanitarian deliveries to Armenian-populated Karabakh.

On August 29, the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society dispatched 40 tons of flour products in two lorries, and the cargo reached Aghdam on the same day but could not move toward the final destination due to rejection by the Garabakh Armenians, who took to a road leading from Aghdam to Khankendi. These trucks have been waiting in front of the Russian peacekeepers' post on the Aghdam-Khankendi road for three days now.