BREAKING: Karabakh president to resign, state minister replaced

By Mark Dovich

Nagorno-Karabakh President Arayik Harutyunyan has said he will resign, putting an end to weeks of swirling speculation over the embattled leader’s political future.

Continued international inaction around Azerbaijan’s ongoing blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh “suggests there is a need to change our approaches and steps and show flexibility,” Harutyunyan wrote on Facebook Thursday.

“To achieve that, we need to change the main actors in Artsakh, starting with me,” Harutyunyan continued. “Tomorrow, I will present my resignation.”

Earlier Thursday, Harutyunyan dismissed Gurgen Nersisyan from the post of state minister, akin to prime minister, and replaced him with Samvel Shahramanyan, formerly the head of Nagorno-Karabakh’s Security Council.

Harutyunyan indicated he granted Shahramanyan “broad powers” but did not immediately clarify what that would mean.

Earlier this year, Nagorno-Karabakh’s legislature approved a constitutional amendment pushed by Harutyunyan to allow lawmakers to select an interim president in case the elected president resigns. Before, the president’s resignation would have triggered a general election.

Nagorno-Karabakh’s National Assembly is required to convene within seven to ten days to select a new president, who is expected to serve out the rest of Harutyunyan’s term, until 2025.