On Wednesday, September 20, pro-Armenian authorities in the breakaway province of Nagorno-Karabakh agreed to lay down their arms, relinquish power and allow Azerbaijan to take control of the territory. This "capitulation" came after heavy shelling by Azerbaijan's armed forces in the previous 24 hours.
On September 21, talks were held on the future of more than 100,000 Armenians living in the area. Thousands have already left the province, while others are seeking refuge at a Russian military airport in Stepanakert, the province's unrecognized capital.
In Yerevan, Armenia's capital, thousands had protested in previous days against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, accusing him of failing to intervene to provide military support to pro-Armenian authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Looking ahead, while the future of more than 100,000 Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh remains uncertain, avoiding a full-scale war between Armenia and Azerbaijan could send a positive message to businesses and public entities operating in the South Caucasus.
The message is that the region will probably not experience the horrors of a new conflagration. However, fears of ethnic cleansing by Azerbaijan in post-conflict Nagorno-Karabakh are real.
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