Word: armenians
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Even as Mikhail Gorbachev extolled the virtues of perestroika in Poland, the potential pitfalls of demokratizatsiya continued to be embarrassingly apparent in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Delaware-size region that is geographically part of the Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan but whose people are predominantly Armenian. After five months of protests by Armenian activists who wanted the enclave to become part of the Armenian Republic, the ruling council of Nagorno-Karabakh voted unanimously last week to secede from Azerbaijan. According to TASS, the council also decided to rename the area "the Artsakh Autonomous Region of Armenia" and to be governed by Armenia...
...much for wishful thinking. The executive council of the Azerbaijani parliament promptly passed a resolution declaring the vote illegal, and Nagorno-Karabakh's public prosecutor appeared on nationwide television to second that opinion. In a main square of Yerevan, the Armenian capital, protesters continued to demonstrate solidarity with Nagorno-Karabakh secessionists...
Since foreign journalists are forbidden to travel to the area, they must rely on telephone interviews with Armenian activists. "Nearly the whole country is on strike," a musician in Yerevan told TIME Moscow Correspondent Ann Blackman. "Most plants are shut, including one that supplies rubber for much of the country. Movie theaters and concert halls are closed. We're in a state of mourning." He reported that militiamen accompany bus drivers in case local citizens set up blockades and that doctors and telephone operators stop work for one minute each hour to demonstrate their sympathy...
...more vaguely worded statements. It called for both "greater independence" for regions and republics and for a strengthening of "our multinational state." That clearly did not go far enough to satisfy nationalists in Armenia, who have been agitating for months for the annexation of Nagorno-Karabakh, a predominantly Armenian enclave in the neighboring republic of Azerbaijan. The conference had hardly ended when activists in Yerevan, the Armenian capital, resumed demonstrations that have occurred sporadically since last February. Last week a crowd of nearly 2,000 massed at the city's airport, paralyzing the facility and causing the cancellation...
Troublesome as they may be, the Armenian protests -- and Moscow's restraint in dealing with them -- are part of what makes the Soviet Union look less formidable these days. A truly evil empire would have put down the protests with tanks, troops and mass arrests. Shared problems build trust...