protests in armenia have continued in
opposition to a peace deal with
azerbaijan over the disputed region of
nagorno-karabakh
these are pictures we have from the
armenian capital yerevan these
protesters are calling for the prime
minister resign
that hasn't happened and police arrested
dozens of people including some
opposition politicians
the bbc's jonah fisher was at one of the
protests
people here in uravan are angry that
nicole signed the agreement with the
presidents of russia
when you translate it there's a feeling
that he gave up too much
in terms of both the part of
nagorno-karabakh this
enclave inside azerbaijan
and also in terms of the surrounding
territories which
armenia has agreed to hand over in the
next
few weeks well the prime minister has
been defending the peace deal saying it
had to happen because azeri forces were
close to capturing the capital of
nagorno-karabakh
the document was signed when the city of
shushi was captured
and when the general staff of armenia's
armed forces reported to me
that there were problems with resources
and the political leadership of
nagorno-karabakh shared that opinion
well this peace agreement ended six
weeks of fighting in and around
nagorno-karabakh
and it was clear from the reaction in
both countries which one is happiest
about that
[Applause]
this is baku the capital of azerbaijan
celebrations went through
the night a couple of nights ago when
the deal was announced in contrast
this is what happened in armenia
[Applause]
these are protesters storming the
parliament attacking the speaker and
reportedly looting the prime minister's
office
and here's the history behind all of
this both countries fought over
nagorno-karabakh in the late 80s and
early 90s
it was then that the region declared
independence from azerbaijan
and effectively became part of armenia
though that was never recognized by the
international community
after a very long pause the fighting
began again in september
and armenia has lost ground this deal
means azerbaijan will hold on to areas
within nagorno-karabakh
that it's taken during this recent
conflict armenia has also agreed to
withdraw from
several other areas and importantly some
of the refugees
who had to move in the 90s will be able
to return back to the land
that they were forced out of when the
region declared
independence well russia has a military
base
in armenia and for some analysts this
peace deal not only represents a defeat
for armenia but also
for vladimir putin he was not actually
prepared for what happened
or he was afraid to intervene too early
anyway he'll be seen as someone who
betrayed his ally or at least failed to
defend
russia's actually closest ally which
armenia is
and now he's responsible for that well
mr putin is not infallible he committed
a lot of mistakes in the past i'm pretty
sure
he'll commit a lot in the future and i
don't think it will be particularly
popular
in russia where public opinion polls
consistently
uh have been showing for the last couple
of years that russians are tired of mr
putin's
expansionism and want a quieter more
peaceful foreign policy
now as part of this deal russia is going
to maintain a peacekeeping force in
nagorno-karabakh
here's the bbc steve rosenberg on that
there'll be
around 2000 russian peacekeepers in the
region
uh and there's a difference of opinion
about what this means about russia's
role russia's influence there is a
school of thought which says
you know based on the situation russia
came out of this quite well it has
cemented its role
as the chief arbiter
uh the chief power broker in the region
this was a deal
done in moscow not done in washington or
brussels or the eu
again cementing russia's role here and
it's in its own backyard
uh and of course there'll be these 2000
russian peacekeepers
however this is also a big success for
turkey
a big foreign policy success for turkey
turkey backed azerbaijan
azerbaijan has come out of here the
winner so although we probably won't see
turkish peacekeepers
in qarabakh the shadow of turkey hangs
large here and we can see this opens the
door
perhaps to increased turkish influence
in the caucasus
you