The Collapse of the Republic of Artsakh

The September 28 dissolution decree

On September 28, 2023, Samvel Shahramanyan, the de facto president of Nagorno-Karabakh, signed a decree providing for the dissolution of state institutions and organizations by January 1, 2024.

The decree followed the Azerbaijani offensive, the ceasefire, and negotiations over disarmament.

It marked the announced end of the institutions that had governed the self-proclaimed republic for more than three decades.

The decree was deeply controversial among Armenians.

Some viewed it as an unavoidable decision taken under coercive military circumstances.

Others argued that the leadership lacked authority to dissolve the republic or that a decision signed under such pressure could not have legitimate effect.

Subsequent statements by Armenian political figures and former Artsakh officials challenged aspects of the decree's validity.

The political and legal dispute over the decree should be distinguished from the practical outcome: Azerbaijan established effective control over the territory, while the Armenian-administered institutions lost their territorial governing authority.

The end of de facto Armenian self-government

Before September 2023, Nagorno-Karabakh had maintained its own de facto presidency, parliament, courts, ministries, security structures, educational institutions, and municipal administration.

These institutions operated without international recognition of statehood.

Their collapse meant the disappearance of an Armenian-run territorial administration that had existed since the early 1990s.

Schools, local governments, courts, and public services were no longer able to function as before.

Archives, administrative records, and property documentation became important concerns for displaced residents.

The loss was institutional as well as territorial.

For many Armenians, Artsakh had represented not only a place of residence but a political community with its own public life and cultural institutions.