Soviet Union Defiance in the Streets
Rarely, if ever, had the Soviet Union seen such huge and persistent protests. Day after day, large crowds filled the central square of Yerevan, capital of the Soviet Armenian Republic. About 115 miles to the east, similar throngs clogged the streets of Stepanakert, capital of the Nagorno-Karabakh autonomous region, which is mainly populated by ethnic Armenians. In both cities the protesters voiced the same demand: that the Armenian Republic be permitted to annex Nagorno-Karabakh, now part of the Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan. "We've reached our limit," said a Yerevan resident by telephone late last week. "If this is a time for democracy, we want democracy. We want this problem resolved now."
The upheaval in the south was the latest sign of unrest among the Soviet Union's more than 100 national ethnic groups. In December 1986 thousands of demonstrators rioted in Alma-Ata, capital of Kazakhstan, to protest the appointment of an ethnic Russian as the regional Communist Party head. Last July a group of Crimean Tatars protested in Moscow's Red Square, demanding the right to return to their hereditary homeland in the Crimea. In the Estonian capital of Tallinn last week, a march celebrating the 70th anniversary of Estonia's short-lived independence drew 20,000 people into the streets, according to emigre sources.
While Moscow is hardly in danger of losing its hold over the restive regions, there has been an undeniable upsurge in nationalist tendencies during the three years since Mikhail Gorbachev came to power and launched his campaign for greater openness. In a speech before the Central Committee two weeks ago, Gorbachev described the nationalities question as the "most fundamental, vital issue of our society" and called for a special Central Committee plenum to deal with the problem.
The roots of last week's upheaval go back to 1923, when the agricultural region of Nagorno-Karabakh, three-quarters of whose population is Armenian Christians, was made part of the largely Muslim Azerbaijan Republic. Claiming that they are discriminated against by the Azerbaijani majority, Nagorno- Karabakh's 120,000 Armenians have long wanted to meld their 1,760-sq.-mi. enclave into the Armenian Republic. Earlier this month officials of the Armenian Republic proposed annexing Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous backwater that produces grapes, tobacco and livestock. Moscow rejected the request.
The announcement of that decision two weeks ago sparked rallies and school boycotts in Stepanakert. Within days the protest had spread to Yerevan, where, witnesses claimed, hundreds of thousands of citizens were congregating each day in front of the Opera House, chanting slogans like "One nation, one republic!" and demanding a special session of the Armenian Republic's legislature to reconsider the question of annexation.
The Soviet press issued several sketchy reports on the disturbances and the demands of the Armenians, which were, after all, not directed against Soviet rule. But the limits of glasnost were soon reached. Authorities banned foreign journalists from the area and imposed a virtual news blackout. Telephone conversations with local residents, however, provided some details about the unrest.
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