Dissident Armenians Yield to Kremlin, Call Off Strike

Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh today bowed to Kremlin pressure and an appeal from their Communist Party chief and ended a general strike that had paralyzed industry in the region for several months.

An editor at the local newspaper Sovietsky Karabakh said buses were running in the regional capital, Stepanakert, and the streets were crowded with people going to work.

“Almost everyone is returning to work,” he told Reuters by telephone. Party and government officials could not be reached for comment.

Five-Month Campaign

The Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, who are predominantly Christian like their brethren in the neighboring Armenian republic, have waged a vocal five-month campaign for annexation from Azerbaijan, which has administered it since 1923. They contend that they suffer discrimination under the Azerbaijanis, most of whom are Muslim.

The end of the strike was also reported later today by the official press agency Tass, which said that workers at all Stepanakert’s factories returned to work, as well as construction workers and transport and services employees.

“A total of 78% of the employees reported to work at Stepanakert’s 15 major factories,” it said.

Tass also reported that the Armenian Communist Party leadership had ordered a new crackdown on the organizers of the recent rallies in the republic’s capital, Yerevan, attended by hundreds of thousands of people.

Resolution Adopted

It said the party’s Central Committee had adopted a resolution aimed at curtailing the activities of the unofficial “Karabakh Committee,” which has been the main force behind the Yerevan meetings.

“The Armenian public prosecutor and Ministry of Internal Affairs must take necessary measures to guarantee public order and . . . suppress any activities by instigatory elements directed at destabilizing the situation in the republic,” it said.

The resolution described the Karabakh Committee as “extremist, illegal and unconstitutional.” Referring to some of its members by name, it accused them of hiding behind Kremlin openness policies to spread provocation and slander.