Former Artsakh Foreign Minster Davit Babayan has announced he will surrender to Azerbaijani authorities in Shushi.

“You all know I am included Azerbaijan’s blacklist, and Azerbaijan has demanded my arrival in Baku for a relevant investigation. Today I decided to leave Stepanakert for Shushi,” Babayan writes in a Facebook post.

Babayan writes his refusal to go to Baku, or his attempt to flee, will seriously harm “our long-suffering nation and many people”.

“As an honest man, a worker, a patriot and a Christian, I cannot allow this.”

Babayan served as foreign minister from January 2021 to January 2023. Recently, he served as adviser to the Artsakh president. He founded the Artsakh Conservative Party in 2019.