Freedom House’s Nations in Transit 2024 report evaluates state of democracy in region stretching from Central Europe to Central Asia

The international organization "Freedom House" published the "Nations in transit 2024" report, where Armenia received 35 points out of a possible 100 and was ranked among the countries with "Transition or hybrid regime". Azerbaijan received 1 out of 100, thus being considered as authoritarian regime.

 

The report in particular said: 

 

In the South Caucasus, Armenia’s democratization efforts were adversely affected by the Azerbaijani regime’s brutal offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh, which prompted the more than 120,000 ethnic Armenians living there to flee west. They have now settled mostly in Armenia itself, where the government is attempting to address their humanitarian needs while also defending its own territory, consolidating power amid domestic criticism, and responding to the demands for better governance that sparked the country’s 2018 revolution.  

 

The Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was by no means the main cause of the Azerbaijani regime’s final assault on Nagorno-Karabakh in September 2023. Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev had long been explicit about his intent to erase the ethnic Armenian enclave’s de facto independence. Baku set the stage for its September offensive with a months-long blockade that deprived Nagorno-Karabakh’s people of essential goods. The sudden collapse of the territory’s government and defenses prompted the entire population of 120,000 ethnic Armenians to flee for their lives. Azerbaijani troops opened a route for their exit, which made it easier for Baku to take complete control of the land and facilitated what amounted to ethnic cleansing. Many of the refugees had already been displaced multiple times in the last four years. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan’s military continued to threaten the existence of the Republic of Armenia, having occupied slices of that country’s territory after multiple clashes in recent years. 

 

Aliyev’s regime unleashed yet another crackdown on the country’s already beleaguered independent media and political opposition, claiming that it was breaking up a network of US spies. Aliyev’s inauguration speech included renewed demands for additional Armenian territory.