Soviet Union: Enough Is Enough

Enough Is Enough

After five months of ethnic unrest in the republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev ran out of patience last week. Addressing the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, Gorbachev charged that efforts of the largely Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh to secede from Azerbaijan and join Armenia were "unacceptable" and endangered his program for revitalizing Soviet society.

Taking its cue from Gorbachev, the Presidium vetoed Nagorno-Karabakh's decision to leave Azerbaijan. Then, in the first action of its kind under Gorbachev, the legislative body stripped Soviet citizenship from Paruyr Ayrikyan, a leading Armenian dissident who has been jailed since March for...

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