“Ilham Aliyev raised the national flag of Azerbaijan in the town of Khankendi (the Azerbaijani name for Stepanakert) and delivered a speech,” the presidency said in a brief statement. His comments on site were not immediately reported by the presidency. Dressed in khaki military fatigues and a black T-shirt according to images published by his services, the leader also hoisted the flag with three horizontal bands – sky blue, red, green – in other localities in Haut- Karabakh, on the occasion of this unprecedented and surprise trip.
This is the first time that Ilham Aliyev, 61, has visited the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh since the region fell into the hands of Armenian separatists in the 1990s. The leader came to power in 2003 , succeeding his father Heydar Aliev.
Less than a month ago, Baku won a military victory in 24 hours against the Armenian separatists of Nagorno-Karabakh, which has since been emptied of a huge part of its population. Before that, Azerbaijan and Armenia had opposed each other in two wars for control of this mountainous enclave, one in the 1990s following the dislocation of the USSR, the other in the fall of 2020, won by Baku.
Mr. Aliev’s visit on Sunday to Stepanakert and other localities in Nagorno-Karabakh thus symbolically marks the end of this conflict which has seen Azerbaijan and Armenia confront each other since their independence more than thirty years ago. .
The son and successor of President Heydar Aliyev – a former KGB officer and communist leader who had governed the country almost without interruption from 1969 to 2003 – thus succeeded in the mission he had set for himself: to reunify his country by regaining control of Nagorno-Karabakh. A consecration after twenty years at the head of a harsh regime which tolerates no opposition.
The political support of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who sold him weapons, undeniably counted in bringing Armenia, support of the separatists and historical enemy of Ankara, to its knees.
However, tensions have not eased between Baku and Yerevan. Armenia, which accuses Russia of having abandoned it, is now worried about the security of its own territory.
At the initiative of the European Union, Ilham Aliev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian could meet in Brussels by the end of October to try to reduce the strong tensions between their two countries. what she judges to be Baku’s “war crimes” in Nagorno-Karabakh, accusations brushed aside by Azerbaijan. But above all, Armenia hopes that its membership will offer it additional protection against its powerful Azerbaijani neighbor.
Furthermore, Pope Francis launched an appeal on Sunday to preserve the religious heritage of Nagorno-Karabakh, in particular its old monasteries, in the face of the uncertainty caused by the resumption of the region by Azerbaijan.