“We are proud that Azerbaijan has triumphed in such a short time,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan celebrated this Monday in view of Azerbaijan's recent military victory in Nagorno Karabakh.. The “triumph” alluded to the military offensive launched by Baku in this territory, officially part of Azerbaijan but populated mostly by Armenians, which has an autonomous government not recognized by any country.
The operation, which began last Tuesday, barely lasted twenty-four hours until the Karabakh authorities accepted disarmament in exchange for the cessation of hostilities.. Since then, uncertainty and fear have reigned in this region of 120,000 inhabitants, now in the hands of Baku.. They fear ethnic cleansing by the Azerbaijani authorities and since Sunday night, thousands have fled to Armenia by road. As of noon on Monday, 4,850 Armenians from the Karabakh region had crossed the Armenian border, authorities in Yerevan announced.
On the western Armenian border, Erdogan visited this Monday his ally and president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev. The meeting took place in Nakhchivan, an autonomous enclave of Azerbaijan located between Armenia, Iran and Turkey. The visit took place on the occasion of the inauguration of a gas pipeline that connects Igdir, in Turkish Eastern Anatolia, with the enclave of Nakhichevan.. It had been fourteen years since Erdogan had set foot in the enclave and the meeting was loaded with symbolism and parallels between the isolation of Nakhchivan and Azerbaijan's recent victory in Karabakh.
During the press conference. Aliyev attacked Armenia, accusing it of “blocking” gas supplies to Nakhichevan for decades and calling the country an “occupier”. Aliyev and Erdogan also agreed to build a military equipment factory in the city and celebrated the collaboration between both countries in defense matters.. In 2020, Azerbaijan won the war in Karabakh and took much of the region under its control thanks to the support of Turkish military drones. Although Turkey has not been deployed on the ground in the latest offensive, Aliyev noted that “Azerbaijan will never forget Turkey's moral support.”. Aliyev also once again celebrated “the surrender of the Armenian army” and reiterated that Azerbaijan will guarantee humanitarian aid to the Karabakh region.. “Regardless of their ethnic origin, the people living in the Karabakh region are Azerbaijanis, so they will be protected by the state,” he assured.
However, the reality on the ground is very different.. According to Karabakh authorities, thousands of people are fleeing to Armenia for fear of revenge by the Azerbaijani army.. “We haven't taken everything with us in the hope of returning one day, although I doubt it will be soon,” explains Vadim, a carpenter and tour guide in Stepanakert, the unrecognized capital of Karabakh.. “We go to Goris (Armenian city near the border with Karabakh) because we have family there. We don't know if the Government will offer houses,” he explains.
His son is waiting for him in Goris, who studies in Yerevan and whom he has not seen for almost a year, due to the blockade that Azerbaijan began nine months ago on the only road that connects Armenia with Karabakh, preventing the entry of civilians and the transportation of food, medicine and even gasoline. For his part, the Armenian prime minister announced last week that they could care for 40,000 refugees from the Karabakh region, although he has not given details of how they will manage it at a logistical level.
Armenia has called for the immediate deployment of a United Nations mission to the region to maintain the security of ethnic Armenian citizens who decide to stay in the territory.. Yerevan says more than 200 people were killed and 400 injured in last week's military offensive. Baku, for its part, denies the figures.
On the other hand, in Yerevan more than 140 people have been arrested in recent days in protests against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, whom they accuse of making too many concessions to Azerbaijan. Pashinian, for his part, assures that unidentified groups seek to fuel a coup against him.