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Aliyev Visits Depopulated Karabakh


Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev raises the state flag in Nagorno-Karabakh capital city Stepanakert, October 15, 2023.
Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev raises the state flag in Nagorno-Karabakh capital city Stepanakert, October 15, 2023.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev visited Nagorno-Karabakh and raised Azerbaijani flags there on Sunday as Baku completed the takeover of the region as a result of last month’s military offensive that caused a mass exodus of its ethnic Armenian population.

Aliyev described the restoration of full Azerbaijani control over Karabakh as a “historic event” in a televised address to the nation delivered outside the main government building in Stepanakert.

“We got our lands back, restored our territorial integrity and at the same time restored our dignity,” he said after hoisting an Azerbaijani flag there.

Aliyev’s visit to Stepanakert and other practically empty Karabakh towns was clearly timed to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the start of his presidency inherited from his late father Heydar. He declared that he has achieved his “number one objective.”

“This victory will remain forever in our history,” added Aliyev.

The Azerbaijani army launched the large-scale offensive on September 19. After more than 24 hours of fierce fighting, which left at least 400 soldiers from both sides dead, Karabakh’s leadership agreed to disband and disarm its armed forces. The latter were greatly outnumbered and outgunned by advancing Azerbaijani troops in the absence of any military support from Armenia.

Russia, which has about 2,000 peacekeeping soldiers stationed in Karabakh, did not try to prevent or stop the assault. The Karabakh Armenians regarded the peacekeepers as their man security guarantee after the 2020 Armenian-Azerbaijani war.

At least 100,000 of them fled to Armenia later in September. According to exiled Karabakh officials in Yerevan, only several dozen mostly sick, disabled and elderly Armenians remain in the region.

Armenia’s government says the exodus is the result of “ethnic cleansing” perpetrated by Azerbaijan. Baku has denied responsibility for the almost complete depopulation of Karabakh and pledged to protect the rights of local residents willing to live under Azerbaijani rule.

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