As more and more ethnic Armenians leave the Caucasus region of Nagorno-Karabakh for Armenia, the Azerbaijani leadership is now apparently increasing pressure on southeastern Armenia to create a corridor to the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhichevan, which is largely surrounded by Armenia and Iran.
On Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev laid the foundation stone for a new natural gas pipeline between the exclave and Turkey. During his visit to Nakhchivan, Erdogan congratulated Aliyev on the conquest of Nagorno-Karabakh. The Azerbaijani army achieved a “historic success”. With Turkey’s support, regional developments are moving in the right direction, Aliyev emphasizes.
Russia welcomes the meeting between Erdogan and Aliyev
After brief, violent attacks by the Azerbaijani army last week, the defenders of the internationally unrecognized ‘Republic of Artsakh’ were forced to lay down their arms. Nagorno-Karabakh is inhabited by a majority of Armenians. Turkey is a close ally of Azerbaijan, which wants to reintegrate the area. Karabakh Armenians fear expulsion or revenge from authoritarian Azerbaijan after decades of conflict.
Russia welcomed the meeting between Erdogan and Aliyev. “We always hope that all meetings of the President of Azerbaijan, including those with the Turkish President, will serve to normalize life in Karabakh after what happened,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday, according to the Interfax news agency. Russia maintains a military contingent in Nagorno-Karabakh that was supposed to monitor a ceasefire between Armenia and Azerbaijan in 2020.
Austrian parties call for more pressure on Azerbaijan
The Greens, ÖVP, SPÖ and NEOS as well as the Armenian community on Monday drew attention to the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and called for international pressure on Azerbaijan. “The second Armenian genocide is already underway and without intervention the entire Armenian population faces a deadly future,” warned a representative of the Armenian community.
The SPÖ called for a UN mission to protect the Armenian population in Nagorno-Karabakh. Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP) should commit himself to this, the chairman of the foreign policy committee in the National Council, Christoph Matznetter, said in a broadcast on Monday.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
