This symbolic visit by the Head of State marks Azerbaijan’s takeover of this separatist region subject to Baku since a lightning offensive launched in September.
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Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev visited Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, for the first time on Sunday October 15. There is “raised the national flag of Azerbaijan”, reported the presidency, without revealing the content of the speech he then gave. He did the same in other localities in this region, recaptured in September from the Armenian separatists following a lightning military offensive from Baku.
The 61-year-old authoritarian leader had not visited the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh since the region fell to Armenian separatists in the 1990s. He came to power in 2003, succeeding his father, Heydar Aliyev . This visit by Ilham Aliev to Stepanakert and other localities symbolically marks the end of a conflict which has seen Azerbaijan and Armenia confront each other since their independence more than thirty years ago.
Armenia is now worried about the security of its own territory. Its president, Vahagn Khachaturian, signed, on Saturday, the ratification of the Rome statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), a first step which could allow Armenia to encourage investigations into what it considers to be the “war crimes” from Baku to Nagorno-Karabakh. Above all, Armenia hopes that its membership will offer it additional protection against its powerful Azerbaijani neighbor.