Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credits: Karen MINASYAN / AFP 17:02 p.m., September 25, 2023

During a meeting with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev assured Monday that the rights of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh would be "guaranteed". The Azerbaijani army last week won a lightning victory against the self-proclaimed "republic" of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev assured Monday during a meeting with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan that the rights of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh would be "guaranteed". "The inhabitants of Nagorno-Karabakh, regardless of ethnicity, are citizens of Azerbaijan. Their rights will be guaranteed by the Azerbaijani state," he said during a joint press conference with Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Nakhichevan, a strip of land nestled between Armenia and Iran and attached to Azerbaijan in 1923.

Azerbaijan's victory in Karabakh opens up 'new opportunities', says Erdogan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, visiting the Azerbaijani enclave of Nakhchivan on Monday, celebrated Azerbaijan's "victory" in Nagorno-Karabakh, which he said opens up "new opportunities for normalization" in the region.

"It is a source of pride for Turkey to see Azerbaijan's anti-terrorist operations successfully carried out in a short time and with respect for the rights of civilians," the Turkish president said in a statement to the press alongside his counterpart Ilham Aliyev. "With this victory, new windows of opportunity are opening for general normalization in the region," he continued.

"I am confident in the success of the process of reintegration of Karabakh Armenians into Azerbaijani society," he added, referring to the "common interest" of Turkey and Azerbaijan in "peace" in the Caucasus.

Thousands of inhabitants have taken refuge in Armenia

The Azerbaijani army last week won a lightning military victory against the self-proclaimed "republic" of Nagorno-Karabakh, a predominantly Armenian-populated region annexed to Azerbaijan in 1921 by the Soviet power.

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Since then, thousands of residents of Nagorno-Karabakh have fled to Armenia. This mountainous enclave has in the past been the scene of two wars between Armenia and Azerbaijan: one from 1988 to 1994 (30,000 dead) and the other in autumn 2020 (6,500 dead).