Europe 1 with AFP // Photo credit: Azerbaijani Presidency / ANADOLU / Anadolu via AFP 16:45 p.m., October 15, 2023

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Sunday visited the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, a region recaptured from Armenian separatists in September after a military offensive. He himself hoisted the country's flag in Khankendi. It was the first time since he came to power that he had visited the region.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Sunday visited for the first time Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, a region recaptured from Armenian separatists in September after a lightning military offensive by Baku. "Ilham Aliyev hoisted the national flag of Azerbaijan in the city of Khankendi (the Azerbaijani name for Stepanakert) and gave a speech," the presidency said in a brief statement. His remarks were not immediately reported by the presidency.

A surprise and unprecedented trip

This is the first time Ilham Aliyev, 61, has visited Nagorno-Karabakh since he came to power in 2003, when he succeeded his father Heydar Aliyev. Dressed in khaki military fatigues and a black T-shirt, according to images published by his office, the leader also hoisted the flag with three horizontal stripes - sky blue, red, green - in other localities of Nagorno-Karabakh, on the occasion of this unprecedented and surprise trip.

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Baku won a military victory in 24 hours last September against the Armenian separatists of Nagorno-Karabakh, which has since been emptied of a huge part of its population. Before that, Azerbaijan and Armenia had fought two wars for control of the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, one in the 1990s when the USSR broke up, the other in the autumn of 2020, won by Baku.