This Monday, September 25, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliev, will meet in the Azerbaijani enclave of Nakhichevan. The latter is located at a strategic point between Armenia and Iran and bordering Turkey. This interview was announced this Sunday, September 24, by several Turkish media.
Mr. Erdogan and Mr. Aliev, Ankara's ally, said in June they wanted to step up their efforts to open a land corridor – known as the “Zangezur corridor” – linking Turkey to the main territory of Azerbaijan via the Nakhichevan enclave and Armenia, an old and complex project.
This meeting comes as the Azerbaijani army launched an attack on Tuesday against the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, mainly populated by Armenians and already the scene in 2020 of a violent war which allowed Baku to reconquer large portions of it. of territory. The Turkish president has repeatedly expressed his support for Baku's army this week.
After only 24 hours of fighting, the Karabakh authorities, overwhelmed by the firepower of Baku and without help from Yerevan, laid down their arms on Wednesday and negotiations began on Thursday, under the mediation of Moscow, for reintegration into the Azerbaijan from the secessionist territory, where many residents remain stranded.
Some experts believe that Baku could now seek to push its advantage and launch operations in southern Armenia in order to create territorial continuity with the Nakhichevan enclave.
