DPA
Moscow
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev was photographed wearing a military uniform and kissing the Azerbaijani flags he was hoisting in several locations in Nagorno-Karabakh, the photos released by the presidential administration in Baku on Sunday show.
According to official information, during a tour, Aliyev raised the state flag in the Karabakh capital Stepanakert, known as Khankendi in Azerbaijani, and in Martakert, also known as Aghdara, among other places.
In a military operation in September, Azerbaijan completely seized the contested region from Armenia. Azerbaijan considers this 61-year-old Aliyev’s greatest political success.
Before the conquest, the majority of people living in Nagorno-Karabakh were Armenians. Fearing violence from Azerbaijan, more than 100,000 Karabakh Armenians fled the region in the aftermath of the military operation.
The Azerbaijani leadership had recently stated several times that there were no grounds for flight.
The president is criticized internationally for violating human rights and for the repression of dissidents. At the same time the president said a normalization of relations with Armenia would now be possible.
The two former Soviet republics have remained enemies and Aliyev had announced that he would have Azerbaijanis settle in the conquered region, known for its rich soil.
Last year, the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan officially affirmed that Nagorno-Karabakh was part of Azerbaijan. In September, Aliyev announced that the military operation would restore constitutional order.
