Azerbaijani Flag Flies Over Karabakh Capital

The flag of Azerbaijan flies over the capital of the former self-proclaimed Armenian republic of Nagorno-Karabakh. The city that the Armenians called Stepanakert now bears the name Khankendi, which means “khan’s village” in Azerbaijani. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev personally came to raise the flag. During the ceremony, the President of Azerbaijan, dressed in a military camouflage suit, said that finally “the flag of Azerbaijan flies over all former occupied territories that have returned to their homeland.”

Azerbaijan has reaffirmed its control over the region disputed between the two former Soviet republics of the Caucasus, after a lightning military operation, in which the paramilitary forces of the separatist republic of Armenia, described by Aliyev as “occupying forces,” were forced to lay down their arms. The Azerbaijani attack killed dozens of people, including six Russian peacekeepers, and forced more than 100,000 people to flee to Armenia, which is virtually the entire ethnic Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Aliyev emphasized that the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan “has been fully restored, as established by four UN Security Council resolutions.” Many countries of the world, including Russia, international organizations of the UN General Assembly, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Council of Europe, and the European Parliament have recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as an “integral part” of the national territory of Azerbaijan.