Several Turkish media outlets reported on Sunday that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan would meet his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliev on Monday in the Azerbaijani enclave of Nakhichevan, which lies between Armenia and Iran and borders Turkey.
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Mr. Erdogan and Mr. Aliev, Ankara’s ally, said in June they wanted to step up efforts to open a land corridor – known as the “Zangezur Corridor” – linking Turkey to mainland Azerbaijan via the Nakhichevan enclave and Armenia, an ancient one and complex project.
This meeting comes as the Azerbaijani army launched an attack on Tuesday on the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, populated mostly by Armenians and already the scene of a violent war in 2020 that allowed Baku to retake large swaths of territory.
The Turkish president has expressed his “support” for the Baku army several times this week.
After just 24 hours of fighting, Karabakh authorities, overwhelmed by Baku’s firepower and without help from Yerevan, laid down their arms on Wednesday and on Thursday began negotiations, brokered by Moscow, to reintegrate into Azerbaijan from the breakaway territory, where many residents are stranded.
Some experts believe that Baku may now try to press its advantage and launch operations in southern Armenia to establish territorial continuity with the Nakhichevan enclave.