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Even Azerbaijani opposition back Nagorno-Karabakh blockade [1]

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Date: 2023-04

More than a hundred days into the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh by Azerbaijani protesters, it’s hard to escape two facts.

Firstly, the protesters, who claim to be environmental activists concerned about illegal mining in the region, appear to be supported by the Azerbaijani government. And secondly, the country’s opposition appears to largely support President Ilham Aliyev’s aggressive campaign to take control of the disputed region.

The blockaded Lachin corridor is the only road that links Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnically Armenian enclave surrounded by Azerbaijani territory. Hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis fled the regions surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh during the First Karabakh War in the early 1990s.

The authorities consider the blockade a “civil society” protest, which the government blames on Russian peacekeepers stationed in the region after the Second Karabakh War in 2020. But there are indications that the government planned the road block, which has sparked a humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh.

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It is significant that there is no opposition to the Karabakh blockade inside Azerbaijan despite years of repression by the Aliyev regime. The prospect of returning Azerbaijani control to Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding territory, which is internationally recognised as Azerbaijani, has long preoccupied both the regime and Azerbaijani society.

State propaganda has added to Azerbaijan’s trauma over the two Nagorno-Karabakh wars and ethnic cleansing of the past 30 years. This means new offensives against Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia itself, as well as the current blockade, enjoy significant support from Azerbaijani society.

But while there is little chance the Azerbaijani opposition will seek an end to the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh right now, there are signs of change. New forces are gathering momentum and they could play a role in ending the war with Armenia in the future.

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[1] Url: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/nagorno-karabakh-blockade-azerbaijan-100-days/

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