Politics
Tens of thousands of ethnic Armenians fled Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed Armenian-majority enclave in Azerbaijan that the Azeri army has taken control of. Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, promised to protect ethnic Armenians, but said that Karabakh’s decades-long status as an independent entity was over. At least 68 people were killed by an explosion at a fuel depot. The episode underlines the waning of Russian influence in the Caucasus. Armenia, long an ally of Russia, is pivoting towards the West. America said the Azeri show of force was unacceptable and told Azerbaijan to observe a ceasefire and allow aid into the area.
Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, met Mr Aliyev to discuss the crisis and to hail the Azeri victory. Separately, Mr Erdogan reiterated his pledge to ratify Sweden’s membership of NATO if America sells F-16 fighter jets to Turkey. Hungary’s president, Viktor Orban, the other hold out on confirming Sweden’s membership, said he was in no hurry to ratify.
Tensions remained high in Kosovo, after 30 gunmen barricaded themselves in a monastery during a shoot-out with police. Three of the gunmen and a policeman were killed. Ethnic-Serb politicians said the militants were rebelling against the Kosovan government’s refusal to create Serb municipalities in northern Kosovo, where ethnic Serbs dominate. Kosovo said the men were “Serbian state-supported troops” and that some had fled to Serbia.
2023-09-28 09:10:08
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