Exclusive: Baku reaches out to Karabakh’s Armenians with aid

AGHDAM, Azerbaijan — Azerbaijani city of Aghdam was once a bustling town famous for its pomegranate trees and a landmark 19th century mosque with two astonishing minarets which can be seen from kilometres away.

But after Armenian separatists occupied the city in 1993, its Azerbaijani population was forced to flee. They wanted to save their lives. During the First Karabakh War, Armenian soldiers had massacred dozens of Azeri residents of Khojali, a city not far from Aghdam.

Nearly three decades later, Azerbaijani forces backed by its ally Türkiye, took back control of the city — along with other occupied territories — from Armenian forces after fierce trench battles during the 44-Day War, also called the Second Karabakh War, in 2020.

Aghdam is located on the outskirts of the mountainous Karabakh region, which has been the scene of a bloody fight between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the two former republics of the Soviet Union.

The Karabakh region remained a part of Azerbaijan’s sovereign territory since the establishment of the Soviet Union in 1922 and up till early 1990s.

Azerbaijan regained control of not only Aghdam but also a significant portion of Karabakh from Armenians in the Second Karabakh War. In November 2020, President Ilham Aliyev and his wife visited the Aghdam mosque after Azerbaijani forces liberated the city from Armenia.

Now Baku aims to reopen a road between Aghdam and Khankendi, Karabakh’s most populous city, which is still under the control of “an illegal puppet regime of Armenian elements” backed by Yerevan, says Hikmet Haciyev, the diplomatic advisor of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, referring to occupying Armenian forces in the region.

On Thursday, Haciyev along with many officials from foreign diplomatic corps visited a Karabakh checkpoint on the Aghdam-Khankendi road near the Aghdam city center. The checkpoint is controlled by Russian peacekeeping force — which is tasked to secure and patrol some areas across the war-torn region according to the November 2020 ceasefire deal signed between Baku and Yerevan under Moscow’s mediation.

“Azerbaijan built this road and this road is more efficient and has more logistical capabilities. All the necessary goods and cargo can be delivered to Khankendi (through Aghdam),” Haciyev tells TRT World, as he stood in front of two trucks laden with 40 tons of wheat ready to go to Khakendi and other parts of the Karabakh region that are under the control of Armenian separatists.

But Armenian residents of Karabakh have refused to let the trucks pass to receive vital supplies. That’s primarily because Armenia continues to use ethnic ties to sow differences among the people who live in the region.

Yerevan accuses Azerbaijan of hindering Armenian humanitarian supplies from the the Lachin Corridor, a road which connects Armenia to Karabakh. Azerbaijan says if Armenia respects its customs’ rules, the Lachin-Khankendi road could be reopened. Azerbaijan had to put in place security checks on the road after it emerged that illegally mined minerals from the Azerbaijani side were being smuggled to Armenia.

Despite the continuing Armenian refusal to accept Baku’s “goodwill” toward Yerevan, Haciyev strongly believes that Azerbaijan needs to reach out to Armenian residents of the Karabakh region.

“Azerbaijan also sees this process as an element of the reintegration process (of Karabakh’s Armenian residents into Azerbaijan),” says the president’s top foreign policy advisor.

‘Let us help you’

Sultan Memedov, a 49-year-old worker of the Red Crescent Society of Azerbaijan, which is instrumental in arranging the wheat trucks, has no second thoughts about extending a helping hand toward the other side.

“We have only fulfilled our true mission as the Red Crescent Society. For us, it does not matter race, religion or gender. We love humans and we are here to help those living on the other side in an honourable way,” Memedov tells TRT World.

When asked about his opinion on the possibility that the Azerbaijani aid might never reach Armenians due to their refusal, Memedov, a 15-year Red Crescent veteran, says that he and his friends will “continue to watch and follow” their work.

Like Memedov, Metanet Meherremova, 64, one of the board members of the Red Crescent Society and a regional coordinator for the humanitarian group, has been in the Aghdam area since August 29, staying in tents as the sun blazed overhead.

“We have been here to help Armenian-origin residents of Khankendi. But they refuse to receive our humanitarian aid while they continue to complain to the international community that they suffer,” the 64-year-old Red Crescent manager tells TRT World.

“But we persistently stay here, expecting that at some point they might accept our aid,” she says. While right now Meherremova’s organisation is ready to deliver flour, she says that depending on the Armenian side’s demands, they can facilitate the distribution of any kind of food and goods to the people of Khankendi.

“Provide us an opportunity to help you.”

What Azerbaijan offers

Beyond humanitarian aid, Azerbaijan is ready to embrace the Armenian residents of the Karabakh region just like its other citizens, says Novruz Aslanov, the president of the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society, who is also a lawmaker in the parliament.

“We have already announced that we are ready to live together, to work and act together,” Aslanov tells TRT World.

From a legal perspective, Armenians, who were born in the Karabakh region, are Azerbaijani citizens. But during the Armenian occupation of the Karabakh region, Yerevan followed “a policy of annexation”, and it illegally distributed passports to almost all of the region’s Armenian residents, says Haciyev.

As a result, Karabakh’s Armenian residents need to make a proper application to be accepted as Azerbaijani citizens, says Haciyev. This also means that by accepting Azerbaijani citizenship, they also recognise Baku’s sovereignty and laws, the president’s advisor adds.

On the other hand, Azerbaijan will ensure linguistic, cultural, religious and municipal rights of Karabakh’s Armenians, says Haciyev. Azerbaijan is party to various international conventions including Council of Europe’s The Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM). “Under such conventions, we are ready to ensure individual rights of Armenian residents of the Karabakh region,” assures Haciyev.

He also sends a warning to Yerevan and its enablers like France that Azerbaijan will not accept any “gray zones” on its own sovereign territories, referring to Karabakh’s areas which are still under Armenian occupation.

“The real solution is on the ground. Azerbaijan has invited Karabakh Armenians for a direct contact to discuss and identify an agenda about social, political and some other issues based on a mentality of moving forward, reassuring the reintegration process and opening roads,” says the presidential adviser.

“More roads will be even better."

TRT World's Kubra Akkoc and Haluk Ensar Arvas contributed to this report.