Nagorno-Karabakh has chosen a new president. After the resignation of Arayik Haroutiounian ten days ago, parliament elected Samvel Shahramanian this Saturday, September 9, as head of this secessionist province of Azerbaijan populated by Armenians. The election is not recognized by Baku, which since its victory in the second Nagorno-Karabakh war in the fall of 2020, has been pushing to regain total and definitive control over this mountain region where around 120 people live today. 000 Armenians.
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With our correspondent in the South Caucasus, Régis Genté
It is therefore up to Samvel Shahramanian, 44, to have the difficult task of presiding over the destiny of a region subject to enormous tensions.
In recent days, Azerbaijan has again deployed forces along the “line of contact”, and caused tensions on the international border with Armenia.
And this while the Lachin corridor, the only road linking Nagorno-Karabakh, landlocked in Azerbaijani territory, to the Republic of Armenia, has been the subject of a blockade since last December.
The humanitarian situation of the 120,000 Armenians in Karabakh is becoming untenable.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is orchestrating maximum pressure to bring the province back into the constitutional fold of his country, thus trying to achieve what he had given up on doing through arms during the 44-day war in fall 2020 , following the mediation of his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Armenia accepts the principle of Karabakh returning to Azerbaijani jurisdiction, but requests security guarantees for its inhabitants. What Mr Aliev still refuses.
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