Azerbaijan raises flag over the Karabakh capital to reaffirm control of the disputed region

By The Associated Press

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has raised his nation’s flag over the capital of Karabakh in a ceremony reaffirming Baku’s control of the disputed region. The presidential office said Sunday that the Azerbaijani leader delivered a speech and raised the flag over the city which is known as Khankendi by Azerbaijan and Stepanakert by Armenians. The region was previously called Nagorno-Karabakh and is known to Armenians as Artsakh. It’s internationally recognized as Azerbaijani territory. But it had been controlled by ethnic Armenian forces since 1994 following a six-year conflict. A subsequent war in 2020 returned control of much of the area to Azerbaijan. A lightning offensive last month forced separatists to relinquish the rest of the region.