Azerbaijan on 3–4 July hosted Eurasian Cooperation Organisation in Nagorno-Karabakh region, one of the first major events held in the region following Azerbaijan’s lightning victory in 2023.
Addressing the summit in Nagorno-Karabakh’s capital Khankendi [Stepanakert in Armenian], Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said the region had already hosted several international events since its “liberation” from Armenia in the war in 2022 and in a short assault in 2023 that resulted in mass exodus of the region’s Armenian population.
“I would like to note the ECO Council of Ministers in Shusha in 2023, the first informal Summit of the Organisation of Turkic States in 2024, and the trilateral Summit of the leaders of Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Pakistan in Lachin in May of this year,” Aliyev said.
He stressed that “large-scale reconstruction work is currently underway in all of Karabakh and Eastern Zangezur, which have been liberated from occupation.”
The summit was attended by representatives and leaders from ECO member countries, including Turkey, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan. Armenia’s close ally Iran also participated as an ECO member, despite ongoing tensions with Azerbaijan amid allegations that Baku allowed Israel use its airspace in attacks on Iran. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian who had earlier urged Aliyev to investigate reports of Azerbaijan’s involvement in the twelve-day Iran-Isarel war, was among the attendees.
Representatives from ECO Observer states, such as the Turkish Cypriot State and the Organisation of Turkic States, were also present, along with ‘special guests’ from Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates.
