More than a hundred days into the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh by Azerbaijani protesters, it’s hard to escape two facts.
Firstly, the protesters, who claim to be environmental activists concerned about illegal mining in the region, appear to be supported by the Azerbaijani government. And secondly, the country’s opposition appears to largely support President Ilham Aliyev’s aggressive campaign to take control of the disputed region.
The blockaded Lachin corridor is the only road that links Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnically Armenian enclave surrounded by Azerbaijani territory. Hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis fled the regions surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh during the First Karabakh War in the early 1990s.
