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One day after Azerbaijan used force to assert its authority over a mountainous breakaway region in the South Caucasus, its officials met with representatives of the pro-Armenian enclave on Thursday to discuss the future of the residents there under new rule.<\/p>\n
Escorted by Russian peacekeepers, a delegation of the government from the enclave, Nagorno-Karabakh, met in Azerbaijan with representatives of the Azerbaijani government.<\/p>\n
The meeting, which took place in the town of Yevlakh, was described<\/a> by the Azerbaijani presidential administration as having been held in a \u201cconstructive and positive atmosphere,\u201d but did not produce any immediate results.<\/p>\n Azerbaijan\u2019s brisk military recapture<\/a> of Nagorno-Karabakh \u2014 a strategic slice of land slightly bigger than Rhode Island that is internationally considered to be <\/span>part of Azerbaijan \u2014 could further alter power dynamics in the combustible region where the interests of Russia, Turkey and Western states collide.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Azerbaijan\u2019s victory also posed a humanitarian challenge for tens of thousands of Armenians living there. Citing multiple historic grievances, many Armenians have been adamantly opposed to coming under Azerbaijani rule.<\/p>\n And while Azerbaijan\u2019s president, Ilham Aliyev, an address<\/a> on Wednesday, promised to create \u201ca paradise\u201d for Armenians in Karabakh and claimed they could \u201cfinally breathe a sigh of relief,\u201d few in Nagorno-Karabakh were persuaded. They instead heard a message coming from the leader of a nation many Armenians see as bent on destroying them.<\/p>\n \u201cThe biggest problem now is what to do with the many displaced people who cannot return to the villages that were captured by Azerbaijan,\u201d said Olesya Vartanyan, an analyst who assesses the region for the International Crisis Group.<\/p>\n Ms. Vartanyan said there were thousands of people in Nagorno-Karabakh who cannot decide what to do: hide in their basements, stay at Russian peacekeeping bases and observation points or try to flee the region. \u201cPeople are in panic and the humanitarian situation there is horrendous,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In Armenia on Thursday night, thousands <\/span>again came to the main square of their capital, Yerevan, to urge their government to take a more assertive stance and protect Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. Many have been trying to reach relatives in the enclave, now under full control of Azerbaijan, calling and texting them repeatedly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThere is no telephone connection, no electricity in most buildings, no food there,\u201d said Marianna A. Vorskanyan, who kept trying her friends in Nagorno-Karabakh. \u201cThese people have no idea what is awaiting them. The only corridor they could use to leave is surrounded by Azerbaijan.\u201d<\/p>\n The shift in control also raised serious questions about the apparent waning of Russia\u2019s influence in the region.<\/p>\n Following a 44-day war in 2020, in which Azerbaijan recaptured much of its land, Russia sent about 2,000 peacekeepers to monitor the situation and prevent ethnic clashes. But lacking a clear mandate, the peacekeepers could not prevent a new stage of fighting that flared over the summer and culminated in this week\u2019s Azerbaijani victory.<\/p>\n The authorities in the breakaway government reported<\/a> on Thursday that at least 200 people had died in the fighting, including 10 civilians; the rest were army servicemen. Those figures could be independently verified.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n