Azerbaijan said on Wednesday that it wanted a smooth reintegration process for the ethnic Armenians of its Nagorno-Karabakh region, after forcing the surrender of the forces defending the.
Hikmet Hajiyev, foreign policy adviser to Azerbaijan's president, said the disarmament of Karabakh forces would improve the chances of successfully reintegrating the territory, which had been out of Baku's control for three decades, as well as the prospects of concluding a peace treaty with Azerbaijan's neighbour Armenia. He told a briefing for diplomats and media that this would mean "transformative and sweeping change" to the political map of the South Caucasus.
Armenia’s new relationship with international partners has spurred confrontation from Russia and questioned Moscow's ability to retain its hold on its allies.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has made clear once again that NATO-aspirant Sweden has to take concrete steps to join the alliance and stop the activities of the terrorists in the streets of Stockholm, underlining that the Nordic country will unlikely be admitted to NATO at the alliance’s key summit in Vilnius in July.