23 Dec 2020 in 19:36 Eurasianet
photo by Paul Benjamin Osterlund
On the bottom left corner of my Azerbaijan Airlines ticket from Istanbul to Baku is printed the phrase “KARABAKH IS AZERBAIJAN.” It is the first of hundreds of times I will see this phrase over the next few days: on screens in the Baku airport, billboards in the city center, storefronts of countless shops, freelance journalist Paul Benjamin Osterlund writes in the article
Hotels and stadiums sparkle with the blue, red and green of Azerbaijan s flag, photos of President Ilham Aliyev with a raised, closed fist are everywhere, framed by the caption: “Karabakh is ours! Karabakh is Azerbaijan!” Due to coronavirus-related restrictions, nearly everything except for markets and takeout coffeeshops is closed, and the streets are mostly empty.