Trump hosted Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev for what he called a "historic peace summit" in Washington. "Many Leaders have tried to end the War, with no success, until now, thanks to 'TRUMP'," he wrote on his social media platform.

In a joint gesture, Aliyev announced that he and Pashinyan would submit a joint letter nominating Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize.

The two countries, Shiite majority but secular Azerbaijan, a close Israeli ally, and Christian Armenia, had been locked in a bloody dispute over borders and ethnic enclaves since the collapse of the Soviet Union, most notably over Nagorno-Karabakh. That region, under Armenian control since the 1990s, was recaptured by Azerbaijan in 2023, leading to the exodus of more than 100,000 Armenians.

Ultimately, it was Trump's resolution of the core territorial dispute that paved the way for the breakthrough agreement.

Although the two sides had reached terms back in March, the signing was delayed due to Baku's demand that Armenia amend its constitution to remove any language suggesting territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Pashinyan, weakened politically at home, had initially refused, fearing electoral defeat.

At the heart of the agreement is a provision granting the US exclusive rights to build a strategic transportation corridor through the South Caucasus. The corridor will connect mainland Azerbaijan with its autonomous Nakhchivan exclave via the Zangezur corridor, which runs through Armenian territory.

The corridor had long been a major sticking point. Baku had sought an extraterritorial route allowing goods to pass from Azerbaijan to Nakhchivan and Turkey without Armenian border checks, while Yerevan feared it would undermine its sovereignty and open the door to future territorial demands.

The American-brokered compromise allows for a middle path: the route will be built and operated by a newly established US corporation but will remain under Armenian law within Armenia's Syunik Province. The corridor is set to be named the "Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity", or TRIPP.

The agreement represents a stinging diplomatic defeat for the Kremlin, which has long viewed the South Caucasus as its backyard. Moscow, bogged down in Ukraine, has been unable to dedicate resources to the region.

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Armenia announced Friday its decision to recognize a Palestinian state, becoming the ninth country to do so since the Oct. 7 onslaught by the Hamas terrorist organization, which led to the current war in the Gaza Strip.

The declaration aligns Armenia with recent similar announcements from Ireland, Norway, and Spain.

The country's Foreign Ministry said that the recognition reaffirms Armenia's "commitment to international law and the principles of equality" The decision was attributed to the "catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza" and as well the "establishment of lasting reconciliation between the Jewish and Palestinian peoples."

With Armenia's recognition, the tally of United Nations member states acknowledging Palestinian statehood rises to 144 out of 193, representing approximately 75% of the international community. Over the past year, countries including Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, the Bahamas, Ireland, Spain, Norway, and Slovenia have joined this growing consensus.

The development comes against the backdrop of Armenia's own geopolitical challenges, including its ongoing negotiations with Azerbaijan to resolve their long-standing conflict. Notably, Azerbaijan has been a political ally of Israel and a recipient of Israeli military technology.

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The only synagogue in the Armenian capital Yerevan was vandalized with spray paint and attacked with a Molotov cocktail, late Monday night.

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There have been conflicting reports over the group responsible for the attack, with Azerbaijani media pinning it on the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA), and Israeli media saying it was a group called Young Fighters for the Freedom of Armenia (YFFA).

The YFFA group stated the synagogue attack was "in retaliation to Israel and world Jewry's support of Azerbaijan." While ASALA said, "Jews are sworn enemies of the Armenian state and the Armenian people."

"Jews are the enemies of the Armenian people and the Jewish state sells weapons to the (Azerbaijani President) Aliyev regime," wrote YFFA members in a statement posted on Telegram, according to the Israeli Kan Public Broadcaster.

"This is a warning, if rabbis in the US and Europe continue to support the Aliyev regime, then we will burn synagogues in other countries," the YFFA statement continued.

The ASALA statement also threatened synagogues worldwide, saying "This is a warning: Our successful operation on October 3 in Yerevan is just the beginning."

In response, Yerevan's small Jewish community said, "We must not give in to provocations aimed at stirring up conflict between Armenians and Jews," as quoted by Kan.

Video: The vandalizing of the synagogue in Armenia

"Now we must all mobilize to help the refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh", added the Jewish leaders.

Calling it a "provocation," one of the leaders of the Armenian Jewish community said the incident was "a gift to the Azers who maintain that there is anti-Semitism in Armenia."

This article was first published by i24NEWS.

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Recently, I was in the war-torn Karabakh region and witnessed how ANAMA, the national landmine agency of Azerbaijan, worked to clear landmines during the Second International Conference on Mine Action. I witnessed how any person who merely walked across a green area could easily fall victim to a landmine, which only special machines could detect. This is why landmines are so deadly, as they can kill and maim any person, including a child who just wanted to play soccer, just for walking by. This is why planting landmines, especially if they are not clearly marked, is a gross violation of human rights.

In recent days, an Azerbaijani civilian engaging in beekeeping was injured in a mine explosion in the Kalbajar region. This civilian was only the latest victim. Emil Hasanov, Deputy Chairman of the Public Council under ANAMA, added: "303 people since November 2020 have been killed by landmines in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has more than one million landmines. Since Azerbaijan's population is 10 million, this means that there is a landmine for every 10 people in Azerbaijan. Landmines also cause grave environmental damage. Having landmines in the ground for an extended period of time causes certain chemical reactions." He blamed the Russian PeaceKeepers for this, as they often turn a blind eye to the Armenians planting landmines in the area.

In a recent statement, the Azerbaijani Diaspora organizations proclaimed, "The mines and unexploded ammunition planted by Armenia in the territories of Azerbaijan continue to pose a serious threat to the lives of civilians. The planting of mines in the liberated territories of Azerbaijan and the failure to provide accurate maps of mined areas are a clear demonstration of Armenia's disrespect for the norms and principles of international law and international humanitarian law." Due to this grave incident targeting a civilian in Kalbajar, the Commissioner for Human Rights of Azerbaijan Sabina Aliyeva prepared a special report on Armenia's landmine terror against Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijani journalist and lawyer Orkhan Amashov declared, "Landmines and explosive remnants of war remain a significant problem for Azerbaijan. It is not just that Armenia refused to provide minefield maps, but also engaged in transferring mines via the Lachin Road to the part of Karabakh under the temporary control of the Russian 'peacekeeping contingent" after the 10 November 2020 tripartite statement. Maps received from Armenia, to date, only cover 5% of the liberated territories, with the accuracy level of the maps being no more than 25%."

"The extent of the problem is massive: an area with a space of 7000 km2 is uninhabitable due to over a million mines remaining emplaced," he noted. "The next effect of this is manifold. It has ecological implications. Azerbaijan has so far managed to clear 74,644 hectares of land from mines - this is only 9.06 percent of the full extent of the contaminated territories. Large swathes of the de-occupied territories are uncultivable. Due to heavy degradation, it will take some considerable time to bring life to those areas after the demining efforts achieve some tangible results. There is a long journey."

Amashov noted how due to the "lack of accurate maps, there is a human cost, both in terms of accidental civilian casualties and the predicament of deminers operating in dangerous areas. Presently, the demining capacity of ANAMA (Azerbaijani National Agency for Mine Action) is being augmented, but the task is gargantuan. Azerbaijan hopes that the cooperation with Israel, the UK, the EU, and other partners, will give a new impetus to demining efforts. However, whatever resources could be employed, without Armenia providing accurate minefield maps, the process will be long, arduous, and costly in many respects."

Roy Nahari, the CEO of Open Minded Solutions Ltd., an Israeli anti-mine company, noted that the natural environment in Karabakh makes the issue worse, even if the Armenians provided all of the landmine maps: "Landmines in mountain areas are at a very big risk of going with the stream or melted snow or water washed away to the streams and rivers because of the power of the water in those areas. This makes the problem bigger and very dangerous because you do not know where the mines went. The area where the mines are spread is huge. This makes it hard to determine where they are and in what distance they can go. This is the main problem with mine pollution."

DSC Kingsley Chike Ahukanna, the head of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Section CBRNE Unit at the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corp, who also partook in the Second International Conference on Mine Action that was held recently in Azerbaijan, stressed: "Landmines continue to pose a lethal threat to peace, security, and development everywhere in the world and Azerbaijan is not the exemption. 147,988 hectares of land in Azerbaijan are still classified as highly contaminated, while 675,570 hectares are considered medium and low threat areas." He believes that the International Conference on Mine Action helped to create a community of committed professionals, dedicated to eradicating landmines worldwide.

However, despite the international community's dedication to eradicating landmines, this does not stop Armenia from continuing to plant landmines in the region, even though they are supposed to be negotiating a peace agreement with Azerbaijan. Nurit Greenger, the founder of the US-Azerbaijan Cultural Foundation, who partook in environmental protests in the war-torn Karabakh region last December, concurred with Nahari about the mine pollution being one of the gravest issues in Karabakh: "Yes, they dump the ecological exploitation into the rivers. That is eco-genocide. One of the largest perpetrators is a Canadian company. I think that Azerbaijan should simply go into the areas controlled by the Russian peacekeepers and put a stop to it."

Rachel Avraham is the CEO of the Dona Gracia Center for Diplomacy and an Israel-based journalist. She is also the author of "Women and Jihad: Debating Palestinian Female Suicide Bombings in the American, Israeli and Arab Media."

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Recently, I wrote a book titled "Ayoob Kara: The Man Behind the Abraham Accords," which will hopefully be published soon. In this book, Ayoob Kara, who served as Israel's Communication Minister under PM Benjamin Netanyahu, told me that he helped to bring Bahraini Princess Fatima Ben Khalifa, the wife of Bahraini Minister Ahmad Ben Khalifa, to Israel to get medical treatment: "She was extremely sick. Her life was very much in danger." In 2010, Kara approached Netanyahu regarding this. He did not accept the idea at first, fearing what could happen if she dies. But after one day of Kara pushing him, he agreed and this act saved the life of the Bahraini princess.

The Bahraini Minister asked what he could do in return. Kara told him that he wants him to support the Jewish community in Bahrain and to help Israel to make peace. He said, "we will see" and went back to Bahrain. According to Kara, "After that, I heard that everything got better for the Jewish community in Bahrain. One Jewish woman became a minister in the government of Bahrain and one of the important guys in the Jewish community became an economic advisor to the president. They began a new relationship between us and the Jews all over the world."

This ultimately led to Bahrain hosting talks surrounding Trump's Deal of the Century, the Abraham Accords, the Sons of Abraham Alliance, and the peace treaty getting signed between Bahrain and the State of Israel. In other words, it was medicine that led to the successful establishment of peace between Israel and Bahrain.

Now, Israel has a historic opportunity to help a Kurdish child from Iraq to get medical treatment in Israel. AAK, an elementary school-age child from Erbil, suffers from swelling in the kidneys and other serious health problems, which cannot be treated in Iraq. He is at risk of losing his kidneys and his life. Kurdish author Karzan Kirkuki related: "His dad is a university professor at the University of Soran. He defended Iraqi Jews who left behind properties after they were expelled from Iraq in the Iraqi media. He said that it is the Jewish right to reclaim their property or get compensation for everything that they lost. This man only has one son. If he lost him, it would be very sad for him. His mother was also a professor in university and she stopped teaching in the university just to take care of their son, and this affected their income."

Nevertheless, Ameera Kara, the CEO and co-founder of Israel International Medicare, an organization that seeks to bring patients from the Arab world and some African countries to Israel for medical treatment, stressed that so far despite all of A's father's positions and the plight of the child she has failed to get him a visa: "I tried to help him through my connections through the hospitals. I spoke to Sheba Hospital. They said they could help him. I contacted a foundation to help him, as we knew how much the treatment would cost. So, I spoke to a Jerusalem NGO and they agreed to help his case. The problem is that we have a lot of problems with getting him a visa. In the beginning, I thought it was because of corona. Then, I understood it wasn't."

According to her, "In the last year, I tried several times to speak to the Interior Ministry and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. No one could really help us. So, Karzan told the family and they were very disappointed. For them, coming to Israel was their last hope. We wanted to use this to open more doors to diplomatic relations through him. I think it would be helpful if we could do that. I tried through many connections. I spoke to several politicians and they were not able to help. Even when we ask why they do not give a visa, they do not have an answer. A visa would be life-saving and it would open more doors to Israel."

Ameera Kara stressed that she believes that the road to Middle East peace travels through medicine and technology: "Patients and the common citizen see how Israel is fighting against Iran. We are in this together against radical Islamism and Iran. Although we do not want any politics to interfere in medicine, it is the first door to enter Iraq and I hope through that to bring peace to the Middle East and especially to Israel."

Kirkuki concurred, stressing that the Kurds are among the few nations in the Middle East that love the Jewish people and Israel: "Based on that relationship, we wish that Israel do something for the Kurds, just to make that relationship stronger and more visible to Kurdish people. Providing medical treatment is the ideal way to help Kurdish people because it is very hard for the Kurdish people to get visas to Europe and America. Since Israel has the same quality medical treatment as Western countries, we wish for Israel to open a gate to help patients from Kurdistan. That will make that relationship stronger. We have so many people like A, but there is no treatment for these people."

He concluded: "Also, we will make the Kurdish view towards Israel more positive than before. Kurdish people are surrounded by Arabs, Persians and others who hate the Kurds. We feel as Kurds that the Jewish people and Israel are the only country and nation that loves Kurds. This will also make the relationship between the Kurdistan Regional Government and the Israeli government stronger. Iran wants the Kurdistan Regional Government to be weak and unstable, without the ability to treat cases like this poor kid. However, the best way to stand up to Iran's hatred is to help this poor Kurdish child."

Rachel Avraham is the CEO of the Dona Gracia Center for Diplomacy and an Israel-based journalist. She is also the author of "Women and Jihad: Debating Palestinian Female Suicide Bombings in the American, Israeli and Arab Media."

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It was recently reported that five people were killed among them two Azerbaijani soldiers in an exchange of fire in the Karabakh region.   The incident happened after Azerbaijani soldiers stopped a convoy that was suspected of weapons smuggling.    The question remains, what caused the recent escalation of violence in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan?  Does the Kremlin play a role in this latest round of violence?   Do the mullahs also influence what happens on the ground in Karabakh?

Azerbaijani journalist Elnur Enveroglu stated recently that this was not the first time that Armenian separatists attacked Azerbaijan in Karabakh: "We have to blame the external powers and the Russian peacekeeping contingent for not observing their obligation, especially back to the first tripartite agreement with Russian mediation.   This is why Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev mentioned Azerbaijan's establishment of a checkpoint on the Lachin road from Armenia to Karabakh."

According to him,  this latest round of violence "means that Armenia does not want peace and stability in the region and it is always inclined to committing provocations and instability in Karabakh, especially impeding Azerbaijani side to incept the negotiation between Karabakh Armenians in Khankendi."   He added that Armenia is illegally bringing mines and weapons into the Karabakh region, pondering why Armenia would do this.   He claims that Armenia wants to do this in order to threaten Azerbaijan rather than finding "common grounds for peace talks."

However, even if the Armenian side were not so interested in making a peace agreement, Armenia is a landlocked country blockaded on most sides.   If it were not for the support that they were getting from Iran and Russia, they could not sustain themselves without making peace both with Azerbaijan and Turkey, and thus would have gone along with that course of action.     However, because there are international players who also do not want there to be an Azerbaijani-Armenian peace, they are thus able to evade signing a peace treaty.

Neil Watson, a British member of the Advisory Board at the Dona Gracia Center for Diplomacy, noted that what happened recently "is the last attempt of the Russians of trying to maintain instability.  They are very worried that there will be a peace treaty between Azerbaijan and Armenia. The dialogue started between an Azerbaijani minister and the Armenians living in Karabakh.  He listened to their concerns in order to placate them. A dialogue has started on the human level."

According to him, "The Russians fear that it will get out of hand.  So, they permit the weapons to be transported along the road and this led to a confrontation.  The Russians are the source of the weapons in Karabakh, so the illegal entity in Khakhendi will be maintained and they will thus maintain their control.   Now, Azerbaijan seeks checkpoints to be installed at the end of the road.  That is why it happened."

Renowned French historian Dr. Maxime Gauin, who also sits on the Advisory Board of the Dona Gracia Center for Diplomacy, had a different take on the matter, "What we can say with a certain degree of probability is that the Armenian Army and the Armenian separatists do not want the peace treaty.  They feel encouraged by the mullahs and the Kremlin.  This process would mean the end of the separatist business in Khakhendi and the influence of the mullahs and the Kremlin will decline if this would be signed.  The whole reason why Armenia aligned with Iran and Russia is because of their fear of Turkey.   If they were sign a peace agreement, there would be no reason for this alliance."

According to him, "Armenia is the exit door for Iran to the world.  The Iranians cannot export to the south via the United Arab Emirates and the Arab countries, so they do it via Armenia. The clashes are thus linked to the context that I described.    But we should make a distinction between the military and separatists, who do not want peace, and Pashinyan and the government, who are trying.   However, we will know for sure once we have access to internal Armenian documents, but this is the most likely scenario."

Rachel Avraham is the CEO of the Dona Gracia Center for Diplomacy and editor of the Economic Peace Center. She is also the author of "Women and Jihad: Debating Palestinian Female Suicide Bombings in the American, Israeli and Arab Media."

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Ever since the Israeli Defense Forces launched Operation Guardian of the Walls on May 10, Azerbaijan's silence has been conspicuous.

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While Turkey, a country Azerbaijan officials refer to as a "sister-state" has promoted blood libels about the Jewish state, Baku, which sees Jerusalem as a "strategic partner," refused to join in. Moreover, following a conversation between Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov, the latter one of the biggest proponents of Israel-Azerbaijan ties, Baku refused to speak out against the Jewish state.

Then, in a speech, Thursday, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev spoke of the great importance of his country's Israel ties.

"The partnership between the countries is multi-faceted," the president said, adding, "There is a large diaspora of Azerbaijan nationals in Israel, and it is very active. Representatives of this community play an important role in promoting bilateral ties between Israel and Azerbaijan."

Israel-Azerbaijan ties reached new heights as a result of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War, in which, thanks to Israeli weaponry, Baku liberated 20% of the territory occupied by the Armenians, who are partners of the ayatollah regime in Iran.

Senior Iranian officials visited the Armenian capital of Yerevan, Wednesday, to discuss the promotion of both countries' military interests. According to reports in Armenian media outlets, the talks focused on Iranian military aid to Armenia. Following Iran's support for Armenia in the 2020 war, the meeting demonstrates the map of interests in the Southern Caucasus between Azerbaijan and Israel and Armenia and Iran. As for the liberated territory in Karabakh, the Azerbaijani president said: "We have close cooperation with Israel. Together, we are focusing on the issues of agriculture, development, and technology."

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The Azerbaijani military is set to kick off a large military operation, Monday, with the participation of various forces and an emphasis on the many Israeli weapons in Baku's possession.

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The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry will oversee the exercise, which will include 10,000 troops, around 100 tanks and armored vehicles, around 200 missiles and artillery shells, various missile systems, rockets, fighter jets, and unmanned aerial vehicles.

A senior Azerbaijani Defense Ministry official told Israel Hayom troops would be using the Plasan Sand Cat, Tamuz model Spike anti-tank missiles, Israel Aerospace Industries' semi-active laser homing guided low-weight anti-tank guided Lahat missile, as well as Elbit's 120 mm SPEAR mortar system, among others.

The senior Azerbaijani official added the military would use Israeli UAVs, including the state-of-the-art IAI Heron and IAI Harop drones and Elbit's Hermes drone in the exercise, which is set to conclude Thursday.

While the Azerbaijanis defeated the Armenians in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War, they are looking to improve their abilities.

The exercise will be held in a mountainous and wooded region and will examine rapid organization for combat and coordination between various military units, in particular.

According to Aryeh Gut, an expert on Israel-Azerbaijan ties and the executive director of the Azerbaijan House in Israel "The Armenians can be jealous, carry out provocations, and disseminate baseless information, but it's now historical fact that Israeli security firms actively cooperated and continue to cooperate on the construction of the Azerbaijani military system."

He said, "Israel was really genuinely happy about the victory of an important geostrategic and geopolitical partner in the South Caucus."

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Israeli companies have offered the Azerbaijani government in Baku assistance in rehabilitating the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan's Ambassador to Turkey Ibrahim Khazar told the Turkish state-owned Anadolu Agency.

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Among those to offer Baku assistance were Turkey, Iran, Great Britain, Italy, Hungary, and Japan. "The rehabilitation of liberated territories will be carried out while ensuring the preservation of the region's historical and authentic heritage alongside technological innovations," the envoy said.

According to Khazar, the Nakhchivan Corridor, the product of one of the ceasefire clauses in the Second Karabakh War, has created new opportunities for regional cooperation, chief among them the export trains that have already begun to pass through Azerbaijan on their way from Istanbul to Central Asia and even China in recent weeks.

Nevertheless, the war has done a lot of damage, in particular to Azerbaijan's economy. According to Khazar, "The extent of the material damage from Armenia's attacks stands at over $50 million." He noted that "after the liberation, the images of our historic lands were those of devastation."

According to Azerbaijani assessments, since the end of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, the Armenians destroyed 700 historic and cultural sites, 700 libraries, 85 arts and music institutes, 22 museums housing over 100,000 items, four art galleries, four theaters, and two concert halls across the Caucus territory.

Khazar further accused Armenia of having perpetrated war crimes.

"The Armenian military, which found itself helpless in the face of our military, did not hesitate to shoot at civilians in cities that weren't even in the war zone," he claimed. "As a result, 100 of our citizens were killed, 416 were wounded, and major damage was caused to civilian infrastructure."

According to Aryeh Gut, an expert on Israel-Azerbaijan ties and the executive director of the Azerbaijan House in Israel, Baku and Jerusalem have bolstered ties thanks to close cooperation in the fields of agriculture, medicine, and defense, among others.

Gut told Israel Hayom that "Israel was one of the first countries to recognize an independent Azerbaijan. No country in Eurasia has been a closer friend to Israel than Azerbaijan."

He noted that "Israel is one of the strategic buyers of Azerbaijani oil. Following the liberation of the occupied territories, in which Israel played a central role, Israeli figures are very interested in investing in those territories in Nagorno-Karabakh, alongside the Israeli medical assistance already provided by Israel to casualties of the war."

Micky Aharonson, an expert on international relations at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, explained that "the totality of interests that make it important for Israel to maintain ties with Azerbaijan have not changed."

"This is a Muslim country that borders Iran," she said. "For years, Israel has maintained good ties with them, including economic ties. There isn't necessarily a connection between the private firms involved in rehabilitation and strategic ties between the countries."

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The latest round of fighting in the Nagorno-Karabakh region continues to send ricochets across the Middle East: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday submitted a motion to parliament – a week after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a ceasefire between Armenia and Azerbaijan – seeking its approval to deploy peacekeepers to monitor the ceasefire agreement.

CNN Türk reported that the Turkish parliament is expected to give the troop deployment a one-year mandate. The bill also states that Erdogan would determine the number of troops to be sent and the scope of their mission and that civilian personnel could also be deployed as part of the peacekeeping mission.

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The move is Turkey's response to the latest round of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh, which ended in a major victory for Azerbaijan, and to Russia's refusal to include Turkey as a full partner in the monitoring force slated to preserve the five-year ceasefire deal. The Turks have presented the cease-fire as a joint initiative between Erdogan and Putin, saying Turkey will decide the location of the joint operations center for the Russian and Turkish troops. To lower the tensions between the sides, the troops deployed by Ankara likely won't be positioned on the border between the Azeris and Armenians.

The pace of developments in recent days amid the backdrop of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is extraordinary. Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, one of Erdogan's fiercest adversaries, hosted Armenian President Armen Sarkissian at his palace on Sunday.

"We discussed strengthening the relationship between our two countries. We also expressed our support for a ceasefire between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and peace and stability in the region," Bin Zayed said in a tweet after the meeting.

In the meantime, Azeri Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov spoke on the phone with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov. Russia, it is known, is Azerbaijan's patron. Bayramov and Lavrov discussed plans to rehabilitate the region in the aftermath of the fighting, the matter of humanitarian assistance, and the need for the international community to help preserve cultural and religious institutions in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Armenians were supposed to have withdrawn from the Kalbajar region of Nagorno-Karabakh as early as Sunday, but in a gesture of goodwill, Azerbaijan granted the people there a 10-day extension due to weather conditions.

'A direct message to the Armenians'

"When the Turks say 'Azerbaijan,' from their point of view this includes Nagorno-Karabakh because according to international law it is considered Azeri territory," Dr. Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak, an expert on contemporary Turkish politics and foreign policy, told Israel Hayom. "Even if the Turks aren't deployed in Nagorno-Karabakh to the area that represents the border with Armenia, from Ankara's perspective this is still a direct message to the Armenians ahead of the next round of fighting."

According to Yanarocak, "Turkey is already preparing for the evacuation of the Armenian territories. This wouldn't be the first time in the past decade that the Turkish parliament has approved the deployment of a significant military force. It's already happened in Iraq, Syria and Libya. The moment such a decision is ratified, its implementation is immediate. Therefore, the critical question is where they will be stationed in Nagorno-Karabakh. If the definition is 'Azarbaijan,' then the areas recently seized from the Armenians also apply."

In the current situation, Yanarocak noted, "The Azeris are between a rock and a hard place. Although they aspire to sovereignty, they also need the whole world to know that 'Turkey is their big sister,'" and therefore calls the shots.

As for the Sarkissian's meeting with Abu Dhabi's crown prince, Yanarocak said, "The Armenians are batting their eyelashes at Erdogan's biggest enemies because their economy isn't prospering and there's now an acute refugee problem of homeless Armenians. The country is now reliant on grants from Armenians living abroad, hence they're trying to create a mechanism for a consistent money flow."

Yanarocak agrees that if Azerbaijan opens the door to Turkey's military, then it all depends on Russia. With that, he said, "The Armenians seem determined to play the UAE card, which from its own perspective wants to station forces near Turkey. This, however, depends on Russia, particularly after the lesson Putin taught [Armenian Prime Minister Nikol] Pashinyan during the last round of fighting not to flirt with the West. It's possible the Russians won't consent to the deployment of Emirati forces in Russia's backyard – and all the Armenian plans will fall apart."

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