President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev visited the Autonomous Republic of Nakhichevan on August 11, and in the context of that visit interview gave to the Azerbaijani TV station.

The geopolitical background of Baku’s military operations in the 44-day war

Aliyev, in fact, confirmed our in analyses and expert in interviews the claims made regarding Nakhichevan’s strategic and geopolitical significance and possible security against and around Armenia risks with the fact that the autonomous republic will become a great base for strengthening the Turkish-Azerbaijani military, energy and logistics ring around Armenia, etc. And a number of decisions related to Nakhichevan served as the basis for these claims, they are:

■ In the fall of 2025, it became known that legal and natural persons with the status of residents of the Autonomous Republic of Nakhichevan in 2026. for 10 years from January 1, almost all taxes can be exempted, which implies a number of changes in the Tax Code, and that the exemption will be extended to key industrial directions, an attempt will be made to improve the investment environment, increase the volume of investments.

■ Amendments to the constitution of the Autonomous Republic of Nakhichevan, which essentially was limited The autonomy of Nakhichevan. In particular, references to the Moscow and Kars treaties were removed from the preamble of the Nakhichevan constitution. Instead, the preamble of the constitution emphasized that “Nakhijevan is an integral part of the Republic of Azerbaijan”.

■ The plenipotentiary representation of the President of Azerbaijan in the Autonomous Republic of Nakhichevan, by Aliyev’s decision, received the status of a state body of the 1st class:

■ Azeri sources months ago had reported that works are underway to connect the Autonomous Republic of Nakhichevan to the main energy system of Azerbaijan and to form the Azerbaijan-Turkey-Europe energy corridor.

In this context, it was informed that a high-voltage transmission line with a voltage of 330 kilovolts and a capacity of 1000 megawatts is being built, starting from “Jrakan (Jabrayil)”, and that in the next phase of the project, an additional 44 km long transmission line will be built, which will cross the “Zangezur Corridor”. In 2025, Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Turkey Rashad Mamedov announced. “There is an opportunity to build a gas pipeline from Zangezur to Nakhichevan. Thanks to this, it becomes possible to lay a pipeline from Nakhijevan to Kars, which will open new perspectives.”

What statements Aliyev made on the topics mentioned in his interview, which we considered remarkable, are presented below:

■ For one reason or another there is an energy crisis in our region, and this crisis may be exacerbated by ongoing wars, increasing risks, disruptions in transportation chains related to the transportation of energy carriers, and other factors. It cannot be ruled out that new unpleasant events may happen in the future. Therefore, the special role of Azerbaijan in this regard is undeniable we must ensure uninterrupted and stable energy supply of Nakhijevan.

For this purpose, on my initiative, we signed a gas exchange agreement with Iran. Within its framework, a gas pipeline was built from Iran to Azerbaijan, and the transportation of gas from the Astara region of Azerbaijan to the territory of Iran was ensured. In other words, we secured 100 percent gas supply of Nakhichevan through a swap deal.

■ When we put forward the idea of ​​”Zangezur Corridor”, we first of all had in mind the transport sector. But today we consider it in a wider context. For example: Our project of laying power transmission lines from the main part of Azerbaijan through the territory of Armenia to Nakhichevan is ready. A very large substation was built in the Jabrayil region specifically for the Zangezur energy corridor.

In other words, Aliyev makes it clear that during the 44-day war, their military operations were based on much broader geopolitical and geo-economic plans, and this does not only apply to Jrakan, but also to Kovsaka and other areas.

In this context, he reminded about the tripartite declaration of November 9-10, 2020 and its preparation stage, where they set a condition: the tripartite declaration should include a clause on connecting the main part of Azerbaijan to Nakhichevan, to which the Armenian side did not agree at first, but in the end it had no choice but to disagree. More about this declassification Aliyev did it back in 2024.

In his interview, Aliyev also emphasized that the “Zangezur Corridor” project was implemented thanks to the USA. In other words, Russia, a party to the tripartite declaration, could not force Armenia to fulfill its obligations in this regard by August 2025, or, according to Aliyev, there were other reasons for this. 

Strengthening the military potential of Nakhichevan will not cease to be the priority of Aliyev, who is going for peace

On various occasions, the President of Azerbaijan has made it clear that there cannot be economic and energy security without a powerful army. Therefore, in his interview in Nakhijevan, he did not ignore the role and importance of the separate unified army of Nakhijevan, which exists “under the nose” of Armenia, on which Turkish influence and control has always been very strong.

“It is known that by my order, the Separate All-Army Army was created in Nakhichevan, which, of course, is an inseparable part of the armed forces of Azerbaijan. However, the special circumstances of Nakhichevan, its geographical location and the lack of geographical connection with Azerbaijan have forced us to pay more attention to the security of this region, an autonomous republic, and it will always be so. That is why it is a priority condition.

As I mentioned, The armed forces of Azerbaijan play a crucial role in the region, and the military potential in Nakhichevan is being strengthened day by day and will continue to be strengthened from now on. In these years Strengthening the defense potential of Nakhichevan was one of the main priorities. The military strength of Nakhichevan was demonstrated both through the supply of equipment, particularly modern equipment, and through the creation of new special purpose units. Recently, we have noticed this trend in the armed forces of Azerbaijan as well,” Aliyev stressed.

Let’s add that the separate joint army of Nakhichevan was formed in 2013. in December, in fact, the tasks were completed in 2014. In the same 2014 in the summer, in June, the Armenian army in the Nakhijevan region made serious improvements in position and occupied dominant positions in a significant part of the border with a skillful maneuver.

At that time, according to various reports, the RA came under the control of several tens of square kilometers, which until then had not been controlled due to the difficult relief and climatic conditions.

The Razminfo specialized website had photos almost immediately publish from the specified location.

Later, Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan visited the new positions of the Nakhichevan border and gave instructions on the creation of the communication infrastructure of the new defense lines. All this was also received by the third president of RA confirmation.

By the way, on the same days, the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan issued a message in which it was asserted: “The separate all-power army is in full control of the operational situation in Nakhichevan.” Later, in one of the interviews, the Minister of Defense of Azerbaijan, Zakir Hasanov, denied the message of his own department, accepting the fact of serious positional improvements made by the Armenian side, just in softer tones.

“After the creation of a separate unified army in Nakhijevan, Armenians established one or two positions in their own territory. B:You won’t solve the problem with one or two combat positions, right?” to say was he

2018 After the change of power in RA in April-May, the Azerbaijani side already secured some progress in the Nakhijevan wing, but, globally, the Armenian side in the Nakhijevan wing is still in a fairly good position, but the situation may change dramatically if Pashinyan decides to withdraw troops from Yeraskh, which he talked about years ago. And this is in the context of the 44-day war we have seen The significance and influence of Nakhichevan and the local military potential.

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