Meanwhile, Azerbaijan released two truck drivers whose arrest sparked the tensions, while Iran agreed to forbid trucks from entering Karabakh from now on.
The country already leads in vaccination rates in the South Caucasus. Many expect the new rules to drive a black market for fake vaccination passports.
The remarks earned the country’s senior Islamic official a rebuke from a senior adviser to Turkey’s president and a smear campaign in Azerbaijani pro-government media.
Azerbaijanis, the largest ethnic minority in Georgia, say that Tbilisi neglects their culture while Baku tries to co-opt it. Now they are claiming it for themselves.
Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan was the first foreign leader to visit Karabakh since the end of last year’s war, in which Turkish backing helped Azerbaijan secure its victory.
Following the victory over Armenia, Azerbaijan has thanked Turkey by awarding several multimillion-dollar contracts to companies close to the Turkish president.
In the middle of the country’s victorious war against Armenia, the chief of staff of the armed forces – long the subject of public rumors of “treason” – disappeared. He hasn’t been seen since.
The coronavirus inoculation program is the first in the Caucasus and Central Asia, starting out with Chinese vaccines but incorporating Russian and Western ones at later stages.
The state has set up three “voluntary” funds for Azerbaijanis to cover post-war needs. But widespread reports suggest that people are being forced to contribute.
Celebrations broke out around the country following the announcement that their historical capital in Karabakh had been captured – perhaps no more so than among the city’s former residents.
