Aliyev's threatening rhetoric makes clear his government will ignore exhortations to sit down for talks with representatives of the entity he considers anathema to Azerbaijan.
The region's already meager electricity generation capacity is in jeopardy, and an "environmental disaster" could be at hand, the local de facto authorities say.
Tbilisi seems to be facilitating Armenia-Russia maritime links, but has no intention, for now, of reviving the railway connection through breakaway Abkhazia.
Armenia has long been on a trajectory of recognizing Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan, but the prime minister's explicit statement still triggered shock and outrage.
Yerevan and Baku have fundamental disagreements about how the rights and security of Karabakh’s Armenian population should be guaranteed. Observers are pessimistic that they can be bridged.
Baku has presented the border crossing as a demonstration of how Karabakh Armenians can live peacefully under Azerbaijani rule. But no one is using it.
Analysts say that, while an Erdogan defeat would be a preferable outcome for Armenia, a change of power in Turkey would not necessarily be a game changer.