Diplomats in Karabakh: A Reality That Can No Longer Be Ignored
There are events that over time turn into a tradition.
Another visit by representatives of the diplomatic corps in Azerbaijan to Karabakh and East Zangezur is precisely one of these. Today marked the start of the 22nd trip by foreign diplomats to the country's liberated territories since 2020.
This time, 150 representatives of 58 countries and 9 international organizations are taking part in the two-day visit. The delegation is accompanied by Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan and Head of the Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Presidential Administration Hikmet Hajiyev.
The very number of such trips already says a great deal. Karabakh is becoming a space that foreign representatives can visit not occasionally, but regularly, observing the changes taking place here practically as they unfold.
Each new visit makes it possible to see what was not yet there during the previous one — new roads and infrastructure facilities, ongoing construction, the return of residents, the restoration of historical monuments.
Just a few years ago, the picture was completely different.
Where railway stations, roads, schools and residential neighborhoods are being built today, destroyed cities and villages remained for many years. Today, what is impossible to have genuine restoration without is returning to these places — ordinary human life. Where there were ruins just recently, houses are appearing again, public spaces are operating, infrastructure is developing. Families are returning, and along with them, children's laughter is coming to the cities and villages — one of the simplest and at the same time most convincing signs that the land is truly coming back to life.
It is precisely this transformation that the diplomatic corps has the opportunity to observe directly, with their own eyes.
From ruins to cities
The current trip covers several key points of Karabakh and East Zangezur at once — Khankendi, Shusha, Aghdere and Kalbajar. Representatives of the diplomatic corps are familiarizing themselves with social and economic infrastructure projects being implemented as part of the large-scale process of restoration, construction and development.
The first point on the route was Fuzuli, where the delegation arrived through Fuzuli International Airport. This facility itself has long become one of the symbols of the new transport infrastructure of the liberated territories. Karabakh's "air gateway" connects it with the rest of the country and creates conditions for further economic development.
In Khankendi, the diplomats visited the railway and bus terminal complex, where restoration and construction work is continuing.
For a foreign observer, such facilities are important not only in themselves. They show the scale of the task — this is about the actual re-creation of a modern urban environment, transport links and conditions for a full-fledged life.
The visit program also includes familiarization with the Khankendi Cultural Center, facilities in Shusha, the Aghdere and Kalbajar districts, as well as with the condition of the historical and cultural heritage and the work on its preservation and restoration.
Thus, the diplomats are being shown Karabakh not simply as a territory on the political map, but as a living region where issues of housing, transport, the economy, culture and the return of the population are being addressed simultaneously.
This is a fundamentally important detail. Restoration is a process that cannot be fully imagined from official reports or photographs. Its scale becomes far more understandable when you see with your own eyes the distances, the volume of construction and the extent to which the space around is changing.
Another important signal
The current visit is noteworthy not only for its scale.
The delegation of diplomats was joined by the European Union Special Representative for the South Caucasus Magdalena Grono. The day before, she held talks with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov, during which relations between Azerbaijan and the EU, the regional situation, and issues of peace and stability in the South Caucasus were discussed.
Against this backdrop, her participation in the trip takes on special significance.
As is known, for a certain period, some representatives of the international community preferred to refrain from traveling to Karabakh. Today the situation is changing. Diplomats are coming to the region, familiarizing themselves with the processes taking place here and getting the opportunity to see the results of the restoration directly.
This is no longer merely a matter of protocol. Behind such visits lies a broader process — the gradual comprehension of the new realities that have taken shape in the region after the end of the conflict. Azerbaijan has restored control over its internationally recognized territories, and now it is consistently demonstrating how it sees their future.
And that future is connected not with the continuation of confrontation, but with restoration, the return of people, the development of infrastructure, the opening of communications — the formation of real conditions for lasting peace.
That is precisely why the visits of foreign diplomats have significance that goes beyond their immediate program. Each such visit is an opportunity for international representatives to see for themselves what is happening on the ground, to compare what they see with political statements and to assess the scale of the changes.
The Karabakh that must be seen
Over the past six years, Karabakh and East Zangezur have traveled a path that until recently was hard to imagine. The destroyed territories are gradually turning into "smart" cities and villages connected by modern infrastructure. Historical sites are being restored, roads and railway lines are being laid, and new public spaces are being created.
"The lands of Karabakh and East Zangezur are currently experiencing a true revival," Hikmet Hajiyev states. "Over the past six years, we have witnessed a remarkable and exemplary transformation of Karabakh and East Zangezur taking place before our eyes. Today these lands are experiencing a true revival. With each visit, we see new achievements in restoration and development, as well as the return of life to these lands," he wrote on his page on the social network X.
This is exactly what makes such trips special. For diplomats who are not here for the first time, the changes are especially obvious: they can compare what they see today with what they observed a year or several years ago.
And for those visiting the region for the first time, Karabakh becomes an opportunity to see reality directly with their own eyes.
It is especially important that this process is taking place against the backdrop of the advancement of the regional peace agenda. At yesterday's meeting between Jeyhun Bayramov and Magdalena Grono, steps to ensure peace and security in the South Caucasus, the normalization of relations and the strengthening of trust between Azerbaijan and Armenia were also discussed. The importance of the meetings of the leaders of the two countries, including the one held in Bishkek in August, was noted separately.
Thus, the restoration of the liberated territories and the diplomatic work surrounding peace in the region turn out to be parts of one large process.
Azerbaijan seeks to show Karabakh not as a symbol of the past conflict, but as part of the region's future.
And perhaps that is exactly why the visits of the diplomatic corps are more important than they may seem at first glance. They show that Karabakh is gradually becoming a place that international representatives come to see not only in the context of the past war, but also in the context of the future — construction, the return of former internally displaced persons, economic development and peaceful coexistence.
When the number of such visits reaches 22, this is no longer about an isolated diplomatic gesture. A sustained practice is taking shape.
The world is gradually getting to know the new Karabakh — the one that until recently was a territory of destruction and today is becoming a territory of restoration. And the more foreign representatives see this change with their own eyes, the harder it becomes to perceive the region exclusively through the prism of the past.
And perhaps the best illustration of the changes taking place is not construction equipment or even the new infrastructure facilities. It is the return of life itself.
It is in this way that the liberated lands are opening up to the world.
