President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan signed a decree declaring occupied Shushi the “cultural capital of the Turkic world,” Azerbaijani media reported.
The order calls for relevant government agencies to implement an “action plan” and resolve issues related to the matter.
Since occupying Shushi during the 44-day war, Aliyev has made it a point to showcase the city as a so-called hub of Azerbaijani culture, staging festivals and parading world leaders, including Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan last year.
Earlier this month, Aliyev used the occupied Shushi as a backdrop for threatening more military action against Armenia and the Armenians of Artsakh, as well as its southern neighbor Iran.
