SRASHEN, Oct 30 — From a hillside above Armenia’s Shikahogh nature reserve, local official Marat Harutyunyan pointed to forests cleared for Azerbaijan’s military, construction Yerevan says threatens rare wildlife and the livelihoods of local villagers.
The battle over the fate of the forest exposes the deep, lingering tensions between the two countries as they seek to broker a lasting peace after three decades of hostility and multiple wars.
In advances in 2021-2022, Azerbaijan captured parts of the reserve that lies along the countries’ shared border.
The conflict culminated in 2023 when it retook Karabakh from Armenian separatists, prompting the entire Armenian population — some 100,000 people — to flee.
