When Slovak President Peter Pellegrini posted on X before boarding his flight to Azerbaijan - "Our two countries have built strong relations. This visit is an opportunity to turn that trust into closer cooperation in energy, trade, and investment"- the language was diplomatic boilerplate of the kind that accompanies any bilateral state visit. However, the visit itself was far from being routine. On July 13, President of Slovakia arrived at Fuzuli International Airport for his state visit to a country where he was welcomed by foreign minister Jeyhun Bayramov amidst all the honours in terms of protocol, including Slovak and Azerbaijani flags and the guard of honour, which speaks of the importance of the visit even before it begins, at an airport which was not there five years ago, on territories that were under occupation for three decades.

Joint press conferences held on July 14 took place in Shusha, where before addressing the microphones, both presidents inspected the shot-to-pieces busts of prominent Azerbaijani figures – an inevitable part of a Shusha visit that, at once, acts as a cultural tour and a political act. Left half-destroyed as the relics of the occupation, these busts serve as evidence of the results of the occupation.

However, the press releases themselves contained the usual information in a tone warmer than that of the language used in them. For example, Aliyev remembered his visit to Slovakia at the end of last year and said that he was pleased that their agenda was "quite extensive," adding that it was enough just to see the composition of their delegations to understand that the cooperation was wide. He........

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