With 22 votes to one, lawmakers in Nagorno-Karabakh’s parliament elected the head of the rebel government’s security council, Samvel Shahramanyan, 45, to succeed the outgoing leader Arayik Harutyunyan who stepped down on Sept 1.

Azerbaijan called the election “yet another extremely provocative step” and “a clear violation of Azerbaijan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Baku’s ally Turkey said it “does not recognise this illegitimate election which constitutes a violation of Azerbaijan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

“This step is a flagrant violation of international law including the UN Security Council resolutions and the OSCE principles,” the foreign ministry in Ankara said in a statement.

Frustration with Harutyunyan’s rule was growing amid lingering food shortages after Azerbaijan closed the sole road linking Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have traded accusations of cross-border attacks in recent months.

Armenia warned of the risk of a fresh conflict, saying Azerbaijan was massing troops in the countries’ shared border and near Nagorno-Karabakh.

Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry accused Armenia yesterday of violating “previous agreements and…resorting to various political, military and other provocations.”

Yerevan said it was “committed to the settlement of all outstanding issues with Azerbaijan purely through political and diplomatic means.”

Azerbaijan’s Armenian-populated enclave was at the centre of two wars between the Caucasus neighbours.

Six weeks of fighting in autumn 2020 ended with a Russian-brokered ceasefire that saw Armenia ceding swathes of territories it had controlled for decades.

The two sides have been unable to reach a lasting peace settlement despite mediation efforts by the European Union, the US, and Russia.