Today, no more than 5,000 people live in the town. Lack of work is the main problem. The coal mines are abandoned. The local population hopes to preserve the town and villages. Not by the reanimation of industry, but with tourism.

Nestled between the Pamir and Alay Mountains ranges, the landlocked country of Tajikistan has garnered little attention in the Western press since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

The implementation of this article would create unique connectivity not only between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but also with Russia, Turkey, and Iran and potentially even the greater neighbourhood.

Pro-Kremlin websites pump out anti-Turkish conspiracy theories, some fixated on trashing the Turkish Intelligence Service MIT, Moscow is obviously seething with Ankara in helping its ally in Azerbaijan.