evidence: Insular and isolated, the autonomous republic of Nakhchivan is emerging as one of the world’s most sustainable places. Chances are you’ve never heard of Nakhchivan. Jammed between Armenia, Iran and Turkey on the Transcaucasian plateau, this autonomous republic of Azerbaijan is one of the most isolated outposts of the former Soviet Union and a place few travellers ever visit. [...] In 1988, as Moscow was losing its grip over its constituent republics, war erupted in Nakhchivan’s neighbouring enclave Nagorno-Karabakh in south-western Azerbaijan between ethnic Armenians backed by Armenia and Azerbaijan. As many as 30,000 people died before an unsteady ceasefire was finally struck in 1994. In retaliation, the ethnic Armenian majority controlling the territory closed all railways and roads linking Nakhchivan to the rest of Azerbaijan and the USSR in 1988. Only two small bridges built over the Aras River into Iran and Turkey saved Nakhchivan from starvation and total collapse.