Bergkarabach

The Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers have agreed to press ahead with efforts to end the conflict over Azerbaijan's breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region, but no major progress was evident after a meeting in Moscow.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has rejected an Armenian proposal on a change to the talks format on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian reiterated on March 14 that the inclusion of officials from the disputed region in the settlement process remained a priority to Yerevan.

Three prominent figures already have signaled their intention to run for the de facto presidency of Nagorno-Karabakh, the unrecognized Armenia-backed republic. Since the “Velvet Revolution” last year in Armenia, there has been a conspicuous cooling of ties between Yerevan and Stepanakert.  

[…] The EU added that it is looking forward to the full implementation of the outcomes of these meetings and exchanges, including the recent Foreign Ministers’ agreement on the need to take concrete measures to prepare the populations for peace, as well as the consideration of steps aimed at reinvigorating the negotiations.

Armenia has downplayed the significance of a declaration referring to Azerbaijan's breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh adopted by the foreign ministers of Turkey, Iran, and Azerbaijan at a meeting in Istanbul earlier this week. … Armenian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anna Naghdalian said on October 30 that "the OSCE's Minsk Group co-chairmanship is the only format with an international mandate to help settle the conflict."

Azerbaijan has called planned military exercises by Armenian-backed forces in its breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh this week a "provocation" aimed at increasing tensions.

Azerbaijan has warned Armenia that it is prepared for "large-scale military operations" and says that comments by its neighbor's new leadership about the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region are "unacceptable."

[…] Standing next to NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said the situation surrounding the breakaway region was "not changing, unfortunately," and accused Armenia of seeking "to keep the status quo."

[…] A joint statement issued after the talks by the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers and the co-chairs of the Minsk Group (France, Russia, and the United States) said that "the meeting took place in a constructive atmosphere."

The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group mediating talks between Baku and Yerevan are “urgently” calling on all sides in the conflict over Azerbaijan’s breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region to cease military actions.