Bergkarabach

Azerbaijani forces have killed three Armenia-backed separatist soldiers on the front lines of the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region, the separatists' self-described defense ministry said.

Armenia and Azerbaijan are once again on collision course along increasingly active front lines in and around Nagorno-Karabakh. Mediators Russia, France and the U.S., should pressure Yerevan and Baku to tone down inflammatory rhetoric, agree to talks and take steps towards peace.

International mediators brokering a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict condemned recent cease-fire violations in the region in a statement issued on May 18.

[…] According to the AP news agency, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry said its forces on May 15 "destroyed an Osa air defense system along with its crew." The ministry added that the system's deployment near the line of control was a "provocation" and a threat to Azerbaijani aircraft.

Armenia-backed separatists said on March 1 that one of their soldiers was killed in clashes with Azerbaijani forces along the boundary of the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region. Nagorno-Karabakh's self-declared defense ministry said Azerbaijani forces had been violating cease-fire agreements all day.

The separatists controlling Azerbaijan's breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region have strengthened their executive leader's powers in a referendum that international observers warned was illegal. … Other amendments include the change of the region's name from the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic to the Republic of Artsakh, but the two names will be treated as synonymous

On a visit to Brussels, representatives of the Azerbaijani community of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is occupied by Armenia, have invited Belgian parliamentarians to help arrange and host the first gathering of the two communities for the last 25 years.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian are meeting on August 10 to discuss Armenia’s ongoing dispute over Azerbaijan’s breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The Moscow meeting comes two days after Putin discussed an OSCE-sponsored peace plan in Baku with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Iranian President Hassan Rohani.

Unless diplomacy produces tangible results, an escalation similar or more serious than the four-day war in April cannot be ruled out, writes Stratfor.

The pattern of military escalation on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border and Line of Contact (LoC) around Nagorno-Karabakh (NK) since at least 2011 meant it should not have been the surprise it was when major fighting broke out on 2-5 April. … That and the acute threat a graver escalation could draw in powerful neighbouring countries have focused the much-needed political attention of key international actors and produced an opportunity to find a peaceful solution to a generation-old conflict, often mistakenly called frozen.