Bergkarabach

Mr. Ban said he shares the deep concerns expressed by the Co-Chairs of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group, the group driving efforts to find a peaceful solution to conflict, and other international partners.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin will host talks this week between the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan in a bid to quell a surge of violence over the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region. … At least 18 Azerbaijanis and ethnic Armenians have died in recent days in the most serious bout of hostilities over the breakaway region in two decades.

Russia’s escalating confrontation with the West resulting from its annexation of Crimea has thrown long-running international efforts to end the conflict over Nagorno Karabakh into uncertainty.

The resumption of high-level Azerbaijan-Armenian meetings is seen as positive, but experts doubt 2014 will bring even incremental progress in the long-running negotiations.

Presidents take a step forward by meeting face to face, but fundamental positions on Karabakh look as immovable as ever.

"The presidents agreed to advance negotiations toward a peaceful settlement... They agreed to meet again in the months ahead," the OSCE said in a statement after the two leaders met in Vienna.

Thomas de Waal of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace recently launched a revised 10th-anniversary edition of his book "The Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War." It's widely considered the best work in English on the conflict around the ethnic-Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. To mark the new edition, RFE/RL Azerbaijan Service correspondent Rovshan Gambarov spoke with de Waal about how the situation has changed over the last decade.

The European Union has announced the launch of the second phase of the civil society programme European Partnership for the Peaceful Settlement of the Conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh (EPNK).

The unrecognised region of Nagorny-Karabakh re-elected leader Bako Sahakyan, amid growing tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia over its status, officials said Friday.

Voters in the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh are due to go to polls on Thursday to elect a new president. … Azerbaijan has described the poll as a "provocation", and there are fears of a return to full-scale conflict.