Bergkarabach

Turkey should not link its efforts to normalize ties with Armenia to a settlement between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, a French negotiator has said. Ankara and Yerevan have been engaged for months in high-level talks aimed at establishing diplomatic relations after a century of hostility and last month announced a "road map" to reopen their borders. But after Turkey's Muslim ally Azerbaijan condemned the reconciliation moves, Ankara said there would be no progress until the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was resolved.

15 Jahre nach Kriegsende nähern sich Armenien und Aserbaidschan endlich langsam einander an. … Auch die Begegnungen der Präsidenten Armeniens und Aserbaidschans, Sersch Sarkisjan und Ilcham Aliew, werden häufiger. Beobachter erwarten für das nächste Treffen in St. Petersburg in wenigen Wochen inhaltliche Fortschritte.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has ruled out re-opening the border with Armenia until it pulls troops out of Azerbaijan. Turkey and Armenia last month agreed a framework to normalise their strained relations, raising hopes their long-sealed border might be re-opened. That raised concerns in Azerbaijan, where Armenian troops occupy the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. But Mr Erdogan said a thaw with Armenia would not come at Azerbaijan's expense.

While international mediators give an upbeat assessment to the May 8 tête-à-tête between Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, within Azerbaijan and Armenia there is a scarcity of optimism.

The recent warming in the relations of the two estranged neighbours provokes ambiguous reactions in Nagorny Karabakh. In the Armenian enclave of Nagorny Karabakh, there is only one topic of discussion right now: the possible restoration of the ties between Armenia and Turkey, opening of the borders, and what it all means for people here.

The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan will meet next week, and possibly again in June, to discuss the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, mediators have said.

The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs visit the regional countries quite often recently. Today the co-chairs are in Yerevan and gave a press conference just after their meeting with the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan. … The American co-chair Matthew Bryza says that God knows the true date of the resolution, but it is also quite real that the issue will be solved in the forthcomings months.

As talk of a potential Nagorno-Karabakh deal gains momentum, Azerbaijan appears to be making serious overtures toward Russia in hopes that the Kremlin will push Armenia to make key concessions, analysts in Baku believe. As an incentive, Azerbaijan is playing one of its most strategic cards - cooperation in the natural gas sector.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan urged the United Nations to resolve a dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh mountain enclave to allow Turkey to normalise ties with Armenia. U.S. President Barack Obama, in a visit to Turkey this week, pressed Ankara and Yerevan to complete talks aimed at restoring diplomatic ties between the two neighbours, a move which could shore up stability in the volatile and oil-rich Caucasus.

As the talks on Nagorno-Karabakh remain stalemated, diplomats moderating the negotiations recently called on 40 civil society representatives from Armenia, Azerbaijan and the disputed region to make a difference in the peace process. The Azerbaijani-Armenian Peace Forum, held in Vienna on March 24-27, is the latest in a series of such meetings sponsored by London-based International Alert, a non-governmental group that describes itself as "an international peace-building" organization.