Nagorno-Karabakh

The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) urged Armenia and Azerbaijan on Monday to withdraw their snipers from areas around the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave. Tensions around the rebel enclave flared last week … .

Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian, Azerbaijan's Ilham Aliyev, and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev released a statement stating their intention to "resolve all controversial questions in a peaceful manner" after meeting, in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi.

Escalating front-line clashes, a spiralling arms race, vitriolic rhetoric and a virtual breakdown in peace talks increase the chance Armenia and Azerbaijan will go back to war over Nagorno-Karabakh, with devastating regional consequences. “Armenia and Azerbaijan: Preventing War”, the latest policy briefing from the International Crisis Group, highlights the deterioration of the situation in the past year.

The breakaway Azerbaijani region of Nagorno-Karabakh's sole civilian airport will reopen in May to operate the first commercial flights between the disputed area and Armenia in nearly 20 years.

Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian says his country will recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as independent if Azerbaijan uses force to resolve their dispute over the region. The dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh has escalated in recent years, with Azerbaijan saying it is losing patience with negotiations and threatening to take back the region by force.

Armenia has threatened to formally recognize the breakaway Azerbaijani region of Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent state if Baku tries to use force to win back the disputed enclave and other Armenian-controlled territories near it, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reports.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has again called for the withdrawal of snipers deployed along the line of contact separating Armenian and Azerbaijani forces near the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

An unexpected joint statement issued by the presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia could reinvigorate the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said that he hopes Azerbaijan and Armenia can reach agreement on the principles of a peace deal for the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh by early December. Medvedev was speaking after chairing talks between Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev in the southern Russian city of Astrakhan.

Armenia’s parliament is set to consider a bill on recognizing the breakaway territory of Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent state. Just about everyone in Yerevan supports the bill’s intent, but few MPs are willing to vote for the measure at this time.