Nagorno-Karabakh

OSCE mediators brokering settlement to the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Upper (Nagorno) Karabakh are working on additional measures needed to strengthen the cease-fire between the two South Caucasus foes.

Authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh today marked the 18th anniversary of the disputed enclave's de facto secession from Azerbaijan and pledged Baku will never resume control of their territory … Bako Sahakian, the president of the Armenian-majority republic, condemned threats by Baku to abandon the ongoing peace process and resolve the issue by force.

The draft resolution, which the General Assembly is expected to discuss on September 9, upholds the right of Azerbaijanis "expelled" from Karabakh and the Armenian-controlled territories surrounding it to return to their homes. It also urges the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to send a fact-finding mission to the conflict zone …

Azerbaijan has confirmed Armenian claims that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev presented his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts with a new plan to end their conflict over the breakaway Azerbaijani region of Nagorno-Karabakh in St. Petersburg last month, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reports.

A firefight in Nagorny Karabakh a day after a high-level round of peace talks has brought tensions to the boil and highlighted the inability of regional leaders to negotiate a settlement through diplomatic means.

The French, Russian, and U.S. co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group issued a toughly worded statement on June 21 condemning the reconnaissance mission by Azerbaijani forces late on June 18 across the Line of Contact separating Azerbaijani and Karabakh Armenian forces.

Karabakh Armenian military officials insisted their forces suffered no fresh casualties on June 21, in the worst Armenian-Azerbaijani cease-fire violations in over two years.

Pro-independence parties won most seats in elections to the new parliament of Azerbaijan's breakaway enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, officials said on Monday. The Sunday polls were denounced by Azerbaijan as illegal and a "new election farce in the occupied territories".

Armenia has criticized the European Parliament for demanding the "withdrawal of Armenian forces from all occupied territories of Azerbaijan" in its latest resolution on the South Caucasus, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reports.

Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian has said that Azerbaijani territory currently held by Armenian forces could be returned in exchange for security and self-determination for the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.