Armenia-Azerbaijan Relations

The authorities of Azerbaijan’s breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh announced on Thursday the dissolution of the self-proclaimed republic after a Russian-mediated truce ended a flare-up of hostilities between the enclave and Baku.

More than 65,000 Armenians have fled Nagorno-Karabakh for Armenia, Yerevan announced Thursday, as the exodus continues from the breakaway enclave which Azerbaijan recaptured last week in a lighting offensive.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has advised the Armenian leadership to remember what he described as the unenviable fate of countries that relied on Washington.

More than a third of the 120,000 ethnic Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh have fled the region as part of an exodus triggered by a military offensive which brought the enclave back under Azerbaijan’s control, Yerevan announced on Wednesday.

The authorities of Azerbaijan are ready to organize a visit of a UN mission to Nagorno-Karabakh, Azeri President Ilham Aliyev said during a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

In a telephone conversation, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, reviewed the latest regional developments and stressed the need for resolving issues in the South Caucasus region through direct dialogue between Iran and Russia.

The Kremlin announced on Tuesday that the Russian and Iranian presidents held a telephone conversation on Tuesday at the initiative of the Iranian side. Vladimir Putin and Ebrahim Raisi have discussed the steps to ensure Tehran's joining full-fledged BRICS activities as well as the situation around Nagorno-Karabakh and the normalization of Armenia-Azerbaijan relations.

Moscow told Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Monday that he had only to blame himself for Baku's victory over Nagorno-Karabakh because he had insisted on flirting with the West rather than working with Russia and Azerbaijan for peace.

Senior US officials have arrived in Armenia after neighboring Azerbaijan launched a full-scale military operation last week in the mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh region and forced the evacuation of thousands of ethnic Armenians.

Baku was forced to conduct its counterterrorism operation in Nagorno-Karabakh, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated on Monday after talks with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, in Nakhchivan.

The first convoy of humanitarian aid entered Nagorno-Karabakh days after a Russian-brokered ceasefire deal ended Azerbaijan’s military operation against Armenian residents of the breakaway region. Armenian separatists have reportedly begun laying down their weapons.

A US congressional delegation was meeting Armenia's leaders on Saturday to show support for the Yerevan government in the wake of protests rocking the Caucasus nation after Azerbaijan reclaimed control over disputed Nagorno-Karabakh.

The spokesperson for Iran's Civil Aviation Organization confirmed that flights between Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan as well as Armenia have recommenced.

A group of Russian peacekeepers were killed in Nagorno-Karabakh on Wednesday, when their vehicle came under small-arms fire, the Russian Defense Ministry has confirmed.

Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defense announced that an agreement was reached to halt "anti-terrorist activities" in Nagorno-Karabakh on September 20 from 13:00 local time (9:00 GMT).

Baku will end its "anti-terrorist activities" in Nagorno-Karabakh if Armenian fighters lay down their weapons, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in a phone call with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, according to the presidential press service.

Argentina’s leader Alberto Fernandez has called on the international community to respond to Azerbaijan’s latest offensive in the Armenian-populated breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said while Ankara has supported negotiations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region remains an Azerbaijani territory.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry has accused Azerbaijan of unleashing “another large-scale aggression against the people of Nagorno-Karabakh,” after Baku announced local “counter-terrorism measures” in the disputed region.

The Azerbaijani military launched “counter-terrorism measures of a local nature” in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh on Tuesday. Baku has touted the operation as a way to “thwart large-scale provocations” by the Armenian side.

The signing of the peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan by the yearend is possible, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told a briefing, adding that his country is taking all necessary steps for it.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says he has offered to Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia to hold a top-level four-party meeting on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, a bone of contention between Baku and Yerevan.

Baku is pursing a peaceful resolution of existing issues with Yerevan, an assistant to the president of Azerbaijan Hikmet Hajiyev has said in an interview with TASS.

The chief of General Staff of Iran’s Armed Forces, Major General Mohammad Baqeri, has rejected media speculation that Tehran is building up troops at the country’s border with Azerbaijan amid persisting tensions in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Yerevan should distance itself from Moscow and try to get closer to the West, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in an interview with Politico.