President Robert Kocharian

Armenia and Azerbaijan have made progress in talks over the disputed region of Nagorny Karabakh, senior Russian and US officials said on Tuesday. Meeting on the sidelines of a ministerial council of the OSCE pan-European security watchdog in Athens, the chair countries of the so-called Minsk Group monitoring the crisis said there was a "positive dynamic" in talks between the Armenian and Azeri presidents who have met six times in the past year. "We agreed that the increasing frequency of these meetings has significantly contributed to enhanced dialogue between the parties and helped move forward the process of finalising the basic principles for the ... Read Full Story

President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan says his nation may use military force if talks with Armenia on resolving a long-standing territorial dispute produce no result. Aliyev says he plans talks next week with his Armenian counterpart, Serge Sarkisian, on resolving the dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh. The mountainous region is a part of Azerbaijan that has been under control of Armenian troops and ethnic Armenian forces since a 1994 cease-fire ended six years of war. Diplomatic efforts to resolve the dispute have failed. Aliyev warned Saturday that if the meeting fails to achieve results, Azerbaijan could use military force. He said that Azerbaijan wants a peaceful ... Read Full Story

AGDAM, Azerbaijan (Reuters) - Brief snatches of color -- a washing line, a passing car -- break up the mass of rubble that was Agdam. A handful of Armenians live off scrap metal and pipes plundered from the ruins of this Azeri town, razed in 1993 as Christian Armenian forces in the mountain region of Nagorno-Karabakh fought to split from Muslim Azerbaijan. Largely forgotten by the outside world since, the remote territory is now the center of diplomatic attention because it could torpedo a fragile peace deal between historic enemies Armenia and Turkey. Diplomats and analysts say it is on the ghostly remains of ... Read Full Story

Armenian leaders remain preoccupied by the long conflict with Muslim Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, a primarily Armenian-populated region, assigned to Soviet Azerbaijan in the 1920s by Moscow. Armenia & Azerbaijan began fighting over the area in 1988; the struggle escalated after both countries attained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Armenia prides itself on being the first nation to formally adopt Christianity (early 4th century). Despite periods of autonomy, over the centuries Armenia came under the sway of various empires including the Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Persian, & Ottoman. It was incorporated into Russia in 1828 & the USSR in 1920. By May 1994, when ... Read Full Story

CHISINAU (Reuters) - The presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia prepared for talks in Moldova Thursday that may bring progress over the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh and ease the way for restoring normal ties between Armenia and Turkey. Christian Armenia and Muslim Turkey, which have no diplomatic relations, are scheduled to sign an accord in Zurich Saturday to normalize ties and end a century of hostility dating back to mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in World War One. Such an agreement would bolster Turkey's credentials as a modernizer in the West, boost the poverty-stricken economy of landlocked Armenia and improve security in the ... Read Full Story