Protests erupt as Armenia nears peace deal with Azerbaijan
Tbilisi, Georgia Reuters Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Wednesday that a peace treaty with Azerbaijan was close to completion, but that his country would not accept Baku’s demands that it change its constitution. After Pashinyan made the comments, clashes broke out between police and demonstrators, the latest in a series of protests denouncing […]
Armenian archbishop calls four days of protests to seek ouster of PM
Reuters A large crowd protested in Armenia’s capital Yerevan on Sunday against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, led by a Christian cleric who announced the start of four days of rallies to seek to drive him from office. Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan is seeking to tap into popular anger over military defeats and territorial concessions to Azerbaijan, […]
Blinken speaks to Azeri, Armenian leaders about peace talks
Reuters US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has spoken to the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan and reaffirmed Washington’s support for a peace treaty between the South Caucasus neighbors, the State Department said on Sunday. Yerevan suffered a major defeat last September when Baku’s forces retook the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which while part of Azerbaijan […]
Foes Azerbaijan and Armenia agree ‘historic’ return of villages
Baku, Azerbaijan Reuters Armenia has agreed to return several villages to Azerbaijan in what both sides said on Friday was an important milestone as they edge towards a peace deal after fighting two wars since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesperson Aykhan Hajizada posted on X that Armenia would return four […]
Russian peacekeepers start withdrawing from Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region
Reuters Russian peacekeepers have begun withdrawing from Azerbaijan’s Karabakh and other regions, ending a multi-year deployment which gave Moscow a military foothold in the strategic South Caucasus region. The step, confirmed by the Kremlin and Azerbaijan on Wednesday, comes as Russia faces pressure in the wider region with neighbouring Armenia demanding Russian border guards leave […]
Azeri President says peace with Armenia is closer than ever
Reuters Azeri President Ilham Aliyev said on Sunday his country is “closer than ever” to a peace with Armenia, half a year after Azerbaijan recaptured its Karabakh region from its ethnic Armenian majority, prompting a mass exodus of ethnic Armenians. “Today, we are in an active phase of peace talks with Armenia,” Aliyev said in […]
Azerbaijan demolishes former Karabakh Armenian parliament building
Baku, Azerbaijan Reuters Azerbaijani state television broadcast footage on Tuesday showing mechanical diggers destroying the building that once housed the breakaway ethnic Armenian parliament of Nagorno-Karabakh. The televised demolition, with giant metal claws tearing at the masonry of the gutted edifice, demonstratively underlined the restoration of control by Azerbaijan since its forces recaptured Karabakh last […]
Armenia says it’s ready for peace deal if Azerbaijan shows political will
Antalya, Turkey Reuters Armenia is ready to sign a peace agreement with Azerbaijan if Baku shows the same political will, and is keen to make progress on normalising relations with Turkey, a senior Armenian official said the weekend. Yerevan and Baku said in December they wanted to reach a peace deal after decades of being […]
Armenia and Azerbaijan exchange prisoners at border
Azerbaijan-Armenia border Reuters Azerbaijan and Armenia traded prisoners-of-war at their border on Wednesday in a step towards normalising their relations after Azerbaijan achieved a decisive breakthrough in their decades-old conflict. An Azerbaijani national flag is seen next to the ancient Khodaafarin Bridge near the border with Iran in the area, which came under the control […]
Azerbaijan’s Aliyev calls snap election after Karabakh victory
Reuters Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, riding high on a wave of support for his recapture of the breakaway territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, on Thursday called an early presidential election for 7th February. Aliyev, 61, was last re-elected in 2018 for a seven-year term, with a declared 86 per cent of the vote, in a poll boycotted […]