On 17  November, Azerbaijan‘s President Aliyev and wife (Vice President) visited areas recently taken over during the war in Nagorno Karabkah near the border with Iran, notably, the Khodaafarin dam area with the old bridge (location on map here). From Iran, these photos were taken (possibly around 14.30 hours localContinue Reading

Azeri President Ilham Aliyev paid a visit to newly-constructed military base 10 km from the central segment of  the line-of-contact near the abandoned town of Aghdam. News of the visit was published on the president’s official webpage as well as that of the Defence Ministry. This is significant, in that,Continue Reading

Units of the Azeri Armed Forces took part in a series of drills consisting of physical tests, live-fire drills and other tactical exercises, including with military vehicles. Little details on the drills were made available, but the drills were headed by officers of the mentioned units. Map of the militaryContinue Reading

The OSCE Minsk Group concluded an official visit to the South Caucasus where the Co-Chairs Andrew Schofer (United States), Igor Popov (Russia), Stephane Visconti (France) and the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Andrzej Kasprzyk  met with the heads of state of Armenia(15 October),de facto Nagorno Karabakh (16 October) andContinue Reading

Source: Abrahamyan, Eduard “Rationalizing the Tonoyan Doctrine: Armenia’s Active Deterrence Strategy”, Eurasia Daily Monitor,  Vol. 16 Issue 64, 02 MAY 2019 *all opinions expressed are those of those of the original author. Even as Armenia and Azerbaijan have intensified their diplomatic contacts over the future status of the latter’s breakawayContinue Reading

On 29 March, the Heads of state of Azerbaijan and Armenia, Ilham Aliyev and Nikol Pashinyan respectively,  meet for their first official meeting in Vienna under the auspices of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) organised by the Minsk  Group Co-Chairs Igor Papov, Andrew Schofer and StéphaneContinue Reading

SOURCE: KALFAYAN, PHILLIPPE RAFFI “The Minsk Process: Behind the Words and Principles”, The Armenian Mirror-Spectator, 07 MAR 2019 *all opinions expressed are those of those of the original author.   The new Armenian government claims positive developments in the settlement process of the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute, and officials offer smiling facesContinue Reading

Azerbaijan’s highest authority, president Ilham Aliyev, announced  the starting of large-scale military exercises between 11-15 March. The announcement can be found on the Defence Ministry’s official webpage, made on 08 March. The events involve 10.000 military personnel, 500 armoured vehicles (tanks, personnel carriers, etc. ), 300 artillery pieces (cannon-launched artillery,Continue Reading

On 05 March, Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mammedyarov received the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s (OSCE) new head (officially titled Chairperson-in-Office) Miroslav Lajcak to discuss recent developments regarding the Nagorno Karabakh peace negotiations. Mr Mammedyarov expressed his opinions on the recent comments made by Armenian prime minister NikolContinue Reading

On 22 January the World Economic Forum  of this year celebrated in Davos, Switzerland became the scene of a non-official meeting between the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azeri President Ilham Aliyev. This was the first meeting between the two leaders this year, which constituted an unofficial meeting onContinue Reading

Just a few days apart, the leaders of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan, Bako Sahakyan and Ilham Aliyev both announced changes  in their armed forces for the upcoming year.  Both leaders announced modernisation plans for their armed forces for 2019. Aliyev was the first to announce such a change, which isContinue Reading