CORFA, Greece (Today.az)—The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis, has said she believes Azerbaijan plays a critical role in helping to promote security and stability in the South Caucasus and the whole OSCE area, reported the Azeri Today.az newsportal on Tuesday.
Her remarks came during a ministerial meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation [...]

United Nations monitors began pulling out of Georgia on Tuesday and the OSCE officially closed its observer mission, testing security almost a year since the former Soviet republic’s war with Russia.

Russia begun military exercises in its North Caucasus area, a day before international observers were due to pull out of neighboring Georgia, raising fears of increased tensions in the region.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had a brief meeting late Sunday with his Armenian counterpart Edward Nalbandian on the sidelines of a ministerial meeting of the Organization for the Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Corfu.

Matthew Bryza, the US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian affairs, met with columnists from the Turkish Today’s Zaman newspaper this week where he spoke about Turkey’s role in the region, its drive to enter the EU, the ongoing efforts to normalize relations with Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process.

Armenia’s Diaspora Minister, Hranoush Hakopyan, Tuesday visited the ARS, Inc. International Office in Boston. She was accompanied by Armenia’s Ambassador to the US, Tatoul Markarian.

Iran’s ambassador to Azerbaijan was summoned for consultations on Monday following a high-level visit to Baku by Israeli President Shimon Peres that same day.

Russian President Demitry Medvedev at a joint press conference Tuesday appeared to agree with his Azeri counterpart’s assertions that the Karabakh conflict must be resolved with the principle of territorial integrity as its main driving force.

Georgian President Mikhail Saakhasvhili has done nothing to mitigate the socio-economic crisis plaguing his country’s Armenian population in the region of Javakhk and does not deserve to be honored by Yerevan, said a leading member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) on Tuesday.

Awarding Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili with the highest honor of the Armenian Republic, despite his heavy-handed policies in his country’s predominantly Armenian region of Javakhk, was a mistake by all accounts, according to a prominent professor in Yerevan, familiar with the socio-economic crisis facing the impoverished region.

The Armenian government has effectively withdrawn from parliament a controversial bill that would allow tax authorities to deploy agents in large companies suspected of tax evasion.

Turkey will accept nothing less than full European Union membership, its EU affairs minister said in an interview published on Sunday, following government efforts in Brussels last week to revive its drive to join.

Israel’s president, Shimon Peres, wrapped up a landmark visit to Azerbaijan on June 29, during which he endorsed Baku’s efforts to take control of the independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

A performance by Armenia’s Youth State Orchestra has been canceled due to the ongoing political unrest in Iran following the June 12 Iranian presidential election.