Turkey’s Ambassador to Azerbaijan Wednesday said his country’s parliament would not ratify US-backed fence-mending agreements signed with Armenia in October until Azeri “lands are liberated from Armenian occupation,” reported the Azeri Today.az website.

Law-enforcement authorities in Armenia said on Tuesday that they have finished a criminal investigation into two men who were arrested recently on charges of spying for Azerbaijan.

Youth organizations in Armenia released an open statement on Friday condemning Azerbaijan’s recent threats to use force against Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. The letter, read at a press conference at the Yerablur memorial complex, is open for all youth, students and political organizations to join, the organizers said.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton telephoned President Serzh Sarkisian late Thursday just hours after he threatened to annul Armenia’s fence-mending agreements with Turkey if Ankara fails to unconditionally implement them, it emerged on Friday.

International mediators visited Baku on Friday to start preparations for more talks between the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents which they hope will lead to a framework peace accord on Nagorno-Karabakh next year.

“If Nagorno-Karabakh declares independence, then Russia must recognize that,” a leading member of the Russian Parliament said on Friday, speaking at the European and Asian Media Forum in Moscow.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to come to a quick agreement on the basic principles of a Nagorno-Karabakh settlement proposed by the OSCE Minsk Group, AFP reported.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Wednesday for talks that focused on economic relations and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Anatolian News Agency reported.

Armenia and Azerbaijan are close to a deal to end the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrey Nesterenko told a briefing in Moscow on Thursday.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan appeared on the Charlie Rose show on Tuesday evening to discuss his meeting with President Obama in Washington DC earlier this week. Speaking on Prime-Time television, he directly linked the normalization of his country’s relations with Armenia to a pro-Azerbaijani settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, having secured at least temporarily, the silence of yet another Administration on the Armenian Genocide, has used his U.S. visit to further press Turkey’s advantage–dramatically escalating his genocide denial rhetoric, reinforcing Turkey’s “Protocols” preconditions for lifting its blockade of Armenia, and attempting to use Ankara’s new found leverage in the Nagorno Karabakh peace process to deliver a pro-Azerbaijani settlement of this conflict, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was “a main issue” in Monday’s talks between Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US President Barack Obama, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was quoted by the Azeri Today.az news portal as saying in an interview on Tuesday.

The foreign ministers of over 50 countries making up Europe’s largest security structure praised Armenia and Azerbaijan late Wednesday for their latest pledge to “work intensively” to overcome disagreements hampering the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The foreign ministers of over 50 countries making up Europe’s largest security structure praised Armenia and Azerbaijan late Wednesday for their latest pledge to “work intensively” to overcome disagreements hampering the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.