Turkey offered to hold trilateral talks with Armenia and Azerbaijan over disputed Azerbaijani territory, occupied by Armenian forces since 1993.

Presidents Robert Kocharian of Armenia and Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan met for first time 11 December, on sidelines of UN summit in Geneva: said fuller dialogue on dispute to begin. Talks in Scotland between Armenian and Azerbaijani delegations said to have been constructive.

OSCE Minsk Group reportedly planning attempt at kickstarting peace talks in coming weeks, but group’s efforts have brought little progress to date.

OSCE Minsk Group reportedly planning attempt at kickstarting peace talks in wake of Azerbaijani presidential election 15 October, but group’s efforts have brought little progress to date.

OSCE Minsk Group reportedly planning attempt at kickstarting peace talks after Azerbaijani presidential election of 15 October. PM Ilham Aliyev, son of ailing president Heydar Aliyev and likely successor, expected to adopt hard line on dispute.

Talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh remain stalled, and progress in dispute unlikely until after Azerbaijan’s October presidential election. Both sides accuse each other of using dispute to distract public attention from own domestic crises – in Armenia, controversial re-election of President Robert Kocharian, and in Azerbaijan, ill- health of President Heydar Aliyev.