In this comment, the political editor of commonspace.eu says that the message of the European Union, to the region and beyond, is that its engagement with the South Caucasus is ambitious and long lasting.

This is the fourth person reportedly killed in incidents between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces on the line of contact in the Karabakh conflict zone in the last two weeks.

Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said at the opening ceremony "We continue to work for stability, peace and tranquility, which will be extremely beneficial for our countries as well as the region"

According to the prime minister's press service the two discussed the Karabakh conflict and conflict resolution process.

Reconnaissance quadcopters have assumed combat duty in Russian Southern Military District's units in the North Caucasus and the South Caucasus for the first time.

According to Turkish forward Burak Yılmaz, the Icelandic authorities made the team wait more than three hours at passport control and subjected them to strict security checks, repeatedly searching the players' belongings thoroughly.

The soldier was named as Elgar Vugar Khalilov. The exact circumstances of the killing were not reported, but an Azerbaijani Defence Ministry statement blamed what it called "Armenian provocations".

"The European Union does not recognise the constitutional and legal framework in which these so-called ‘elections' will take place," Maja Kocijancic spokesperson for the European External Action Service said in a comment about Sunday's elections.

There has been turmoil in the Armenian justice system in recent weeks, with prime minister Pashinyan calling for deep reforms of the sector

The Armenian prime minister has called on the law enforcement agencies to give an iron-hard counter-blow to those threatening to bring violence into Armenian politics