In the run-up to February 7 presidential elections, repression has increased in Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic in the Caucasus that borders Iran and Armenia. Any opposition to President Ilham Aliyev is silenced.

The Foreign Ministry in Baku said two French diplomats were named personae non grata and the ambassador was summoned in protest. However, the ministry did not specify reasons for the dispute.

The COP28 summit still needs to formally approve the next host country. Azerbaijan would follow Dubai in being the second host in a row to be a major producer of fossil fuels.

Over the course of two weeks, starting on September 19, some 100,000 Armenians fled the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in an exodus prompted by Azerbaijan’s invasion of the contested region, which had been governed by ethnic Armenians for some three decades. In Perspective, we spoke to Richard Giragosian, the founding director of the Regional Studies Center – an independent think-tank in Yerevan – to discuss Azerbaijan’s recent takeover.

After taking full control of Nagorno-Karabakh in September, will Azerbaijan go further? In the southern Armenian province of Syunik, residents are increasingly worried about the threat from Baku. Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev claims Syunik and much of Armenian territory is historically Azerbaijani, referring to it as "Western Azerbaijan".

Azeri President Aliyev has declined to meet Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan in Spain as part of EU-brokered talks. The two were to discuss the fate of Nagorno-Karabakh. Baku called French and EU bias deal-breakers.

The Turkish president met with his Azerbaijani counterpart in a show of support after Baku seized control of the separatist enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, which has a majority Armenian population.

Azerbaijan says it has sent tons of food aid and hygiene products to the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, days after a cease-fire was reached between Baku and ethnic Armenian separatists.

Not for the first time, EU leaders are facing growing calls to take a firmer line with Azerbaijan. With a gas deal in place and myriad geopolitical considerations, hopeful Armenians shouldn't hold their breath.

Baku's Defense Ministry earlier blamed six deaths in the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region on Armenian separatists. It comes three years after a war with neighboring Armenia over the region.

Azerbaijan's breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region has been cut off from much-needed supplies since December, when Azerbaijan closed the one road connecting the region to ally Armenia, saying it was an arms smuggling route.

Foreign ministers from both Caucasus countries met for peace talks in the United States. Russia said any new agreement must build upon the peace deal it negotiated in 2020, which failed to stop further clashes.