LIVE: Key morning headlines from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia

● Two UN climate events wrapped up in Baku over the weekend: the UNFCCC Climate Week and Baku Climate Action Week. Around 2,700 representatives from more than 140 countries reportedly took part.

●  Representatives of Azerbaijan, Brazil, Türkiye and Australia held talks in Baku as the countries chairing the UN’s annual COP climate conferences — COP29, COP30, COP31 and COP32.

● Diplomats and military attachés accredited to Azerbaijan made a two-day visit to Karabakh and Eastern Zangazur, territories Azerbaijan says were liberated from Armenian occupation following the Second Karabakh War. The delegation visited the Gandzasar and Khudavang monastery complexes in Aghdara and Kalbajar districts. They were briefed on the sites’ history and architectural features, as well as what Azerbaijani authorities describe as cases of falsification of monuments. The group also visited the Istisu mineral water bottling plant and attended a honey festival in Kalbajar. The Foreign Ministry said this was the 22nd visit by foreign diplomats to the territories.

● “The US expects reciprocal visits by representatives of the Azerbaijani and Armenian embassies to continue as part of efforts to establish lasting peace in the South Caucasus,” US Chargé d’Affaires in Azerbaijan Amy Carlon told journalists. She said such exchanges are part of the process. Carlon said she visited Yerevan a couple of weeks ago, after which US Chargé d’Affaires in Armenia David Allen came to Baku. She again stressed that regional connectivity, including the Trump Route (TRIPP), is a key area of discussion. She also highlighted economic investment, data centre development, defence and security cooperation.

● Another civil society representative has been sentenced in the so-called NGO criminal case. Maharram Goyushoglu, chairman of the Gazakh Regional Development Resources public association, received an eight-year suspended sentence. Like other activists in the case, Goyushoglu was charged with abuse of office, forgery of official documents and money laundering. Investigators allege that he failed to register funds received from USAID and the German Marshall Fund as grants with the Justice Ministry, instead processing them through service contracts. Goyushoglu, 53, is a second-group disabled person. He told the court that he categorically did not consider it a crime to formalise project work through a service contract.

● Fazil Gasimov, an economist and doctoral student at Istanbul University who was sentenced to nine years in prison for allegedly circulating counterfeit money, has appealed to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and US Vice President JD Vance for help securing his release and safety. His family said Gasimov categorically denies the charges and says he is being politically persecuted in Azerbaijan. In his letter to Vance, he recalled that on 9 February he and four other political prisoners had sent him a letter on behalf of the initiative group of the Committee for the Protection of Political Prisoners.

● Seymur Hazi, deputy chairman of the opposition Azerbaijan Popular Front Party, has been barred from leaving the country. His wife said Hazi was planning to travel to Georgia but was told at the airport that he was prohibited from leaving the country. “We do not know the reason. But there is a name for such actions: pressure on our family,” Nigar Hazi said. Her father, prominent opposition politician Tofig Yagublu, is in prison. He was sentenced to nine years for alleged large-scale fraud and considers the charges politically motivated.

Up to 20 members of the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party are currently detained on various charges, including party chairman Ali Karimli. The party also considers the charges against them politically motivated.

📸 PHOTO: Baku hosted the country’s first international beach polo tournament, Sea Breeze-2026, over the weekend. In the final, Baku’s Elit Polo Club beat Switzerland’s St. Moritz 6–4. Britain’s Red Star won bronze after defeating Russia’s Moscow Polo Club 9–5.

Top stories in Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia from 7-11 September, 2026