Elnur Aslanov is the head of the Political Analyses and Information Department of the presidential administration of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan has lasted more than 20 years and has resulted in the occupation of 20 percent of the territory of Azerbaijan. The conflict also caused the displacement of 1 million refugees and internally displaced persons, as well as the destruction of thousands of homes, schools, hospitals, and Azerbaijani historical monuments.

Almost every day brings new violations of the cease-fire along the Line of Contact, often resulting in the deaths of soldiers and civilians. The level of interaction between the two neighbors is hardly conducive to thinking about confidence building and trust in the decades to come.

Looking back at the beginning of the last century, I am reminded that history likes to repeat itself. With each repetition, it becomes more tragic and cruel. It almost seems that history is trying to make humanity understand and take lessons from the past.

A Turkish court approved Monday a top appeals court decision to merge the May 2006 Council of State attack case with the so-called Ergenekon investigation, agencies reported
Turkey’s Supreme Court of Appeals had ruled in December that links existed between the Ergenekon trial, in which a criminal gang is accused of trying to disrupt order and carry out a military coup, and the attack on the Council of State, May 17, 2006, when an armed lawyer entered the country’s highest administrative court killing a judge and injuring two others.
The court had ordered the lower court in Ankara to merge the cases.
In December, the appeals court quashed the assailant, Alparslan Aslan’s life sentence, calling for his retrial as part of the coup case, along with five other men who were jailed for helping him in the attack.
Aslan had earlier confessed the attack was in retribution for court rulings that upheld a ban on women wearing the Islamic headscarf in universities and government offices.