Turkey's prime minister offered his condolences on Wednesday over the massacre of Armenians during World War I, calling it "our shared pain", the country's most significant overture yet over the deeply divisive episode.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's statement, on the eve of the 99th anniversary of the start of mass deportations of Armenians in 1915, is the first such overt comment by a Turkish leader over the killings, considered by many as the first genocide of the 20th century.

Azerbaijan charged a prominent journalist on Monday with spying for its arch-foe Armenia and ordered him to spend three months in pre-trial detention.

Azerbaijan's prosecutor general's office said in a statement that Rauf Mirkadyrov had been charged with high treason after he "was recruited by the Armenian secret services in 2008 and supplied Yerevan with information on Azerbaijan's state secrets".

Armenia on Sunday named parliament speaker Ovik Abraamian as its new prime minister.

Abraamian, 56, takes over from Tigran Sarkisian who resigned earlier this month. Under the constitution, he now has 20 days to form a government.

Once seen as a silicon valley of the Soviet Union, the tiny Caucasus nation of Armenia is hoping the launch of its first tablet computer and smartphone could kickstart a comeback for the country's tech sector.

Designed -- and soon set to be constructed -- in Armenia, the ArmPhone and ArmTab devices are seen as a key steppingstone as the landlocked state seeks to overcome crippling trade blockades from its neighbors to become an unlikely industry hub.

A Turkish court on Friday released a former informant accused of instigating the 2007 murder of ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, local media reported.

The release of Erhan Tuncel was made possible by a change in the country's anti-terrorism laws that reduced the maximum pre-trial detention period from 10 years to five years, Hurriyet newspaper said.

Armenian forces on Wednesday killed an Azerbaijani soldier at the volatile border between the two foes locked in a protracted conflict over the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region, officials in Baku said.

"Junior Sergeant Kerem Nokhbalayev has been killed on February 26 (Wednesday) as a result of ceasefire violation by Armenia," Azerbaijan's defense ministry said in a statement.

Azerbaijan said Friday one of its soldiers had been shot dead by Armenian forces along the volatile border between the foes who are locked in a decades-long feud over the disputed region of Nagorny Karabakh.

"(Azerbaijani) army servicemen Eshgin Guliyev died as a result of a ceasefire violation on Thursday," Azerbaijan's defense ministry said in a statement.

Armenia has arrested a former police colonel following allegations he was trying to pass on military secrets to arch-foe Azerbaijan, the country's intelligence agency said on Wednesday.

Ex-police officer Khachik Martirosyan, 57, was detained last Friday after purportedly contacting Azerbaijani officials with the offer of spying on his ex-Soviet homeland in return for money, the National Security Service said.

Azerbaijani forces say they have captured an Armenian spy following the latest in a series of tit-for-tat raids along the volatile frontier between the two arch-foes.

"There was an attempt by an Armenian reconnaissance and sabotage group to cross the border in the Tovuz region (northwestern Azerbaijan) on January 28," the defense ministry in Baku said in a statement released late Tuesday.

Armenian forces on Monday shot dead an Azerbaijani soldier in the latest uptick of border violence along the disputed Nagorny Karabakh frontier, the defense ministry in Baku said.

The fatal shooting came barely a week after Baku said that another Azerbaijani soldier was killed along the volatile frontline by Armenia troops, as both sides accused each other of launching tit-for-tat cross-border raids.