Armenian troops Thursday killed an Azerbaijani soldier in the latest in a week of tit-for-tat clashes over the disputed region of Nagorny Karabakh, Azerbaijan's defense ministry said.

Captain Elnur Jafarov was killed "as a result of a violation of the ceasefire by the Armenian side" along the volatile frontline in the southwestern Tatar region, some 270 kilometers (160 miles) from the Azerbaijani capital Baku, the defense ministry said.

Azerbaijan on Wednesday said it had repelled a cross-border raid by Armenian forces in the latest outbreak of violence over the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region.

"During the night an Armenian commando reconnaissance team tried to cross the line of contact in the southwestern sector of the frontline," Azerbaijan's defense ministry said in a statement.

Azerbaijani forces on Monday killed an ethnic Armenian soldier in an alleged cross-border raid into Nagorny Karabakh, officials from the Armenian-backed breakaway region said.

Defense forces soldier Armen Hovhannisyan died from gunshot wounds after a clash with an "Azerbaijani subversive intelligence party" trying to cross into the territory early Monday, a statement from the region's defense ministry said.

Turkish riot police were out in force on Sunday as large crowds massed in Istanbul to demand justice for a prominent Turkish Armenian journalist murdered seven years ago.

"Murderer state will account for this," chanted several thousand protesters gathered in Istanbul's Taksim Square to mark the anniversary of Hrant Dink's killing, with questions still lingering about the circumstances of his death.

A prominent Turkish-Armenian blogger has been sent to jail on charges of illegal construction amid a growing chorus of criticism over a graft scandal engulfing the government, local media reported on Friday.

Sevan Nisanyan was sentenced in December to two years in prison in a case he claims was punishment for his outspoken views about restrictions on freedom of expression in Turkey.

A Turkish man who called the 1915 Armenian genocide "an international lie" had a right to express his views and should not have been convicted by a Swiss court, the European Court of Human Rights ruled Tuesday.

The 2007 conviction of Dogu Perincek, an Ankara-based chairman of the Turkish Workers' Party, on charges of racial discrimination was "unjustified", the judges said.

Azerbaijani troops killed an Armenian soldier in a fresh clash along the volatile border between the two bitter rivals, the Armenian government said on Monday.

Hrant Pokhosyan, 26, was killed on Saturday when his convoy came under attack at a northeastern sector of the border, Armenia's defense ministry said.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu described the deportation of Armenians under the Ottoman empire as "inhumane" during a fence-mending visit to Yerevan this week, Turkish media reported Friday.

Davutoglu made the comments to Turkish journalists traveling with him to Armenia Thursday on his first visit since moves to open diplomatic ties between the neighbors failed four years ago.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Friday he is heading to Armenia next week on his first visit since the failure four years ago of efforts to normalize ties.

The two countries remain deeply at odds over the mass killings of Armenians during World War I and the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region.

Russian strongman Vladimir Putin on Monday pledged to maintain the Kremlin's influence in the South Caucasus on a trip to Armenia as hundreds of demonstrators protested a decision to join a Moscow-led customs union.

"Russia is not preparing to leave the South Causcasus. On the contrary, we intend to strengthen our presence here," Putin said in televised remarks from the town of Gyumri, where he was expected to visit a Russian military base.