Rebel soldiers moved unopposed toward the capital on Saturday and threatened to seize it unless elected President Abulfaz Elcibey officially resigns.
Former Communist Party boss Geidar Aliev, who stepped in as acting president on Friday, was negotiating by telephone with both Elcibey and rebel leader Surat Huseynov to try to resolve the crisis, news agencies reported.Elcibey fled the capital on Friday, citing fears for his safety.
He was pressured by Huseynov, a former army commander demoted by Elcibey in a dispute over the handling of Azerbaijan's 5-year-old war with Armenia over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The streets in Baku were noticeably calmer on Saturday, two weeks after the crisis began, although Western oil companies reportedly were pulling most of their workers out of the city, fearing civil war.