Armenia

Akhalkalaki, Samtskhe-Javakheti, Republic of Georgia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2002
RFE/RL reports on trouble brewing in Georgia’s mainly Armenian populated region of Samtskhe-Javakheti. After local elections were held in Armenia’s northern neighbour last week, hundreds of ethnic Armenian Georgian citizens rallied in Akhalkalaki before eventually seizing a local government building.
The group called United […]

Arminfo carries news that the South Caucasus Parliamentary Initiative (SCPI) has proposed to establish an annual Caucasus Day in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. I’m all for the idea given the fact that the three countries have a lot to offer each offer culturally and the need for mutual hatreds to be overcome. However, the idea […]

Via Georgien, news of a report on Nationalism, Conflict and Minorities in the South Caucasus published by Minority Rights Group International.
It is ten years since the former Soviet Union Republics of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia became independent states of the South Caucasus. This report sheds light on a region which is under-reported and […]

Eurasianet covers Georgia’s local elections in the aftermath of the Russian Spy Scandal that has seen Moscow “punish” Tbilisi by closing the border between the two countries and persecute Georgian citizens in the country. Ironically, and to add to the damage that the blockade might cause Armenia, some of those citizens might be ethnic Armenians […]

Prison, Kosh, Aragatsotn Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2006
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has just issued a press release highlighting the results of the 2005 monitoring of conditions in Armenian prisons and detention centres. On first reading, and unlike Georgia where reform of the penal system […]

The Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR) has more on how the recently imposed Russian blockade of Georgia is affecting others as well. In particular, it is starting to affect Armenia, Russia’s traditional ally in the South Caucasus.
“I have a ticket to fly to Moscow tomorrow. Will I be able to fly?” enquires a […]

…that probably wasn’t the first point in Sahakashvili’s agenda. Still, that’s what Georgia is clearly getting out of the scandal: according to data from the Regional Electoral Committee of Akhalkalaki (the predominantly Armenian populated town in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region in Georgia), Akhalkalaki with 7052 voters will have 1 delegate to the regional sakrebulo (regional collegial self-government body), which is as many as the Georgian village Ptena with 204 voters.

RFE/RL reports that once again — and as I mentioned earlier — Armenian businesses are already starting to feel the consequences of the newly imposed Russian blockade of Georgia. The move follows the arrest but later release of four Russian military officers accused of spying in Georgia.
Armenian companies trading with Russia said on Tuesday that […]

Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2006
As previously mentioned, I’ve just returned from Tbilisi, capital of the Republic of Georgia, with Nahro Zagros, the Yorkshire Kurd. An ethno-musicologist visiting Armenia to research the musical traditions of the Republic’s Yezidi minority, when Nahro mentioned he was going to travel north with the […]

Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2006
Sorry for the silence since the last post, but I’ve just returned from a few days in Tbilisi, capital of the neighbouring Republic of Georgia. Thanks to Nahro appaZagros, the Yorkshire Kurd who is documenting the musical traditions of Armenia’s largest minority, I had the […]