Latest Articles about The Caucasus
Arrests in Turkey May Be Connected to So-Called “Berlin Group” of Russian Killers
On November 22, the Turkish authorities announced that six people had been arrested in Istanbul for involvement in the murder of Chechen refugees in the city in September 2011 (www.mk.ru/social/news/2012/11/22/777469-politsiya-stambula-zaderzhala-ubiyts-chechenskih-bezhentsev.html).On September 16, 2011, three Chechens were shot dead in Zeytinburnu, one of the busiest districts... MORE
Circassians Will Not Follow Abkhaz Example, Adyge Khase Leader Says
Asker Sokht, president of the Circassian “Adyge Khase” organization of Krasnodar Krai, said this week that his nation will not seek to realize its rights by violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of any country as the Abkhaz have done (www.regnum.ru/news/polit/1597324.html). Many are likely to... MORE
Russian Army Lacks Recruits, but Will Not Draft North Caucasians
On November 22, the authoritative Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta published a report on how the Russian army is becoming increasingly undermanned. According to the paper’s sources in the Russian military, the new Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu was “extremely displeased” with a report by General Vasily... MORE
Ivanishvili’s Blunders May Be Very Costly for Georgia
The new Prime Minister of Georgia Bidzina Ivanishvili appeared quite surprised when he heard criticism from the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Speaking at a press conference in Prague, on November 12, where the Parliamentary Assembly of NATO... MORE
New Rhetoric, but Old Policy on Adjara Autonomy
On October 28, Georgia’s new Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili named the new Head of the Government of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara (hereafter, Adjara)—a 1,120 square mile large region of stunningly beautiful mountains and rain forests, with the population of approximately 376,000, located on the... MORE
North Caucasian Activists See Relations with Georgia Under Threat
After the dramatic changes in Georgia’s political leadership in October 2012, experts in the North Caucasus see signs of a decreasing Georgian presence in the politics of the North Caucasus. “The North Caucasian policy of Georgia will become more flexible, cautious and subtle,” Lachin Lachinov,... MORE
Failure of Government Institutions Mobilizes North Caucasian Ethnic Groups
On November 8, ethnic Nogai in Dagestan held a rally calling on President Vladimir Putin to consider creating a Nogai autonomous republic within Russia. The new republic would presumably include parts of Dagestan, Chechnya and Stavropolregion where Nogais have resided traditionally. The activists declared: “Only... MORE
Moscow Recognizes Hizb-ut-Tahrir Operates Inside Russia
It has been 460 years since the first Muslim groups were incorporated into the Russian state (www.prlib.ru/history/pages/item.aspx?itemid=268), yet Moscow has not advanced at all toward better understanding the Islamic world. Starting with the capture of Kazan in 1552 and until the Soviets took power in... MORE
Reinterpretations of Soviet History in Georgia and the Post-Soviet Space: Never-Ending Battle
On November 12, Georgia’s Deputy Minister of Culture Yuri Metchitov, serving in the “Georgian Dream”–led new government, declared that Georgia should change the name of the Museum of the Soviet Occupation, opened in Tbilisi in 2006. As Metchitov stated, the museum draws the irritation of... MORE
Will Georgia Continue to Seek to Influence Eurasian Countries?
Most of the non-Russian countries in the post-Soviet space have pursued foreign policies directed at defending their interests “in the framework of a limited geographic region,” two Russian analysts say. But under President Mikhail Saakashvili, Georgia has been an exception, regularly seeking to promote itself... MORE