Latest Articles about The Caucasus

AZERBAIJANI-UKRAINIAN RELATIONS DETERIORATE AFTER STOLEN ELECTIONS

Ukraine has followed the lead of the OSCE in not recognizing the official results of Azerbaijan's November 6 parliamentary elections. A Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman said, "We support the earlier conclusions of the OSCE observer mission on this question and are awaiting the final verdict... MORE

ABKHAZ MILITARY ACCUSED OF FORCIBLY DRAFTING ETHNIC GEORGIANS

Recent developments in Abkhazia, Georgia's breakaway region, do not bode well for the forthcoming Georgian-Abkhaz negotiations scheduled for mid-November in Sukhumi, the capital of Abkhazia. These UN-mediated talks have already been delayed because the sides failed to finalize a draft of a joint Georgian-Abkhaz declaration... MORE

GULIYEV’S SECOND ATTEMPT TO RETURN TO AZERBAIJAN FAILS

After his first unsuccessful attempt to return to Azerbaijan on October 17, Rasul Guliyev, chairman of the Azerbaijan Democratic Party and former speaker of parliament, announced that he would return between October 31 and November 3 (see EDM, October 19). Such a vague timeline put... MORE

AZERBAIJAN’S MODERATE OPPOSITION ON THE EVE OF ELECTIONS

Azerbaijan's moderate opposition has been relegated to undeserved obscurity in terms of international media coverage and Western policy assessments of the situation in Azerbaijan. The attention has focused on the radicals because of their confrontational tactics and "revolutionary" phraseology. Meanwhile, the moderate opposition's Yeni Siyasat... MORE

AZERBAIJAN’S RADICAL OPPOSITION ON THE EVE OF ELECTIONS

The radical opposition bloc Azadliq (Freedom) is capturing international headlines through high decibel power and the decade-old political investment into a few of the bloc's leaders by some Western human-rights groups. In the perception of most Azerbaijani voters, however, Azadliq leaders are indelibly associated with... MORE

GEORGIAN DEFENSE MINISTER FENDS OFF LATEST CHARACTER ATTACK

Scandal-prone Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili is back in the news thanks to the continuing investigation into the Ministry of Defense purchase of allegedly defective armored vehicles from Ukraine in 2004 (see EDM October 14). After the arrest of three senior defense officials on charges... MORE

FREEDOM OF MEDIA IN GEORGIA DECLINES EVEN FURTHER

Reporters Without Frontiers, a Paris-based watchdog organization, released the 2005 version of its Worldwide Press Freedom Index on October 20. Georgia fell from 94th place in 2004 to 99th place. Prior to the November 2003 Rose Revolution, the organization ranked Georgia 73rd. Georgia's falling scores... MORE