After three month of peaceful demonstrations, last Sunday (September 25) Azerbaijan's opposition parties and police clashed in downtown Baku. Ministry of Interior forces broke up the unauthorized rally by the main opposition alliance, Azadliq (Freedom), which unites the three largest opposition parties (Musavat, Popular Front,... MORE

On September 19-20 in Tskhinvali, South Ossetian authorities led celebrations of the 15th anniversary of the declaration of secession from Georgia. Although the September 20, 1990, declaration and some subsequent documents speak of "independence" and a "sovereign state," the authorities in practice seek outright annexation... MORE

September 17 became "Black Saturday" in the history of the dollar in Azerbaijan. In just a few hours, the exchange rate of U.S. dollar to the Azerbaijani manat fell by almost 20% (from 4,600 manat per dollar to 3,800 manats), creating chaos and panic in... MORE

Russia's state-run power monopoly, Unified Energy Systems (UES), is close to formalizing its effective purchase of Armenia's electricity grid, giving Moscow near total control over the Armenian energy sector. The government in Yerevan indicated on September 15 that it would green light a deal that... MORE

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and his team are continuing to send varied signals about their plans for Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia. The recent initiative by Georgian and Abkhaz officials to advance confidence-building measures by signing an agreement about non-resumption of hostilities (see EDM, August... MORE

As Azerbaijan's November 6 parliamentary elections draw closer, opposition parties are becoming more active. On Saturday September 10 the opposition bloc Azadliq (Freedom), a coalition of three major parties in Azerbaijan -- Musavat, Popular Front, and Democratic Party – held yet another rally in Baku... MORE

In recent weeks both the Georgian and the Azerbaijani media have actively speculated whether the government of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili would support a popular revolution in neighboring Azerbaijan. Some analysts tend to link the recently cooled relations between Tbilisi and Baku with this issue.... MORE

Setting the stage for another government showdown with the opposition, Armenia's parliament approved on September 1 the final version of President Robert Kocharian's Western-backed constitutional amendments that will be put to a national referendum in November. The move came after three days of heated debates... MORE

On August 17 in Moscow, Abkhaz leader Sergei Bagapsh openly confirmed the political program of Abkhazia's secession from Georgia and de facto merger with Russia. Speaking at a specially organized, widely covered news conference, he outlined a set of legislative, economic, and military measures to... MORE

Although the Azerbaijani constitution sets the number of national parliamentary seats at 125, the actual number of deputies in the Azerbaijani parliament has always been 124. The empty seat belonged to district 122, located in Khankendi (Stepanakert), the capital of Karabakh, which is currently under... MORE