
Latest Articles about South Caucasus

Who Provoked the Clashes Between Local Armenians and the Georgian Police?
On September 30, Georgia’s minister of interior, Giorgi Mgebrishvili, urgently traveled to Samtskhe-Javakheti, a region on the country’s southern border. Most of the residents of this area are ethnic Armenians, though they hold Georgian citizenship (Jam-news.net, October 2). The minister flew by helicopter to the... MORE

Armenia Amends New Military Doctrine in Standoff With Azerbaijan Over Karabakh
At the Armenian diaspora’s Sixth Pan-Armenian Forum, held on September 18–20, Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian declared that Yerevan was discussing the possible handover of some occupied territories back to Azerbaijan, in line with formerly accepted principles agreed upon by both sides in negotiations over... MORE

Five Years after Taking Power, Georgian Dream’s Promises Remain Unfulfilled
October 1 marked five years since the Georgian Dream (GD) coalition, led by Georgian billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, won its landslide victory against the ruling United National Movement in the 2012 parliamentary elections (Cec.gov.ge, 2012). GD ended UNM’s nine-year rule, representing modern Georgia’s first ever peaceful... MORE

Kurdish Referendum: Implications for the Karabakh Conflict
The September 25 independence referendum in Iraqi Kurdistan highlighted two important implications for the Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. First, official reactions from Baku and Yerevan have been noticeably cautious. Second, recent debates in Armenia and Azerbaijan have focused on whether the notional independence... MORE

Georgian Opposition Attacks Bank of Billionaire Ivanishvili
The party of former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili, United National Movement (UNM), has begun actively preparing for local elections, scheduled for October 21. Its first major action, which caused a big response, was a rally in downtown Tbilisi, at the central office of Cartu Bank,... MORE

Georgia’s Ruling Party ‘Supermajority’ Passes Unilateral Constitutional Reform
The parliament of Georgia approved amendments to the Constitution, on September 26, in its final, third reading. One hundred and seventeen lawmakers—mostly from Georgian Dream–Democratic Georgia (GDDG)—voted in favor and two against. Parliamentarians from opposition parties United National Movement (UNM) and European Georgia (EG) walked... MORE

Russian Portion of Caspian May Dry up This Century, Threatening Moscow’s Interests
Many countries around the world are now threatened by rising sea levels in coastal areas as a result of climate change and the melting of the polar ice caps. Russia is experiencing such a scenario in the Arctic. But it is also facing another serious... MORE

Azerbaijan’s Defense Minister Visits Israel, as Bilateral Ties Grow Stronger
Azerbaijani Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov paid a visit to Israel, on September 11, to discuss cooperation in the military and military-technical spheres with the host country’s leading defense industry enterprises. While there, he also toured the Command and Control Center (CCC) of the Israeli Armed... MORE

Georgia Hosts Large-Scale, Multinational Military Drills
From September 3 to September 11, Georgia hosted the multinational military exercise Agile Spirit 2017 (Agenda.ge, September 11). Originally, Agile Sprit started off as a bilateral United States–Georgia military exercise, normally held at the Vaziani military base on the outskirts of the Georgian capital of... MORE

A Dexterous Move Propels Saakashvili Back Into Ukraine’s Political Limelight
What occurred on September 10, at the Medyka-Shehyni crossing on the Polish-Ukrainian border, is remarkable. Earlier that day, Mikheil Saakashvili, the third president of Georgia and a Ukrainian opposition politician, declared his intention to reenter Ukraine after having been deprived of his Ukrainian citizenship on... MORE