 RFE/RL Caucasus Report 8/7/2009 2:54:33 PM A review of RFE/RL reporting and analysis about the countries of the South Caucasus and Russia's North Caucasus region.For more stories on the Caucasus, please visit and bookmark our Caucasus page . |
 Amendments To Citizenship Law Compound Political Tensions In Abkhazia The Abkhaz parliament has voted unanimously to ask the president not to sign into law amendments the parliament enacted earlier to the law on citizenship passed in November 2005. The opposition had protested those amendments, arguing that extending Abkhaz citizenship to the overwhelmingly Georgian population of Abkhazia's southernmost Gali Raion opens the door to a new wave of Georgian "colonization." More  Azerbaijani Activist Released From Pretrial Detention An appeals court announced the decision to release Agasif Shakiroglu, citing an investigation into whether he had evaded military service. More  Simmering Tensions One year ago, a brief war broke out that saw Russian troops rout Georgian forces trying to regain control over the breakaway region of South Ossetia. Ceremonies are honoring the hundreds of victims, but both sides continue to trade accusations of blame. More Iranian television producer Shaban Ali Keyvani and cameraman Masud Vaezi have been deported from Azerbaijan, RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service reports. More  U.S. Official Calls For Calm Between Russia, Georgia One year ago, Russia and Georgia fought a five-day war over the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia. Philip Gordon, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, talked to RFE/RL about the continuing tensions between Russia and Georgia, as well as the relationship between Moscow and Washington. More  South Ossetia, Abkhazia Take Separate Paths One year after Russia and Georgia fought a bitter five-day war, the two breakaway territories at the heart of the conflict, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, appear to be moving in opposite directions – one away from the Russian sphere of influence, and one deeper into it. More  South Ossetian Parliament Approves New Prime Minister Having successfully engineered the election two months ago of a parliament devoid of any opposition representation, on August 3 South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity proceeded to dismiss Prime Minister Aslanbek Bulatsev. That move in turn necessitates the resignation of the entire cabinet named last fall in the wake of the August 2008 Russian-Georgian war. More  Chronology Of The Conflict One year after war broke out between Russia and Georgia, many issues remain unresolved. South Ossetia and the breakaway region of Abkhazia unilaterally declared independence, tens of thousands of Georgians are still displaced, and political tensions between Tbilisi and Moscow are simmering. Here is a look back at the key events in the conflict over the past 12 months. More  Russian Media On The Georgia War Anniversary With the first anniversary of the Russian-Georgian war tomorrow, the "Vremya novostei" daily has some interesting comments today from leading Russian politicians: More  Year After War: A New Reality, But Old Relations A year ago the rumbling of Russian tanks in the Caucasus sent shock waves around the world. Moscow argued that the crisis demonstrated the collapse of post-Cold War security structures. NATO, the EU, and the U.S. struggled to respond to the rapidly changing situation on the ground. But 12 months later, specialists say, surprisingly little has changed. More  War Survivors Struggle To Rebuild Lives Georgia's Gori region, near the de facto border with South Ossetia, endured the worst of the five-day Russia-Georgia war last August. Hundreds of people from the regions had their homes destroyed and scores of civilians were killed. One year after the conflict, people from the region are still trying to put their lives back together. Some who lost their homes now live in tiny cottages funded by Georgian and European Union aid, waiting for their own houses to be rebuilt. Others live in settlement More  Georgian Authorities Postpone By-Elections During talks on August 3, the United National Movement, which controls most of the 150 seats in the Georgian parliament, and the parliament minority agreed to postpone until after the adoption of a new election law the by-elections in three single-mandate constituencies scheduled for September 27. More  Georgian Opposition Activists Abducted, Beaten An activist for Georgian opposition leader Nino Burjanadze's Democratic Movement -- United Georgia is in hospital after being badly beaten, RFE/RL's Georgian Service reports. More  Cancer-Stricken Armenian Editor Remains Imprisoned Armenian prison officials have joined international human rights groups in calling for the release of opposition newspaper editor Arman Babajanian, who was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reports. More  Jehovah's Witnesses Denied Registration In Nagorno-Karabakh Authorities in the ethnic Armenian-controlled Nagorno-Karabakh region are refusing to allow Jehovah's Witnesses and another nontraditional religious group from legally operating in the self-proclaimed republic, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reports. More  Former Armenian Foreign Minister Defends Madrid Principles Vartan Oskanian, who served as Armenian foreign minister from 1998-2008, has emphatically defended the most recent international plan to end the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and warned that its blanket rejection could force the mediators to reconsider their effective acceptance of continued Armenian control over the disputed territory. More  Is The Armenian-Turkish Rapprochement In Jeopardy? Over the past month, Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian has expressed frustration on three separate occasions that the Turkish government is apparently backpedaling with regard to its April commitment to seek ways to "normalize" bilateral relations without preconditions. Turkey's response to those statements has been cautiously muted. More  Can Georgia's Democratic Dream Be Revived? When Russia and Georgia went to war a year ago, it seemed to some that the hope and promise of the Rose Revolution had died. Georgians have since expressed cautious optimism, but few appear to trust President Mikheil Saakashvili and his entourage to deliver it. More Two young fighters have responded to the July 20 appeal by Ingushetian President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov to turn themselves in to the authorities. Yevkurov had called specifically on young people who were "blackmailed" into joining the Islamic resistance to lay down their arms. He assured them that they would not be punished if they did so, but warned at the same time that those who did not "come to their senses" would be hunted down and killed. More  Saakashvili: Survival Against Russia 'Miracle' Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili says he fears that Russia remains intent upon crushing Georgian statehood. While he does not see a new war as imminent, Saakashvili said in an interview with Reuters that he expects Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to stick to his goal of ousting him as Georgian leader. More |
