RFE/RL Caucasus Report
1/20/2012 7:10:26 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 . |
New Opposition Civic Union Established in Abkhazia
A civic union of Abkhaz "patriotic forces" held its founding congress in Sukhumi on January 19. More 
Armenian Army Deaths Down In 2011
Armenian's chief military prosecutor says the number of Armenian soldiers who died in action and noncombat circumstances fell by 33 percent to a total of 36 last year. More 
Azerbaijan Says It Exposed Terror Cell
Azerbaijan's National Security Ministry (MNS) says it has uncovered a terror group that was plotting to assassinate public figures. More A French Senate panel has rejected a bill that would make it a crime to deny that the mass killings of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey amounted to "genocide." More 
Armenia: PACE Faces Opposition Criticism
The Armenian National Congress (HAK) has joined other opposition groups in criticizing a Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) official monitoring the political situation in Armenia. More 
Baku Snub Of PACE Envoy Continues
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe's (PACE) special rapporteur on political prisoners in Azerbaijan says he still has not received an official invitation or visa to visit that country. More 
Arab Spring Said To Inspire Oppressed
U.S.-based pro-democracy group Freedom House calls popular uprisings that have swept the Arab world the greatest challenge to authoritarian rule since the collapse of Soviet communism. More 
New Political Confrontation Looms In South Ossetia
The fragile political stability that followed the agreement signed in December between outgoing de facto South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity and Alla Dzhioyeva, whose victory in the runoff ballot to choose his successor was annulled by the breakaway republic's Supreme Court, is in jeopardy. More 
Armenian Currency Continues Slow Slide In Value
The Armenian national currency, the dram, has steadily depreciated in value over the past year despite rising exports and private remittances from abroad. More 
Turk Gets Life Over Dink Murder
A Turkish court ruling closes the case of the 2007 assassination of journalist Hrant Dink without a broader probe into the alleged involvement of state security officials in the murder. More 
Cyberspat Erupts As Baku-Tehran Relations Become Increasingly Strained
Iranian-Azerbaijani tensions -- which have been escalating for weeks -- have apparently erupted into a cyberskirmish that has affected dozens of websites in both countries. More
Azerbaijani Official Websites Hacked
The websites of several Azerbaijani state bodies were hacked on January 16 and some were inaccessible for several hours More 
PACE Official Riles Armenia Opposition
Leaders of the two opposition parties in Armenia's parliament have accused a top official of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) of pro-government bias after meeting him to discuss the political situation in the country. More 
Armenians Challenge Open-Pit Mine Plan
More than 200 environmental activists and their supporters have marched to a forest in northern Armenia to protest its transformation into an open-pit mine that they say would severely damage the environment. More 
Aliyev-Sarkisian Summit Confirmed
Armenia has officially confirmed reports that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will soon host another meeting between his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts on the unresolved conflict over the breakaway Azerbaijani region of Nagorno-Karabakh. More 
Azeri Cabbies Protest Restrictions
Police have attacked hundreds of Azerbaijani taxi drivers protesting in Baku against new restrictions on the use of privately owned automobiles for taxis. More 
Kadyrov's 'Chechen Sufism' Accommodates Christmas Trees, 'Holy Water'
There can be little doubt that Chechen Republic head Ramzan Kadyrov sees himself -- and craves recognition -- not just as a secular political leader, but as the head of a national-religious community. More 
New Opposition Alliance Established in Azerbaijan
Representatives of five extra-parliamentary opposition parties met on January 12 in Baku to formalize the creation of a new Resistance Movement for a Democratic Society. More 
Podcast: The Best Of 'The Blender' 1st Anniversary Show!
On this week's edition of The Blender, a look back at the best of the past year, as RFE/RL's only weekly English-language podcast celebrates its first anniversary. More |
