Armenians and Azerbaijanis Dance Under One Sky in Georgian Village

Armenians and Azerbaijanis Dance Under One Sky in Georgian Village

by | Nov 27, 2023 | Armenia, Azerbaijan, Caspian Post, Georgia, Nagorno Karabakh

Throughout the summer I once again made frequent visits to the Marneuli Municipality of the Kvemo Kartli region of Georgia, this time to work on a report on the many cases of ethnic Armenian-Azerbaijani villages there. Not only do these unique examples of co-inhabitation exist but they do so in a mainly ethnic Azerbaijani part of Georgia that also serves as one of Armenia’s few outlets for trade and transportation as well as its connection to Tbilisi. 

Sadly, despite visiting those villages numerous times since 2010 or so, I nonetheless missed a festival held in one – Khojorni – that was staged precisely to celebrate the cosmopolitan nature of the district. Until this year’s report is out, written in collaboration with a colleague from Azerbaijan, you can read my short piece about the festival for the Caspian Post  here and there’s an excerpt below. I also intend to write more on this in the coming days and weeks.

Meanwhile, there’s also a piece I wrote for Stratfor on two of those villages in 2017 here. 

Nestled in the hills and forests of Georgia just a kilometre from the country’s border with Armenia, the residents of Khojorni, a small village numbering just 635, held on 18 November the first of what it hopes will be an annual multicultural festival, Under One Sky. Though such events are not uncommon throughout the country, what made this one special was that the population comprises one made up of ethnic Armenians and Azerbaijanis. 

 

Lali Margiani, one of the teachers at the local school told the Tbilisi-based Aliq Media that the idea for the festival had been around for years, but plans to stage it had been frustrated by the recent pandemic. According to Margiani, the festival was important to demonstrate that it is “possible to live under one sky without conflict,” and to offer yet another narrative of “coexistence and unity.” Several other villages in the area are also co-inhabited by the two ethnic groups.

 

“During the years I have lived here, I have not encountered any conflict in this village,” 77-year-old Terlan Suleymanova, a Khojorni resident, told me on one of my many visits for over more than a decade in 2021. “People have always treated each other well, visited each other’s houses, and congratulated each other on their birthdays. We have always had a good relationship. At school, our relationship was even better.”

 

[…] 

 

In recent weeks, both Baku and Tbilisi again outlined the potential role that Georgia could play in hosting talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan as other platforms continue to falter. They point out that for many ethnic Armenian and Azerbaijani citizens of Georgia there is no conflict among them, especially in locations where the two live in close proximity. This is a remarkable reality that speaks volumes given that found elsewhere. The Khojorni festival hammered that home.

 

“Dancing together […] under the same sky, Armenians and Azerbaijanis and… me. One Georgian!,” exclaimed Margiani on Facebook the following day. 

 The full Caspian Post article can be read here. My 2013 RFE/RL photo story is here and my 2017 piece for Stratfor is here.

CONFLICT VOICES e-BOOKS

 

Conflict Voices – December 2010

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Conflict Voices – May 2011

Short essays on the Nagorno Karabakh Conflict
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20 Years After the 2003 Armenia Presidential Elections

20 Years After the 2003 Armenia Presidential Elections

by | Nov 25, 2023 | Armenia, Georgia

 Opposition protest demonstration, Matendaran, Yerevan, Armenia © Onnik James Krikorian 2003

This month marks the 20th anniversary of the Rose Revolution in Georgia that brought Mikheil Saakashvili to power. Though Misha’s rule was to deteriorate rapidly by the time of demonstrations held in Tbilisi in 2007, there’s no doubt that the change of power four years earlier turned Georgia around. This was especially relevant given that earlier in the year, post-presidential election protests in Yerevan led to defeat for the opposition and even more authoritarianism in Armenia.

I remember vividly entering my local corner shop in the Komitas district of Yerevan during the 2003 Rose Revolution in Georgia and watching the live broadcast on the television set. There was a sense of jealousy from the owners. “Wait until we do this,” said the wife of the owner. “We will dance in a way you’ve never seen before,” she said, the dislike of then President Robert Kocharyan was that much. But, of course, his main competitor in the elections that year in Armenia was the son of former Soviet-era boss Karen Demirchyan, who had been assassinated in the 1999 parliamentary shootings, the lacklustre Stepan.

Unlike Georgia, where Rustavi-2 live broadcast the revolution, there was no such use of technology during the 2003 presidential election in Armenia. There were few media outlets present and even fewer foreign journalists – just myself and one other. Indeed, during the period between the first and second rounds of the presidential elections I was called in to OVIR to ‘check my visa’ and also an interrogation by the Armenian National Security Service (NSS). To be fair, there was no pressure. Indeed, the NSS agent even told me he enjoyed the ‘interrogation’ so much, especially about Karabakh, that if I had time maybe I could pop by again to continue talking.

This later turned into an attempted bribe from the NSS, Armenian Foreign Ministry, and Yerevan State University  to discredit Georgia. Naturally, I refused.

Of course, the following year, encouraged by the Rose Revolution in Georgia, the opposition protested again and several journalists, including myself, were beaten by regime thugs that were mainly the bodyguards of Kocharyan’s oligarchs under the watchful eye of Chorni Gago. But I digress. I’ve been meaning to post some of the photos I took from the 2003 presidential elections that really marked the decline of Armenia into an authoritarian regime supported by a cadre of violent criminal oligarchs that would inevitably lead to violence and fatalities at the next elections in 2008, another I also covered.

Until I get those photos from 2008 online, here’s some from 2003.

2003 presidential elections, Yerevan/Akhurik/Gyumri, Armenia © Onnik James Krikorian 2003

 

A worrying sense of deja-vu prevails in Armenia-Azerbaijan relations

A worrying sense of deja-vu prevails in Armenia-Azerbaijan relations

by | Nov 22, 2023 | Armenia, Azerbaijan, Commonspace, European Union, Nagorno Karabakh

This month marked the third anniversary of the ceasefire statement that was meant to end the second Karabakh war. In retrospect, it might be more appropriately considered a continuation of the first conflict of the early 1990s given that the ceasefire then was hardly implemented too, leading to a new war 26 years later. Meanwhile, hopes that Baku and Yerevan could sign a peace agreement are fading.

A deal was possible by the end of the year, both sides pronounced in 2022 and again throughout 2023, but that sounded as vague and sometimes disingenuous then as it does now. Instead, an uncanny sense of deja vu hangs over the process, reminiscent of earlier failures by the now defunct OSCE Minsk Group. 

 

“There is a possibility of a Karabakh settlement in the course of this year,” then U.S. co-chair of the Minsk Group Steve Mann told journalists in 2005 before correcting himself. A peace deal could be signed “this year or within the next hundred,” he said, perhaps sarcastically. That feeling has now returned with even the U.S. admitting that it is pointless to predict when an agreement might come.

 

Baku is concerned that Yerevan is playing for time while Armenia fears that Azerbaijan prefers to soldier on with its so far successful policy of coercive diplomacy. Both sides have consistently engaged in forum shopping.

 

[…] 

 

Yet, if there ever was ever a role for salaried NGOs in conflict resolution then this would be it. Unless they too have no real desire for peace, of course. Finally, Brussels should also be cognisant of the need to be considered a neutral mediator by all sides and avoid the temptation to engage in geopolitical confrontation and competition with regional powers that will surely react harshly in response.

 

With the 30th anniversary of the 1994 ceasefire also upon us next year, the stakes are high. Suffice to say, a tangible breakthrough by the end of 2023 remains vital for all hope going forwards. Otherwise, like much of the world, the mediators will instead be preoccupied by Ukraine, Gaza, the U.S. presidential vote, and any other cataclysmic global event that might unexpectedly appear out of nowhere.

 

Three years on, Armenia and Azerbaijan have been in that situation before.

 The full opinion piece can be read here.

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Conflict Voices – May 2011

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Georgia: The Final Hurdle To EU Candidate Status

Georgia: The Final Hurdle To EU Candidate Status

by | Nov 14, 2023 | Balcani Caucaso, European Union, Georgia

Last week’s decision by the European Commission  to recommend Georgia receive European Union candidate status caught many by surprise. A survey conducted by the Tbilisi-based Caucasus Research Resource Centre (CRRC) in the previous days showed that, despite widespread support for EU membership, only 33% of respondents believed it would obtain it. Unlike Ukraine and Moldova, which became candidates in June last year, Georgia had instead been required to address 12 priorities  first.  

Despite some progress towards those goals, only three satisfied Brussels to some extent and Georgia now needs to address nine areas of concern  . In an increasingly charged and polarised environment, with Tbilisi cautious about irking Moscow, there also remain allegations that the government instead sought rejection. Georgian President Salome Zurabashvili even urged the public to gather outside the presidential palace on the evening of the decision – possibly to celebrate if the status was granted or to protest if it was not.  

 

 Zurabashvili, now estranged from the very authorities that facilitated her presidency, narrowly survived an attempt to impeach  her last month over what were considered unauthorised trips to European capitals to lobby for candidate status. While the European Commission’s decision now alleviates concerns about political instability, it does not guarantee smooth sailing ahead. Last week’s recommendation is not the final decision; that will be determined by EU leaders next month.  

 

“[…] we should not forget that the recommendation to grant Georgia the candidate status is linked to fulfilling important steps”, EU Ambassador to Tbilisi Pawel Herczynski said in press remarks  , making specific references to the rule of law, media freedom, and holding democratic elections. “Addressing these steps will be crucial to move to the next stage. This is the nature of the enlargement process: constant reform […]”.  

 

Georgia is also expected to counter anti-EU disinformation and propaganda and align its policy with Brussels’ in terms of foreign affairs and security. Many consider this a direct reference to Moscow evading EU sanctions through its former satellites of Armenia and Georgia since last year’s invasion of Ukraine. Nonetheless, despite the EU acknowledging only ‘limited progress’ since June last year, the government hailed the decision as a success.

 

[…]

The full article can be read here.

Armenian, Azerbaijani and Georgian Prime Ministers address Tbilisi Silk Road Forum

Armenian, Azerbaijani and Georgian Prime Ministers address Tbilisi Silk Road Forum

by | Nov 4, 2023 | Armenia, Azerbaijan, Balcani Caucaso, Georgia, Nagorno Karabakh

The Armenian, Georgian, and Azerbaijan Prime Ministers meet for trilateral talks © Official Photo 

In recent days, Georgia once again hosted the Tbilisi Silk Road Forum, an event with an economic focus. What is new this year is that for the first time an Armenian leader spoke at such a high-level event in Tbilisi, and high-level officials from all three South Caucasus countries were also on the same stage

On 26-27 October, the Georgian capital once again hosted the Tbilisi Silk Road Forum, an event to discuss global economic challenges and international connectivity established by the Georgian government in 2015. The fourth edition was attended by around 2,000 delegates representing the governments and private sector from over 80 countries.

 

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili naturally opened the forum, but so did the Prime Ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Montenegro. More significantly, however, not only was it the first time an Armenian leader spoke at such a high-level event in Tbilisi, but it was also the first time that high-level officials from all three countries gathered on the same stage to do so.

 

Though the main focus was economic, Garibashvili used the opportunity to offer Georgia’s assistance to Armenia and Azerbaijan in facilitating or mediating talks. The last time Tbilisi had made this offer was alongside Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev on his visit to Georgia on 8 October. In recent weeks, Baku has increasingly pushed the narrative that the region’s problems should be resolved within and not outside the region.

  

During that visit, Aliyev even suggested that Armenia and Azerbaijan could hold meetings at various levels in Tbilisi “immediately” if Yerevan agreed. However, in an interview with Armenian Public Television two days later, the Armenian Prime Minister clearly seemed reluctant to so, wary that this could threaten the continuation of efforts by the European Union. Such concerns are not unfounded.

 

[…]

 

Though it is uncertain whether Armenia and Azerbaijan are now ready to sign a long-awaited agreement to normalise relations, statements by officials from both sides indicate that such a possibility remains within reach. Meanwhile, at a European Council summit held on 26-27 October in Brussels, EU leaders called “on the parties to engage in good faith and to finalise this process by the end of this year”. Tbilisi, incidentally, has already offered to host any signing ceremony.

 The full article can be read here.

CONFLICT VOICES e-BOOKS

 

Conflict Voices – December 2010

Short essays on the Nagorno Karabakh Conflict
Download in English | Russian

 

Conflict Voices – May 2011

Short essays on the Nagorno Karabakh Conflict
Download in English | Russian