Onnik James, Author at Onnik James Krikorian - Journalist, Photojournalist, Consultant

Georgian Environmentalists Halt Construction In Vake Park in Tbilisi

by Onnik James | Feb 4, 2014 | Balcani Caucaso, Environment, Georgia

Guerilla Gardening Camp, Vake Park, Tbilisi, Georgia © Onnik James Krikorian 2014

Braving the recent snowfall and plummeting temperatures, environmentalists have managed to prevent construction from continuing in Tbilisi’s central Vake Park — for now at least. Blockading the road leading to the site where a new hotel is being built, activists from Guerrilla Gardening Tbilisi are now camped out adjacent to the construction site.

Data Lapauri, one of the main figures behind the action, says that he’s particularly encouraged by this — and particularly bolstered by the show of public support experienced to date.

Local residents deliver hot soup while some taxi drivers, usually more notorious for over-charging customers, are even dropping off supporters of the action free of charge, he told me. Some cafes have also not charged for food when it’s ordered for take away and delivery to activists on site. Members of the Alternative Cultural Centre of Tbilisi collective has also donated a large tent.

Guerilla Gardening Camp, Vake Park, Tbilisi, Georgia © Onnik James Krikorian 2014

Facebook is also used extensively in their campaign while, despite low use in general in region, Twitter’s ability to send out updates via SMS is useful for urgent calls to mobilise if an when there are attempts to evict the activists or resume construction.

Twitter announcement, Vake Park, Tbilisi, Georgia © Onnik James Krikorian 2014

What’s most impressive, however, is the sense of camaraderie and unity evident among all, regardless of age, and even when the temperature hits minus figures. Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso has just published my small photo story on the protests.

Plans to construct a hotel in the corner of Tbilisi’s Vake Park have met opposition from residents of the Georgian capital. Although the Mayor’s Office says the development in Vake Park is not illegal, demonstrators disagree. Instead, they argue, the area where the hotel is being constructed was privatised without sufficient public discussion.

Organised via Facebook, the protests are now a regular occurrence with citizens and foreign residents invited to gather close to the construction site to make protest banners and signs while also engaging in other recreational activities. These include playing with frisbees, walking dogs, and even tightrope walking.

[…]

Activists have also received messages of support from neighbouring Armenia where environmentalists successfully prevented the construction of kiosks in Mashtots Park.

However, that action was arguably only a phyric victory. The area of green areas, including parks, in Yerevan, the Armenian capital, has already been significantly reduced, often to make room for the construction of cafes and restaurants by government officials or their relatives. The concern is that Tbilisi is experiencing the same trend.

For now, however, construction has been stopped.

The photo story is also available in Italian here.

Guerilla Gardening Camp, Vake Park, Tbilisi, Georgia © Onnik James Krikorian 2014

In Tbilisi, Georgians in Solidarity Action for Ukraine Euromaidan Protestors

by Onnik James | Jan 23, 2014 | Georgia, Russia, Ukraine

Ukraine Euromaidan Solidarity Action, Tbilisi, Georgia © Onnik Krikorian 2014

A few hours after the first reports of fatalities during violent clashes in Ukraine surfaced, some Georgians took to Facebook to organise a small solidarity rally in support of Euromaidan protestors outside the site of the former parliament building in Tbilisi. The demonstration follows similar events held last year (See here and here).

Democracy and Freedom Watch carries a report on the latest action.

Students, journalists, politicians, artists, singers and others filled the square in front of the building to express their protest against the actions of the Ukrainian government.

They carried posters with messages like “Stop dictatorship!”, “We Support Ukraine” and “Yanukovych, stop shooting”. There were some who offered participants to paint the Ukrainian flag on their faces. Others brought Ukrainian and EU flags and yellow and blue balloons.

Ukraine Euromaidan Solidarity Action, Tbilisi, Georgia © Onnik Krikorian 2014

Earlier the same day, the Georgian government also issued a statement.

“We are watching with alarm developments in our friendly and partner country, Ukraine,” PM Irakli Garibashvili said in a written statement. “We are deeply concerned that developments in the streets of Kiev resulted in casualties. We express our deep sorrow over this fact.”

“We condemn any violence and hope that the Ukrainian government and the society as a whole will show wisdom and will not allow further violent developments. We believe that our Ukrainian friends are capable of solving political issues pertinent to the country’s democratic development through peaceful negotiations,”

The Georgian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Tbilisi “respects each and every country’s right to choose its foreign policy priorities, but it is necessary to protect the principle of freedom of expression and assembly.”

“The Georgian Foreign Ministry calls on the Ukrainian government and participants of the demonstration to refrain from use of force and expresses hope that Ukraine, which is Georgia’s traditionally friendly country… will be able to resolve the situation through dialogue,” reads the statement.

“We sincerely wish to see Ukraine in future, together with Georgia, in a large European family, as the country sharing common European values,” the Georgian Foreign Ministry said.

Ukraine Euromaidan Solidarity Action, Tbilisi, Georgia © Onnik Krikorian 2014

The former party or power was more outspoken.

Expressing concern over “dramatic developments” in Kiev, the United National Movement (UNM) opposition party said in a statement: “The main reason behind escalating violence is pressure exerted by Russia on Ukraine ahead of the Vilnius Summit aimed at deterring Kiev from signing the Association Agreement with the European Union.”

UNM also said that Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych also shares responsibility for these developments because of his “ignorance of opinion of the hundreds of thousands of the Ukrainian citizens and inability to engage in dialogue.” UNM also condemned newly passed laws limiting the right to protest in Ukraine.

“Together with the international community, it is our duty to express full solidarity to the Ukrainian people’s aspiration towards the family of European nations founded on freedom, rule of law and human rights. Georgia should do its utmost to resist any attempt of dragging Ukraine into Putin’s Eurasian Union. Ukraine’s freedom is our freedom,” said UNM, which is a partner party of the Ukrainian opposition UDAR party, led by Vitaly Klitschko.

Incidentally, another link between the violence in Ukraine and the South Caucasus could be found in neighbouring Armenia where reports emerged that the first casualty in the most recent unrest in Kiev was an ethnic Armenian.

Ukrainian media have revealed the name of a man who was shot dead in protests in Kiev last night, suggesting that he is an ethnic Armenian.

The Ukrainskaya Pravda portal cites its sources as saying that 20-year-old Sergey Nigoyan from Dnepropetrovsk was an active participant of Euromaidan, the protests that began in Kiev’s Nezalezhnaya Square in late November in response to the Ukrainian government’s refusal to sign an Association Agreement with the European Union.

According to the news portal, Nigoyan was fatally wounded in the neck and in the head. The young man is presented as one of “Euromaidan guards” who has been with protesters in the square since December 8.

Ironically, like Ukraine, Armenia also buckled under alleged Russian pressure to reject an Association Agreement with the European Union in favour of joining the Moscow-led Eurasian Union. Radio Free Europe carries a profile of the dead protestor.

Ukraine Euromaidan Solidarity Action, Tbilisi, Georgia © Onnik Krikorian 2014

UK Advanced Command and Staff Course in Georgia

by Onnik James | Jan 16, 2014 | Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Nagorno Karabakh

UK Advanced Command and Staff Course students, National Defence Academy, Gori, Georgia
© Onnik James Krikorian 2014

My first presentation of 2014 and as with the year just gone it was to be for an audience as unexpected as my first presentation then. In February 2013 it was to be at an intergovernmental seminar for Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF) and the U.S. Government’s Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications (CSCC). This year it was to be for 50 students from the U.K. military’s tri-service Advanced Command and Staff Course.

From early on in their careers, officers from the three Services are given further education, with 2,000 a year, aged about 30, taken on to the 30-week “Intermediate” course at Shrivenham. About eight years later, this number is distilled down to 200 officers, the top 20 per cent, who after taking the “Advanced” course will go on to command battalions, warships or fighter squadrons. Of these, the best 30, marked for the top flight of their Services, are selected for the three-month “Higher” course when they reach their early forties.

[…]

“Critical to what we do here is to educate people for tomorrow, for
10 years’ time and beyond,” Air Vice Marshal Ray Lock, the commandant and a former Tornado pilot, says. Officers are taught to deal with the phenomenon of “wicked problems” – situations that have no solution but “problems that we have to manage and deal with”.

[…]

The course examines security relationships and potential problem areas with all the major powers including Russia, China, India and Brazil. Joint exercises are held with four other staff colleges in Europe, with a final two-day visit to Normandy to examine, admire or pull apart the intense planning that went into Operation Overlord, the D-Day invasion.

The students, including some from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere, were visiting Georgia to discuss the security situation in Georgia and the surrounding region.

During their week in Georgia, the students will have meetings at the Georgian Defence Ministry; visit the Krtsanisi Training Centre and National Defence Academy in Gori; meet civil society representatives; participate in discussions on Georgia’s EU and NATO aspirations and call on the European Monitoring Mission Field Office in Gori.

During their visit, the student also met with the Georgian Defence Minister, Irakli Alasania.

At the meeting, Defence Minister focused on international and regional security issues, Georgia’s foreign priorities, international and strategic partnership and challenges. “We spoke about Georgia, its geopolitics and challenges our country faces to in military of political directions. Their interest is very high. I am sure that the participants of the course see Georgia as a great and reliable partner. In future, such visits will strengthen alliance with NATO, as well our bilateral cooperation with many countries” – stated Defence Minister.

While delivering speech to the participants of the Advanced Command and Staff Course, Chief of General Staff, Major-General Vakhtang Kapanadze outlined the priorities and plans of Georgian Armed Forces. In his speech, Deputy Defence Minister, Mikheil Darchiashvili referred to Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic integration, Georgia’s contribution to international security operation and NATO 2014 Summit. On purpose to exchange experience, the students of the international course will visit National Defence Academy.

Within the visit to Georgia, meetings are also held with the representatives of NATO Liaison Office to Georgia, Georgian experts working on security issues, chief of EUMM, Deputy State Ministers of Reconciliation and Civil Equality and European and Euro-Atlantic Integration.

A Journalist's Perspective on the South Caucasus from Oneworld Multimedia

My presentation was to be for the second day of a seminar at the Georgian National Defence Academy in Gori. Other speakers included representatives of the British Embassy, local analysts and advisors to the Georgian government, heads of multinational corporations in the region, and international journalists. In particular, I was charged with the task of zooming out a little from Georgia and looking at the wider South Caucasus region and Armenia as well as the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, in particular.

To be honest, I found the idea of presenting to a military audience a little daunting so ended up Skyping with my Uncle, a retired British Army Lt. Colonel who also commanded UNPROFOR logistics in Bosnia in 1993, for some advice on how to approach them. “Don’t use too much text on screen,” he said. “Convey information in words and take a more personal approach recounting your experiences and knowledge in and of the region. Especially use photographs and be prepared for discussion. They’ll appreciate that.”

Seemed to work and my presentation was well received. And not only was the whole day informative, but also incredibly enjoyable. The seminar, however, was conducted under the Chatham House rule so I can’t say much more than this.

Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

by Onnik James | Jan 4, 2014 | Religion

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates © Onnik James Krikorian 2013

I don’t usually do the tourist thing when traveling for work, but there was no way I couldn’t on my first visit to the Arab world in February last year. I didn’t have much time to spare during my stay in Abu Dhabi to speak at an intergovernmental seminar on counterterrorism and combatting violent extremism online, but I did have a few hours after the conference ended and having to leave for the airport.

A visit to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque close by seemed the most obvious choice and I wasn’t disappointed. Quite magnificent.

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque (Arabic: جامع الشيخ زايد الكبير) is located in Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the United Arab Emirates and is considered to be the key for worship in the country. Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque was initiated by the late President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), HH Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who wanted to establish a structure which unites the cultural diversity of Islamic world, the historical and modern values of architecture and art. His final resting place is located on the grounds beside the same mosque. The mosque was constructed from 1996 to 2007. It is the largest mosque in the United Arab Emirates and the eighth largest mosque in the world. The mosque site is equivalent to the size five football[clarification needed] fields approximately.

“As the country’s grand mosque, it is the key place of worship for Friday gathering and Eid prayers. During Eid it can be visited more than 40,000 people.

True, it would have been nice to have spent more time in Abu Dhabi, but I at least got to people watch during my unexpected and unplanned layover in Doha, Qatar, on the way back.

Stranded in Doha

by Onnik James | Jan 4, 2014 | Music

One of the stand-out moments of 2013 was being stranded in Doha for 24 hours on my way back from Abu Dhabi where I had been invited to speak on countering violent extremism online at an intergovernmental seminar organised by the United States Government’s Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications (CSSC), the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF), and the Hedayah Centre.

Well, not so much stranded as simply missing a connecting flight. I used to dread such things, but thanks to Qatar Airlines’ mishap it meant I got to see an albeit very tiny part of Doha while waiting for the next flight out. After a little sleep and food, I didn’t have as much time in those 24 hours to see the city, but I did get to check out Souq Waqif. Loved every second and must definitely go back.

Anyway, I’ll post some other pics from that journey — of Abu Dhabi and some stunning vistas flying over Azerbaijan and Iran — but for now a few photos from Doha’s Souq Waqif.