Armenia Archives - Page 4 of 41 - Onnik James Krikorian - Journalist, Photojournalist, Consultant

Clarity, Consistent Rhetoric, and Multitrack Diplomacy Still Lacking in Armenia-Azerbaijan Normalisation Talks

Mar 6, 2024 | Armenia, Azerbaijan, Commonspace, Turkey

It was touch and go for a while. Even a day before this year’s prestigious Munich Security Conference it was unclear whether both Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev would attend. In the past, Armenian leaders have more often shunned the event and even despite December’s much-lauded bilateral COP-29 joint statement made bilaterally by Baku and Yerevan, the war of words between the sides unfortunately continues.

European Union Mission in Armenia Marks First Anniversary

Feb 29, 2024 | Armenia, Azerbaijan, Balcani Caucaso, European Union

For a year, the European Union Mission in Armenia (EUMA) has been deployed on the border with Azerbaijan, which it patrols regularly: a measure considered necessary by Yerevan – which fears a new conflict – but viewed with suspicion by Baku.

Pashinyan Reignites Constitutional Reform Debate Amid Declining Ratings

Feb 15, 2024 | Armenia, Azerbaijan, Jamestown Foundation

On January 18, six years after the street protests that brought him to power in 2018, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan raised the issue of reforming the country’s constitution during a meeting with the Armenian Ministry of Justice. The constitution was originally introduced under Levon Ter-Petrosyan in 1995 and controversially amended under his successors, Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan.

Pashinyan’s Constitutional Gambit

Feb 12, 2024 | Armenia, Azerbaijan, Commonspace

Reforming the constitution of any nation is inherently challenging, but in Armenia it has always proven particularly controversial. Introduced by referendum in 1995 under then President Levon Ter-Petrosyan, the current constitution has been amended twice by his successors – Robert Kocharyan in 2005 and Serzh Sargsyan in 2015.

Roadblock to peace: the geopolitical quagmire of the “Zangezur Corridor”

Jan 31, 2024 | Armenia, Azerbaijan, Commonspace, Russia

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the 1994 ceasefire agreement that put fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces over the Soviet-era mainly ethnic Armenian Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) on hold – or at least until it escalated into war in 2016 and more devastatingly in 2020. Despite the involvement of international mediators, peace remained elusive despite occasional claims to the contrary. The sides were said to have gotten close, but never enough to prevent tens of thousands dying in over three decades of conflict.

Baku, Yerevan, and Moscow Clash Over Regional Transit

Jan 26, 2024 | Armenia, Azerbaijan, Jamestown Foundation, Russia

In my first piece for The Jamestown Foundation, I again look at the continuing geopolitical impasse on attempts to restore economic and transport links in the region following the 2020 Armenia-Azerbaijan war as per the trilateral ceasefire statement that ended it. This is a topic that I’ve covered consistently since the beginning of 2021 but it has particularly come to a head now as hopes for a framework agreement between Baku and Yerevan persist.

Beyond Borders: Parajanov Centennial Marked in Yerevan and Tbilisi

Jan 15, 2024 | Armenia, Azerbaijan, Caspian Post, Corruption, Georgia, Minorities

This year marks the hundredth anniversary of the birth of legendary ethnic Armenian film director Sergei Parajanov. Very much a child of the South Caucasus, Parajanov’s work encompassed Armenian, Azerbaijan, Georgian, Moldova, and Ukrainian influences, with his legacy living on today.

Tbilisi’s Armenian Community Celebrates Christmas

Jan 8, 2024 | Armenia, Georgia, Minorities, Religion

Almost two weeks after Christmas was celebrated elsewhere in the world, and a day before Georgia celebrated Orthodox Christmas, Tbilisi’s ethnic Armenian community celebrated its own on 6 January this year. According to the census in 2014, some 53,000 ethnic Armenians reside in the Georgian capital while some 168,000 ethnic Armenians make up Georgia’s second largest ethnic minority, not including those residing in the breakaway region of Abkhazia.

Landmines and unexploded ordnance remain an obstacle for the future development of the South Caucasus

Dec 21, 2023 | Armenia, Azerbaijan, Commonspace

As thousands of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) return to their former places of residence in the seven regions surrounding what remains of Nagorno Karabakh, the problem of landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) is as pressing as ever. Last month, Vugar Suleymanov, Chair of Azerbaijan’s National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA), reported that 111,207 hectares of contaminated land had been cleared in past three years since the November 2020 trilateral ceasefire statement.

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