Late last month civil society in Azerbaijan and Georgia marked a day of solidarity for the victims of landmines and the communities that are affected by them. I attended the event held by LINKS Europe and its local partners in Tbilisi while another event was held simultaneously by my good friend Ahmad Alili, Director of the Caucasus Policy Analysis Centre (CPAC), in Baku. I was told a similar event was also held in Yerevan.
According to the Armenian Foreign Minister, Ararat Mirzoyan, the temporary European Union Monitoring Mission Capacity (EUMCAP) in Armenia will end on 20 December 2022. Requested by Mirzoyan on 22 September following fierce fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan on the border a week earlier, the decision to deploy came out the quadripartite meeting of the two leaders and European Council and French presidents, Charles Michel and Emmanuel Macron, in Prague on 6 October before being approved by EU member states on 17 October.
The European Union has deployed around 40 unarmed civilian monitors on the Armenian side of the border with Azerbaijan following serious military escalation on 12-13 September, that saw the latter strike and capture territory within the former, leaving nearly 300 dead on both sides. Though requested in September by Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, the decision to deploy the monitors came on 6 October at the meeting in Prague between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, European Council President Charles Michel, and French President Emmanuel Macron.
The European Union Monitoring Mission (EUMM) in Georgia is to temporarily deploy 40 of its civilian observers to the Armenia-Azerbaijan border for a maximum period of two months. The decision came during the 6 October meeting between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, French President Emmanuel Macron, and European Council Charles Michel in Prague.
I almost missed Saturday’s gig by veteran Georgian punk band Vodka Vtraiom, but thankfully stumbled upon. the announcement of the event held at Tbilisi’s Dirty Habit bar with just two hours to spare. Kesha, the band’s vocalist had arrived in Georgia a day earlier and this was the first gig by the band in what must be almost three years.
After months amassing troops on the border with Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the order to further into Ukrainian territory late last month. For the first time in two decades, full-scale war returned to the European continent, sending out shockwaves globally. Outrage was widespread and in a rare show of unity, even if unwilling or unable to intervene directly, the vast majority of UN member states condemned the Russian military action.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic I’ve not been going to many indoor gigs in Tbilisi at all. Indeed, I think I’ve only been to one in almost two years since the pandemic began, and that was only for the new year that recently passed if you don’t count special events staged for live-streaming with a skeleton and select audience. However, I have been to two outdoor events, last in December, another last June, and also another special live-streamed event.
Although I’ve been to two specially organised live-streamed metal events co-organised with the Tbilisi Municipality during the COVID-19 pandemic, I haven’t really been to any proper gigs. The last event closest was a do-it-yourself punk festival held at the Hippodrome in June that was attacked by a small group of neo-Nazi Georgian teens.
Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso has just published my short piece remembering Armenian human rights and peace activist Georgi Vanyan who sadly passed away recently after testing positive for COVID-19 earlier this month.