Radio Way (ICK/CCA), Duisi, Georgia © Onnik James Krikorian 2016 It’s not often there’s some positive news coming out of Pankisi, better known these days as the birth place of Tarkhan Batirashvili, aka ISIS’ Abu Omar al-Shishani, but some does exist. In addition to...
The text of my presentation for a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Expert Group Meeting on Counterterrorism and Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) in Vienna, Austria, 16-18 November 2015.
Following February’s Expert Workshop on Regional Co-operation and Effective Responses to the Phenomenon of Foreign Terrorist Fighters organised by the OSCE Office in Tajikistan I’ve been at a few other related meetings. In June I participated in the OSCE-wide Counter-Terrorism Expert Conference on Countering the Incitement and Recruitment of Foreign Terrorist Fighters in Vienna, and from 7-8 October spoke on a panel at an expert workshop in Bucharest on Media Freedom and Responsibilities in the Context of Counter-Terrorism Policies organised by the OSCE Transnational Threat Department and OSCE Representative of the Freedom of the Media.
In February I was invited to moderate one of two working groups at a Regional Co-operation and Effective Responses to the Phenomenon of Foreign Terrorist Fighters workshop organised by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Tajikistan alongside the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (UNCTED) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The meeting was financially supported by the British Embassy in Tajikistan and involved Ambassadors, Counter-Terrorism Officials, Civil Society representatives and others.
After being contacted by the US Government’s Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications (CSCC) and the Global Counter-Terrorism Forum (GCTF) to present on my work using social media to cross divides in conflict zones at an intergovernmental seminar recently in Abu Dhabi, it was a pleasure to return to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in June, this time to take part in a small expert working group convened by the International Center for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT-The Hague) and the Hedayah Center to discuss elaborating and implementing effective frameworks for countering violent extremist narratives.
Recent events in Georgian capital Tbilisi are alarming many who hoped progressive views might win out over more intolerant, traditional values.
It used to be a bar with no prejudices. For local and foreigners, the young and elderly, heterosexuals and gay, D.I.Y. was one of the most relaxed drinking spots in Yerevan’s sparse bar scene. That, however, changed at around 5.30am on May 8, 2012 when a Molotov cocktail was thrown through its ground level glass door, causing an estimated $4,000 in damage, and endangering whole families living in the apartments situated above.