Khramort, Nagorno Karabakh
© Onnik James Krikorian 1994
Onnik James Krikorian is a journalist, photographer and media consultant from the United Kingdom. Published by The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, BBC, National Geographic, Geographical, The National, Stratfor, New Internationalist, EurasiaNet, Transitions Online, Institute of War for Peace Reporting, UNICEF and others, he has also fixed for the BBC, Al Jazeera English, The Wall Street Journal, and National Geographic.
He has over thirty years experience in the national and international media, including working contracts at The Bristol Evening Post, The Independent, and The Economist. For five years, from 2007-2012, he was the Caucasus Regional Editor for Global Voices.
He has covered the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno Karabakh since visiting the disputed territory for The Independent in 1994. In August 2008 he also covered the Russia-Georgia war. This has led to related work as a trainer in conflict-sensitive reporting as well as new and social media.
He has also been a consultant for international organisations on Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (P/CVE).
LATEST BLOG POSTS AND ARTICLES
Tbilisoba 2024
Earlier this month, Tbilisi celebrated Tbilisoba, the city’s annual harvest festival. Over the years it has changed significantly and seems smaller than before. I first covered the event in 2011 but the best so far remains 2014 when there was more representation of traditional Georgian folk dance and music as well as by ethnic minorities such as the Armenian and Azerbaijani communities. This year, that was held relatively far away from Tbilisi’s Old Town and Rike Park with very little publicity or in some media any at all. Nonetheless, those that attended appeared to enjoy themselves sufficiently and I managed to photo stories.
Can Armenia and Azerbaijan finally reach an agreement by COP29?
As this year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference in Baku draws closer, negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan appear to be drifting further apart. Despite hopes that the opposite would be true, a lack of clarity and confusion instead continues to reign. Does the draft Agreement on Peace and Establishment of Interstate Relations contain 17 points or 16? Initially, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had announced that consensus had been reached on 13 points while 3 were partially agreed and there was no agreement at all on a fourth.
Militant Groups Resurface in Armenia’s Struggle Against Radicalization
Last month, Armenia arrested several individuals accused of recruiting others to stage a coup in the country. The group has a history of recruiting Armenian citizens as foreign fighters in Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The Armenian government faces a potential vulnerability from militant groups as progress occurs in the normalization process with Azerbaijan following the 2020 44-day war and recent conflict in Karabakh, fueling discontent among many Armenians.
FROM THE ARCHIVE
LIFE IN NO MAN’S LAND
Following a 1994 ceasefire agreement that put fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno Karabakh on hold, there are also disagreements on the return of lands surrounding Nagorno Karabakh too.
First published 2001
CLEARING THE KILLING FIELDS
A few kilometers from the border of the officially unrecognized Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, a shepherd sits with his grazing cattle in the lush pastures of Armenian-controlled Azerbaijan. The scene could grace the front of any postcard from the scenic Caucasus.
First published 2004
POVERTY IN ARMENIA
Natural disaster, conflict, blockade, corruption, and economic collapse following independence has seen poverty sky-rocket in the former Soviet Republic of Armenia.
First published 2003
FROM THE ARCHIVE
SUFFER THE CHILDREN
YEREVAN, Armenia — A mother waits patiently to enroll her son at an Auxiliary Boarding School for children with learning disabilities somewhere in the heart of the Armenian capital. It doesn’t seem to matter to the staff that the twelve-year old isn’t disabled, all the school requires, the Director says, is a medical certificate.
First published 2003
BEING YEZIDI
Caught between competing ideological interests, members of Armenia’s largest ethnic minority struggle to define their identity. Some allege arguments about the origins of the Yezidis are politically motivated.
First published 2004
CHILDREN OF THE SOUTH CAUCASUS
At just eight months of age, Tiesa and her two sisters were abandoned by a roadside. They survived by eating roadkill — frogs, in fact — and drinking water from puddles before being discovered. The children, two of them with learning disabilities, were placed in Tbilisi’s Infant House, an orphanage by any other name.
First published 2014
PORTFOLIO OF SERVICES
JOURNALISM
Over 30 years on short to mid-term contracts with leading publications and freelancing for international broadcast, print, and online media.
PHOTOJOURNALISM
Over 25 years of personal and commissioned photojournalistic projects on poverty through minorities to conflict.
CONSULTANCY
Over 15 years on conflict sensitive journalism, media literacy, and Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (P/CVE).
COMING SOON
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Galleries including Nagorno Karabakh in 1994, Landmines and Unexploded Ordnance (UXO), Street Children in Tbilisi, the August 2008 Russia-Georgia War, Poverty in Armenia and Georgia, and much more.
LATEST VIDEO PROJECT
BOOKS
Electronic PDF format versions of two published books of my articles and photographs from the mid-2000s.
FROM THE ARCHIVE
CONTACT FORM
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