Oct 30, 2021

Remembering Georgi Vanyan

Georgi Vanyan © Meydan TV

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.

The last time I spoke to Georgi Vanyan was by telephone at the end of September. The Armenian human rights and peace activist was visiting Tbilisi […] and there were now plans to visit the Georgian village where many of his previous activities were held.

Georgi invited me accompany them, but there was one problem.

The 58-year-old was feeling ill and needed to test for COVID-19 before we could meet. Two days later, he sent a text message to say that he had tested positive and had to self-isolate in Tbilisi. He’d be in touch once he had recovered, but things took a turn for the worse and he was hospitalised. Eventually moved on to a ventilator, Georgi Vanyan was pronounced dead on 15 October.

The loss was a personal tragedy for those that knew him and also for a handful of committed individuals that had been working across closed borders in pursuit of regional peace.

“Now, at this stage of the Armenian-Azerbaijani reconciliation process, the peacebuilding community needed him more than ever,” tweeted Baku-based regional analyst and researcher Ahmad Alili. “Sincere Person. Genuine Peacebuilder. Great Loss. Rest in Peace, Georgi.”

The full article can be read here.

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