· February, 2010

Stories about Armenia from February, 2010

Armenia: Chance meeting

  28 February 2010

Unzipped: Gay Armenia visits the Yuri Mechitov photo exhibit at the National Theatre in London as part of an festival of events honoring Armenian film director Sergei Parajanov and runs into the photographer. The blog posts photographs from the visit and encounter.

Armenia: Diplomatic Academy

  28 February 2010

Armenia: Higher Education & Sciences reports that a Diplomatic Academy supported by the EU, OSCE and UN has been opened in Yerevan with the purpose of creating future career diplomats. The blog notes that several among the first intake were women.

Armenia: Beauty talk

  26 February 2010

Ashley Corinne Killough visits the hairdresser and details the experience. The blog also comments on her encounters and observations while doing so.

Caucasus: Lezginka dance

  24 February 2010

Orxanbey posts a video on YouTube of what is described as an Azeri guy and and an Armenian girl dancing to the Lezginka (national dance popular in the North Caucasus), location unknown. Wearing the national flags of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Because of the still unresolved conflict between the two countries...

Armenia: Working conditions

  24 February 2010

Adrineh Macaan details the trials and tribulations of working in Armenia. The blog says that conditions are inconvenient and lacking, hours are long, and salaries sometimes take months to be paid.

Armenia: Safe Sex

  24 February 2010

Unzipped: Gay Armenia posts photos of what could be the first ever publicly available condom dispensing machine in Yerevan, the Armenian capital. The blog says that more are needed.

Azerbaijan: In this part of the world

  21 February 2010

Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines comments on the lack of democracy in the Caucasus in general. However, the blog says, some progressive youth are struggling to effect change and are the key to the future as they are the future.

Azerbaijan: Breaking down stereotypes

  19 February 2010

Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines blogger Arzu Geybullayeva comments on her audio interview conducted over Skype with Global Voices Online's Caucasus editor for Transitions Online. The blog says that communication is possible, living together is possible, breaking down existing barriers is possible and [that] this a message [it] would give...

Armenia: Homophobia Hall of Shame

  18 February 2010

Following even more examples of homophobia in the media in Armenia, Unzipped: Gay Armenia has started a Homophobia Hall of Shame. In the first new posting for the list, the blog details the homophobia of the head of one major local radio station and advises international donors to choose wisely...

Armenia: Eurovision blog

  18 February 2010

Despite the controversy following Sunday's national song contest to determine Armenia's entry into this year's Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo, Norway, still lingering, the successful entrant, Eva Rivas, has launched a blog to accompany her bid at http://eva-rivas.livejournal.com/.

Georgia: Friends of Freedom for Peace

  16 February 2010

MrAshn [AZ] posts a video of members of the Azerbaijani Dalga Youth Movement with Armenian support holding a small flash mob in Tbilisi, Georgia, to mark their fifth anniversary and call for peace in the South Caucasus. The region has been riven by ethnic conflict, especially between Armenia and Azerbaijan....

Armenia: Eurovision National Competition

  14 February 2010

Armenia tonight chose its entry for the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo, Norway. Twitter users provided an online summary of the national competition televised inside the country while some blogs offered reaction to the successful entry.

Armenia: Eurovision 2010

  12 February 2010

Unzipped comments on what it considers to be the two main contenders, Mihran & Emmy and Eva Rivas, as Armenia's entry into this year's Eurovision Song Contest. The blog says that it is not entirely happy with all the choices on offer, but at least notices how coverage in the...

Azerbaijan: Book review

  10 February 2010

Scary Azeri in Suburbs comments on Artush and Zaur, a homo-erotic novel telling the love story between an Armenian and Azerbaijani man. The blogger says that while the book is a brave attempt to overcome taboos, she found it more funny than touching in its depiction of various sexual encounters.

Armenia: Illegal hunting on YouTube

  8 February 2010

bnamarduk [AM] posts a video on YouTube of what it alleges is illegal hunting in a nature reserve in Armenia. The same environmentalists posted another such video last year which resulted in the dismissal of those involved.

Armenia-Azerbaijan: Twitter Diplomacy

  2 February 2010

With a peaceful resolution to the conflict over Nagorno Karabakh as elusive as ever, Armenians and Azerbaijanis are unable to visit each other’s country or communicate through traditional means such as telephone or mail. Can new and social media step in to fill the gap to break the information blockade?