Stories about Central Asia & Caucasus from May, 2011
Turkmenistan: TAPI Continues To Face Challenges
Christya Riedel provides an update on the TAPI, Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India proposed gas pipeline scheduled for completion in 2016. So far, no big progress has been made on a diplomatic front to provide for the project's start.
Armenia: Childbirth
Motherhood, Repatriation and other fictions, a blog by an ethnic Armenian from the Diaspora turned activist in Armenia, comments on the quality of healthcare in the former Soviet republic. Although conditions are improving, the blog notes, petty corruption and the quality of nursing remain serious problems for expectant mothers.
Georgia: Armenian-Azeri coexistence
Reader in Baku travels to villages and towns co-inhabited by ethnic Armenians and Azeris in Georgia. Despite the ongoing conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh, the blogger finds that both ethnic minorities easily coexist together outside of the war zone.
Azerbaijan: Clashes during hijab ban protest
Tamada Tales comments on reports that a protest held to oppose a ban on the hijab in schools today ended in clashes with police. The blog notes the official line that the demonstration outside the country's Ministry of Education was dispersed in an orderly fashion by police is not borne...
Azerbaijan: Facebook activist sentenced
Jabbar Savalan, a 20-year-old opposition youth activist arrested in Azerbaijan on 5 February, has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison on drug possession charges. Amnesty International says that the case was politically motivated and was linked to Savalan's political activities which included making calls for post-MENA...
Kyrgyzstan: Osama Bin Laden Dies, Bloggers React
In the wake of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York, the remote Central Asian state of Kyrgyzstan proved itself a key ally in the United States-led war on terror. Washington's presence in the country has often been viewed ambiguously. It comes as no surprise then, that the death of Osama Bin Laden, the popularly assumed mastermind of the attacks, was treated by many Kyrgyz bloggers - and some politicians - with a sense of apathy and even cynicism.
Azerbaijan: Calls for an international campaign for press freedom
Speaking at the UNESCO World Press Freedom Day event over Skype, Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli call for an international campaign involving celebrities to draw attention to those harassed and imprisoned by authoritarian regimes. The two recently released video blogging youth activists also note that online tools are ineffective without...
Afghanistan: The massive cost of the war
Nick Fielding is reviewing a report from the Congressional Research Service concerning the US government spending on Afghanistan and other war on terror operations, and says it makes daunting reading.
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