Latest posts by Onnik Krikorian from July, 2010
Georgia: Frozen conflicts, frozen happiness
With a little over a week to go before the second anniversary of the short war fought between Russia and Georgia over the breakaway territory of South Ossetia, Evolutsia turns its attention to another one of the country's two frozen conflicts, Abkhazia.
Georgia: Presidential faux pax
The Tbilisi Blues comments on the latest gaffe by Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili when he called his prime minister a term considered politically incorrect in the West. The blog says that it is surprised at how many people have reacted to the remarks so strongly given that even losing a...
Armenia-Azerbaijan: Border
This is cinemelo comments on Border, a 2009 film from director Harutyun Khachatryan. Ostensibly a tale of life in rural Armenia, the blog says that the most telling images come from barbed wire fences which illustrate the filmmaker's connection with his country and his hatred of the war and closed...
Armenia: Doubts about reported suicide in the Army
Unzipped comments on news that a contract officer in the Armenian army has been reported dead. With mistreatment in the military common and of concern to human rights groups, the blog does not appear to believe the official story that Artak Nazaryan committed suicide and directs readers to a Facebook...
Armenia: Eating a way to peace
Ianyan says that food might represent the path to peace for cultures that place such significance in it. Referring to an Armenian bakery in the U.S.-Armenian Diaspora as well as responses to a recent guest entry on Armenian-Azerbaijani relations in the context of the still unresolved conflict over Nagorno Karabakh,...
Azerbaijan: Presidential tweets
A Twitter account for the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, has been set up at @AzPresident [AZ] and @PresidentAz [EN]. The account will tweet links to presidential speeches, events attended, and video material.
Azerbaijan: Youth activism and social media
Ali Resh uses online video tools to interview Baku-based Ruslan Asadov, along with now imprisoned video blogger Adnan Hajizade also a co-founder and member of the OL! Azerbaijani youth movement, live from Tbilisi, Georgia. Resh and Asadov speak about the use of new and social media in youth activism in...
Armenia-Azerbaijan: Moving the conversation forward
Le Retour (in 3 Parts), a blog by a Canadian-Armenian resident in Yerevan, the Armenian capital, comments on the three recent guest entries posted on The Caucasian Knot, the blog of Global Voices’ Caucasus regional editor, and summarized here. The blog looks forward to more conversations between Armenians and Azerbaijanis.
Armenia: More homophobic media reports
Unzipped: Gay Armenia continues to monitor the level of homophobia evident in the local media and comments on reports that members of the country's LGBT community meet next to the capital's municipality building.
Turkey: Armenians and Turks show Gay Pride
Despite a long history of animosity between Armenia and Turkey, Unzipped: Gay Armenia posts photographs of Armenians and Turks side by side at this year's Gay Pride rally in Istanbul. The blog says that the pictures are incredible.
Armenia: FrontlineSMS and health care for all
FrontlineSMS says that more than 50,000 alerts on health care service have been sent using its open source software by international development organization Oxfam. The post includes a video report.
Azerbaijan: Amnesty International campaign for convicted bloggers
Having already recently marked the first anniversary of their initial detention, Amnesty International urges supporters worldwide to lobby the government in Azerbaijan to ensure that imprisoned video blogging youth activists Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli receive a fair appeal hearing in the coming months.
Armenia-Azerbaijan: Bloggers build dialogue
Although a recent conference held earlier this month highlighted some of the shortcomings and dangers of using new and social media in conflict resolution, there is no doubt that online tools have moved in to fill a gap left vacant by a usually politically polarized and propagandist media in the South Caucasus.
Armenia-Azerbaijan: There is only humanity…
Ianyan makes a guest post on Armenia-Azerbaijan relations in the context of the still unresolved conflict over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh as part of a series of entries using new and social media to bring the two sides closer together. The blogger says that these new tools have...
Azerbaijan: Caucasus Women
CauCasuSWomaN takes a look at the rights of men and women in Azerbaijan (and the Caucasus) in the context of actual attitudes to gender and says that education is key to changing existing values and perceptions.
Armenia-Azerbaijan: Thoughts on the ‘other’
Global Chaos makes a guest post on Armenia-Azerbaijan relations in the context of the still unresolved conflict over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh as part of a series of entries using new and social media to bring the two sides closer together. The blog says that it is difficult...
Armenia-Azerbaijan: Sometime in my lifetime
Scary Azeri makes a guest post on Armenia-Azerbaijan relations in the context of the still unresolved conflict over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh as part of a series of entries using new and social media to bring the two sides closer together. Noting the popularity of her own posts...
Azerbaijan: Facebook shuts down Scary Azeri?
Much to the astonishment of her many fans, Scary Azeri says that she thinks her Facebook fan page has possibly been shut down by the popular social networking site. The popular blogger, whose often unique posts have featured highly in Global Voices’ Caucasus section and who was interviewed by this...
Caucasus: Blogs and Bullets
Last week, on 8 July, a half-day conference, Blogs and Bullets: Evaluating the Impact of New Media on Conflict was held at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington D.C. Co-sponsored by George Washington University, it included panelists from the U.S. State Department, the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Facebook, eBay, and Global Voices Online.
Azerbaijan: Imprisoned video blogging youth activists remembered
Support Adnan and Emin remembers the plight of Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli, two video blogging youth activists who were detained a year ago tomorrow in Baku, Azerbaijan. Eventually sentenced to 2 and 2.5 years in prison, Amnesty International considers the two men to be prisoners of conscience while other...
Armenia-Azerbaijan: Facebook war
Despite the potential for new and social media to bridge the information gap between Armenia and Azerbaijan, two countries locked into a bitter dispute over the territory of Nagorno Karbakakh, The Armenian Observer highlights yet another example of the arguably greater activity present in the use or manipulation of such...
