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Opinion: In Armenia, Strategic Diversification Clashes With Geographic Realities
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Opinion: In Armenia, Strategic Diversification Clashes With Geographic Realities

27 January 2025
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has signalled plans to seek European Union (EU) membership. Though framed as an attempt to diversify away from decades of dependency on Russia, Moscow instead sees it as a western attempt to simply oust it from the region. Such a move is supported by some in Armenia amid disillusionment with Russia and the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) following the 2020 war with Azerbaijan and a 2022 incursion into Armenia itself.
Onnik James Krikorian
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Opinion
Opinion: From Key West to Key Failures - The Demise of the OSCE Minsk Group
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Opinion: From Key West to Key Failures - The Demise of the OSCE Minsk Group

14 January 2025
When I moved to Yerevan in October 1998, it was rare to hear much positive conversation about the future of Armenia or Karabakh. That had also been the case when I visited the country on a research trip earlier that June. Many were already tired of the conflict and few seemed enthused with a new regime that had just come to power after the ousting the country's first president earlier that year. Levon Ter-Petrosyan had chosen to resign following a palace coup staged by his inner circle opposed to a concessionary peace deal with Azerbaijan. They thought the deal proposed by a troika of France, Russia, and the United States was a betrayal. Ter-Petrosyan warned that it might well be the best Armenia could ever hope for.
Onnik James Krikorian
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Opinion
Opinion: Elections in Georgia Highlight Ethnic Minority Exclusion and Frustration
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Opinion: Elections in Georgia Highlight Ethnic Minority Exclusion and Frustration

6 January 2025
After the controversial victory of the ruling party in Georgia’s parliamentary elections on October 26, it initially appeared as though the opposition was in disarray. Many observers expected widespread protests and a dramatic confrontation between the two sides, but that did not materialise straight away. Instead, two days later, a solitary protest took place, drawing no more than 19,000 participants that appeared downtrodden and forlorn.
Onnik James Krikorian
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Opinion
Opinion: Georgia’s Political Crisis Risks Unraveling Its International Relationships
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Opinion: Georgia’s Political Crisis Risks Unraveling Its International Relationships

7 December 2024
Georgia is once again embroiled in turmoil, its central Rustaveli Avenue literally alight with protests sparked by a wave of political and geopolitical tensions. Following controversial parliamentary elections held 26 October, tensions have escalated, with many citizens accusing the government of pivoting away from the European Union in favour of closer ties with Russia. They demand a new vote.
Onnik James Krikorian
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Opinion
Opinion: The Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict Has Changed. So Must Civil Society
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Opinion: The Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict Has Changed. So Must Civil Society

30 November 2024
Four years after the Second Karabakh War, civil society initiatives between Armenian and Azerbaijan remain arguably less impactful than ever before. On the surface, they appear few and far between, but many are often held in secret. The reason given is often security but that argument is no longer as credible as it was before. Indeed, nearly all projects that do exist remain largely untouched and unhindered. Instead, mirroring the situation before 2020, many Armenian practitioners refused to meet with their Azerbaijani counterparts, especially while Baku still held prisoners and other detainees from the war. That number is significantly less now. Time has passed and there may finally be the realisation that dialogue is the only way forward.
Onnik James Krikorian
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Opinion
Opinion: Pashinyan proposes partial withdrawal of EUMA from Armenia-Azerbaijan border
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Opinion: Pashinyan proposes partial withdrawal of EUMA from Armenia-Azerbaijan border

26 November 2024
With the conclusion of the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP29 in Azerbaijan, discussions with Armenia on normalising relations are expected to resume in December. However, it remains uncertain whether an agreement will be reached anytime soon, as past attempts to finalise talks have consistently fallen short. That said, there may now be some clarity regarding the three key issues believed to be preventing a breakthrough. In early November, Farid Shafiyev, Chair of the Centre for Analysis of International Relations (AIR) in Azerbaijan, shared on X what he claims are the specific points left unresolved.
Onnik James Krikorian
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Opinion
Opinion: Armenia and Azerbaijan again at crossroads as informal COP29 deadline passes
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Opinion: Armenia and Azerbaijan again at crossroads as informal COP29 deadline passes

19 November 2024
November marks the fourth anniversary of the end of the 2020 Karabakh war. It was also the month considered as an informal deadline for initialling or signing some kind of document ending the conflict between Yerevan and Baku or at least a joint statement cementing points agreed in peace talks to date. Instead, having failed to do so by the time of this month's United Nations Climate Change Conference COP29 in Baku, and with Yerevan effectively shunning the event, Azerbaijan says that negotiations will now resume in December. As usual, Azerbaijan says Armenia must change its constitution. Armenia refuses to do so – or at least not until other constitutional changes are put to referendum still most likely in 2027. 
Onnik James Krikorian
Editor's choice
Opinion
Opinion: Can Armenia and Azerbaijan finally reach an agreement by COP29?
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Opinion: Can Armenia and Azerbaijan finally reach an agreement by COP29?

15 October 2024
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. Since then, official statements and media in Armenia instead refers to 16 points though Yerevan has reportedly ditched the three incomplete articles to make only 13.
Onnik James Krikorian