South Caucasus

The Joint Armenian-Azerbaijani Liaison Group on confidence-building measures in support of lasting peace in the South Caucasus (JOLIG) held its 4th plenary meeting in The Hague, the Netherlands, on Tuesday 4 July 2023. All twelve members of the Joint Liaison Group were present. The Group exchanged views on the current state of Armenia-Azerbaijan relations, and on its work in support of the Armenia-Azerbaijan normalisation process. The Joint Liaison Group agreed that over the next months it will increase its work on the ground, including through the holding of dialogue meetings in Armenia and Azerbaijan. On 5 July 2023 in The Hague, members of the Joint Liaison Group participated in the Policy Dialogue Conference: “The South Caucasus and the European Union – addressing challenges, seizing opportunities”, organised by LINKS Europe, with the participation of diplomats, officials, experts, opinion shapers and civil society activists from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.

This week in the city of the Hague, the foundation LINKS Europe will host three important meetings related to the South Caucasus region. The city will welcome participants from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia and beyond, many of who are involved in the delicate process of building trust and confidence between people after years of warfare and animosity in the South Caucasus Region. A spokesperson for LINKS Europe said that the three meetings are,in their different ways, all symbolic and significant, and are being held at a critical juncture for the future of the South Caucasus region, and its relations with Europe.  LINKS Europe has a long history of engagement with the region, and has for many years been particularly active in promoting peace, dialogue and reconciliation. "We are looking forward to three days of intensive meetings, discussions and debates, and we hope the outcome of the meetings will contribute to the wider ongoing process for  peace and reconciliation in the region, and for stronger relations between the region and the rest of Europe", the spokesperson said.

In the chancelleries of Europe diplomats are preparing to go on their annual summer holidays. There are a number of files they would like to neatly close before they do so. The South Caucasus is one of them, writes commonspace.eu in this editorial. "Hard luck. There is no chance that any of the major issues facing the region can be brought to a conclusion yet, and it promises to be a long summer full of surprises. But on a number of issues an end game is approaching. The region is in one of those defining moments which everyone agrees will have a deep and long term impact on the future. People are hoping for the best, but worried about the worst. First, there is Georgia. By October, it should be clear if the country will get candidate status for EU membership, a hugely symbolic step that would make the possibility of Georgia becoming an EU member state within a decade a reality for the first time [...] Then there is the business of war or peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Both sides appear not convinced its going to be either one or the other. The foreign ministers of the two countries are meeting in Washington this week under the watchful eye of Antony Blinken. They may register progress, but it is unlikely to be enough."

The Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili on Thursday (22 June) pardoned Nika Gvaramia, the head of the pro-opposition TV channel Mtavari who had been convicted in a Tbilisi court for allegedly embezzling money as the director of another TV company, Rustavi 2.  His imprisonment had widely been seen as politically motivated, with the EU and the US having previously expressed concern over his sentence.  President Zourabichvili had recently come under increasing pressure from opposition groups and civil society to pardon Gvaramia, as she possesses the right to do so as President. Announcing her decision on Thursday evening, President Zourabichvili declined to comment further on her reasons for issuing a pardon while also "aiming a thinly-veiled barb at those attempting to influence her", according to OC Media. "I just want to remind you of what I also said in Brussels, that such a decision, the discretionary right of the president, is not subject to anyone’s pressure, advice, recommendation or any other type of threat […] this is the president’s decision", President Zourabichvili said. "I made this decision after all legal steps were exhausted on 19 June, when the Supreme Court did not accept the cassation appeal. I am not going to give any explanation for this decision, because it is my discretionary right that I use today."