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This Time, an Armenia-Azerbaijan Peace Must Prevail
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This Time, an Armenia-Azerbaijan Peace Must Prevail

14 August 2025
It is now 31 years since I first travelled from London to the South Caucasus to report from what was then Nagorno Karabakh. Since then, I’ve covered almost every dimension of the conflict. From the Azerbaijani POWs and civilian hostages I encountered on my first trip to Karabakh in 1994, through the ethnic Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan struggling to rebuild their lives in Armenia that same year and then from 1999, and the lingering danger of landmines and unexploded ordnance that plagued the seven formerly occupied regions of Azerbaijan surrounding Karabakh throughout the 2000s. They still claim lives today.
Onnik James Krikorian
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Opinion
Trump Hosts Aliyev and Pashinyan but Peace Requires More Than Handshakes
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Trump Hosts Aliyev and Pashinyan but Peace Requires More Than Handshakes

7 August 2025
As diplomatic efforts to resolve the long-running conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan once again make headlines, the real challenge lies not in high-level meetings or momentary gestures, but in the unfortunate disconnect between the elites and the populations they represent. For almost thirty years, press release after press release declared that talks inched towards peace. Hopes were premature. The sides will next month mark the anniversary of the last war fought five years ago.
Onnik James Krikorian
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Opinion
Armenia-Azerbaijan Transit Requires Bilateral and Regional Dialogue
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Armenia-Azerbaijan Transit Requires Bilateral and Regional Dialogue

31 July 2025
Uncertainty has again emerged along the Armenia-Iran border as the risk of the long-standing conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan turning into further geopolitical competition continues. What was once a post-war localised disagreement over territory and sovereignty is now entangled in a web of regional interests and strategic manoeuvring. Increasingly, peace risks being shaped less by the needs of local populations but more by the calculations of distant capitals. External interference has rather delayed progress almost five years since the 2020 war. If peace is the objective, then the region needs inclusive not selective diplomacy and definitely not new geopolitical fault lines.
Onnik James Krikorian
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Opinion
U.S. Interest in Armenia-Azerbaijan Transit Sparks Confusion
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U.S. Interest in Armenia-Azerbaijan Transit Sparks Confusion

22 July 2025
For the first time in 31 years of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, the situation feels more unpredictable than ever. In the past, there was a grim certainty that another war would erupt just as it did in September 2020 while peace, on the other hand, always seemed distant. In recent weeks, comments from U.S. President Donald Trump that it was almost a done deal simply solicited disagreement among analysts and political commentators.  As if that wasn’t confusion enough, and although both Baku and Yerevan have said that the 10 July meeting between the leaders in Abu Dhabi was constructive, another issue has emerged unexpectedly to distract and deflect attention.
Onnik James Krikorian
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Opinion
Abu Dhabi: What Next for Armenia and Azerbaijan?
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Abu Dhabi: What Next for Armenia and Azerbaijan?

15 July 2025
Depending on whom you ask, last week’s meeting between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Abu Dhabi was either a historic development or simply another routine step in the still-fragile peace process. In an interview with Slovak media prior to the talks last week, Azerbaijani presidential advisor Hikmet Hajiyev even claimed the conflict between the sides is now over. Both sides believed that they were now the closest to formalising a peace treaty than at any time before.
Onnik James Krikorian
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Opinion
Opinion: Armenia Close To The Brink
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Opinion: Armenia Close To The Brink

27 June 2025
Bagrat Galstanyan, the hardline cleric who led street protests against the start of border demarcation between Armenia and Azerbaijan and called for the resignation or impeachment of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, has been placed in pre-trial detention for two months. More than a dozen others have also been detained, with that number expected to rise. They are accused of plotting a coup ahead of next year's parliamentary elections, following the publication by pro-Pashinyan media of an alleged seven-page document detailing the plan.
Onnik James Krikorian
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Opinion
Armenia’s Rift Between Church and State Deepens
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Armenia’s Rift Between Church and State Deepens

24 June 2025
Armenia finds itself in deepening discord between its political and religious elites. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s unprecedented public attacks on Catholicos Karekin II, head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, mark further escalation in a personal feud waged since the 2018 Velvet Revolution. It has worsened each year since and not least since Karekin II approved the participation of his own clergy to join protests against Pashinyan in 2022 and for one to lead them in 2024.
Onnik James Krikorian
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Opinion
Pashinyan Targets Remnants of Old Regime as Election Showdown Looms
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Pashinyan Targets Remnants of Old Regime as Election Showdown Looms

10 June 2025
For over a week now, the Armenian public has been subjected to another unedifying spectacle between the country’s political and spiritual leadership. Tirades posted on social media by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan targeting Armenian Catholicos Karekin II, who he accuses of fathering at least one child despite an oath of celibacy, have been incendiary. The allegation is not new. Armenian media even named an alleged daughter back in 2013. However, Pashinyan’s wife, Anna Hakobyan, further ratcheted up tensions by referring to some members of the clergy as paedophiles while not presenting any evidence.
Onnik James Krikorian