OC Media

OC Media

Georgia’s education initiative for Abkhazia leaves Gali students out in the cold

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Russian-language textbooks used by Gali pupils issued in Moscow (Nino Gogua /OC Media)

With their new peace ini­tia­tive, ‘A Step to a Better Future’, Georgia’s gov­ern­ment hopes to tempt students from Abkhazia and South Ossetia to enrol in Georgian uni­ver­si­ties by letting them sit entrance exams in their ‘native language’. But for Abkhazia’s ethnic Georgians in Gali, banned from studying in Georgian there and whose Abkhaz language skills are far from native, the ini­tia­tive does little to help.

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Taxes, corruption, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Turkey: Pashinyan’s vision for the ‘New Armenia’

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Having swept to power in a landslide electoral victory, the new gov­ern­ment of rev­o­lu­tion­ary leader Nikol Pashinyan is now laying out its vision for a ‘New Armenia’ — with ambitious plans for peace and reform.

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Cautious optimism: Abkhazia’s Russian recognition ten years on

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Flags of countries that recog­nised Abkhazia’s inde­pen­dence displayed in Sukhumi (Neil Hauer/ OC Media)

In August, Abkhazia marked ten years since Russian recog­ni­tion. Despite only four other states having followed suit, Abk­hazians remain opti­mistic and blame Georgia for impeding their aspi­ra­tions.

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‘Enhanced security’: Armenian settlers in Nagorno-Karabakh

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Karvachar, Shahumyan District, Nagorno-Karabakh (Armine Avetisyan /OC Media)

The author­i­ties in Nagorno-Karabakh are hoping to incen­tivise more people to settle in the sparsely populated areas of Nagorno-Karabakh to encourage economic growth and strength­en its sense of security. However, the unre­solved conflict with Azer­bai­jan casts shadow on these plans.

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Caring for the war-wounded: a thankless task in Azerbaijan

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Turaj Jafarova with her daughter (Seymur Kazimov /OC Media)

The Nagorno-Karabakh war left thousands in Azer­bai­jan with lasting scars — both physical and psy­cho­log­i­cal. For many of the loved ones of disabled veterans, being a carer is a full-time task. But carers say they receive little support, and they must get by on the small dis­abil­i­ty benefits available.

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The disappeared men in Daghestan’s ‘fake war on terror’

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Screen­shot from a video from a coun­tert­er­ror­ism operation in Botlikh, Daghestan, in March 2018 (Inves­tiga­tive Committee of the Russian Fed­er­a­tion /YouTube)

For several years, young Dagh­es­tani men have been dis­ap­pear­ing, reported missing by their families only later to be declared ‘destroyed in coun­tert­er­ror­ism oper­a­tions’. Evidence from the families of many of these men as well as local rights groups and experts, suggest they may have been kidnapped by the author­i­ties, and that faking the war on terror is just another face of Daghestan’s raging cor­rup­tion.

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Kabardino-Balkaria’s commission on former militants — handcuffed by police ambitions?

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Nalchik Airport (aviateka.su)

The Com­mis­sion on adap­ta­tion of militants coming back from Syria to peaceful life has func­tioned in Kabardino-Balkaria for over 6 years. Despite its mandate to rein­te­grate former militants into society, a number of high-profile pros­e­cu­tions has raised doubts over the author­i­ties’ true com­mit­ment to peace­ful­ly returning them to civilian life.

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The death of Temirkhanov again raises the ‘mistreatment’ of Chechens in Russian prisons

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The funeral of Yusup Temirkhanov in the Chechen village of Geldagan on 4 August (NIAA Obyektiv /YouTube)

On 3 August, Yusup Temirkhanov, a Chechen convicted of killing an ex–Russian soldier, died in a Russian prison in Siberia. Tens of thousands of people including the head of Chechnya attended Temirkhanov’s funeral, raising questions over Russia’s position in Chechnya, and how Chechens are treated in Russian prisons.

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Young men in Nagorno-Karabakh remain defiant in the face of war

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Vachagan’s notes from the 2016 war (Anahit Danielyan /OC Media)

Two years on from the April 2016 war, which caused the deaths of hundreds and a loss of territory, Nagorno-Karabakh’s youth are more deter­mined than ever to stay in their homeland and build a future there. Gal­vanised by their recent expe­ri­ence of war, young men living close to the frontline talk of what the April events meant for them and how they remain ever vigilant of another outbreak of fighting.

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