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What is the value of a genocidal tyrant recognising the genocide of my people?

•2 min read

A day after the Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day in April, I found myself at the Armenian Genocide memorial in Yerevan. Despite it being the day after, there was still a flow of people going up and down the hill where the memorial is located. Many came carrying flowers and taking a quiet moment to reflect on one of the greatest, if not the greatest, tragedies in Armenian history. On display in the park adjacent to the memorial were the flags of countries that officially recognise the Armenia

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The two-faced Khamzat Chimaev

by Elizaveta Chukharova

•2 min read

The first championship belt in Chechnya’s history went to Khamzat Chimaev, a close friend of Chechen Head Ramzan Kadyrov, on Saturday. In the main fight of the evening, Chimaev faced South African Dricus du Plessis and scored an emphatic victory. The win was clean, the fight spectacular — but behind it all lay numerous nuances. To begin with, Chimaev, like many other Russian athletes, had long been banned from entering the US. It seems the ban was lifted for him personally thanks to the interve

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OC Media breaks down the Aliyev–Pashinyan–Trump meeting in Washington

by OC Media

•6 min read

Last Friday, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, and US President Donald Trump held historic talks on a peace settlement in Washington. The meeting resulted in the signing of a seven-point declaration, the initialing (not signing) of a 17-part peace agreement, and the establishment of a plan for a yet-unnamed US company to manage a route from Azerbaijan to its exclave of Nakhchivan through Armenian territory. OC Media breaks down what was agreed upon, the

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In Georgia, a police officer’s cheek ranks above all

by Mikheil Gvadzabia

•4 min read

It was hard to find anyone around me who had positive expectations about journalist Mzia Amaghlobeli’s trial. Her colleagues and friends, whom I had spoken to since her detention, especially in the final week leading up to the verdict, were emotionally preparing themselves for the worst-case scenario: The court would agree with the prosecution’s claim that the slap Amaghlobeli gave to Batumi Police Chief Irakli Dgebuadze after a heated exchange should be considered an ‘assault on a police offi

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Why I’m begging the universe for Azerbaijan not to recognise the Circassian Genocide

by Yousef Bardouka

•2 min read

Yes, I’m back again with yet another newsletter about the Circassian Genocide. I promise, I’m not trying to meet any quotas and Robin is not forcing me to write these at gunpoint. I’ve just been in a perpetual state of annoyance ever since I read this article on APA, an Azerbaijani pro-government media outlet, about how important it was for the world to recognise the Circassian Genocide as ‘another stain on Russia’. Important context: APA’s content is objectively not journalism — it’s drivel di

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‘It’s not beer that kills people — it’s water’

by Elizaveta Chukharova

•2 min read

It’s a strange thing: in the 21st century, in what is supposedly a civilised country, mass poisonings from drinking water still occur in Daghestan every year. Children are particularly affected — the same children who are supposedly ‘our future’ and a ‘priority of state policy’. So why do these mass poisonings continue to happen in Daghestan year after year? There are, of course, many reasons, first and foremost being the human pollution of water sources and the degradation of sewage infrastruc

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A cynical fight between two authoritarian countries

by Nate Ostiller

•2 min read

Over the past few weeks, the South Caucasus once again came into the global spotlight, but this time for a rather unexpected reason, even for those who have long been watching the region. Relations between Azerbaijan and Russia, two authoritarian, highly-militarised countries, appeared to come close to the breaking point. Once weary allies, the cause for the seemingly sudden deterioration can be primarily connected to two separate violent incidents that have occured over the past year — the de