In pictures | Tbilisi’s first night under curfew

•1 min read

▲Freedom Square during curfew. Photo: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media.

The nationwide curfew was announced by the government on 30 March as part of efforts to halt the spread of the novel coronavirus.

[Read more: Georgia introduces curfew]

The government introduced the measure with the sweeping powers granted to the President and Prime Minister when Georgia declared a state of emergency on 21 March.

From 21:00-06:00 every day, people will be prohibited from leaving their homes. Anyone caught breaking curfew faces a fine of ₾3,000 ($910) or ₾15,000 ($4,500) for an organisation.

Repeat offenders face up to three years in prison.

[Follow our live updates on the coronavirus in the Caucasus.]

Marjanishvili Square. Police are patrolling the empty streets of Tbilisi during the curfew. Photo: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media.

Rustaveli Avenue. Photo: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media.

Volodymyr Soboliev •

522 articles•0 Followers

Azerbaijan

Opinion | Four years of entrapment: why Azerbaijan’s land borders remain closed

Javid Agha

••8 min read

Four years since the coronavirus pandemic began, Azerbaijan’s land borders remain closed to all civilian traffic. While officially this is to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, a number of theories exist regarding the real reason behind the measure. In the spring of 2020, Azerbaijan followed the example of many other countries, closing its land borders to prevent the transmission of the coronavirus, alongside a host of other preventive measures. Later the same year, the Second Nagorno-Kar

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan extends ‘COVID-19’ border closure until April

Ismi Aghayev

••2 min read

Azerbaijan has extended the closure of its land borders to ‘prevent the spread of COVID-19’ until April, despite dropping most COVID-related restrictions, including air travel. Azerbaijan has been extending the closure of its borders since the outbreak of COVID-19 in March 2020. The country has since dropped all other anti-pandemic measures, including the use of facemasks and vaccination certificates, and has allowed Azerbaijanis and foreign nationals to enter the country by air without PCR

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani Georgians appeal to Aliyev to open border

Shota Kincha

••2 min read

Over a thousand people, mostly Georgian ethnic Azerbaijanis, have signed an online petition calling on Azerbaijan’s President, Ilham Aliyev to restore at least limited movement across the Georgian-Azerbaijani land border. The petition was launched by Samira Bayramova, a civil activist based in Marneuli, southern Georgia. Georgia’s population of ethnic Azerbaijanis numbers more than 230,000, constituting the largest (6%) ethnic minority group in Georgia, most living in the southeast of the

Azerbaijan

Three years since the COVID outbreak, Azerbaijanis still cannot cross their border

Islam Shikhali

••6 min read

Three years after Azerbaijan closed its land borders in response to the coronavirus pandemic, those borders remain closed. But what did their closure mean for Azerbaijan’s people and government? Shahin Valiyev’s final years in life were marked by displacement, fear over the COVID-19 pandemic, and an inability to return home to Azerbaijan. Shortly after the pandemic made headlines around the world in 2020, Azerbaijan closed its land borders. Many Azerbaijanis studying or working in neighbou