Podcast | Covering conflict in Armenia and Azerbaijan and forests for sale in Racha

September 21, 2022 6:32 PM

In this week’s episode of the Caucasus Digest, Anna Edgar talks to Dominik Cagara about international media’s unbalanced coverage of the 13-14 September war between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Explainer | What happened in Armenia and Azerbaijan on 13–14 September?

Salome Kobalava joins OC Media to discuss the lease of up to 1,000 square kilometres of forests in Racha to a private company and the implications it might have for local residents.

Become a supporter at oc-media.org/support_us, or on Patreon.

Armenia

Peace talks flounder as Armenia pushes for deal with Azerbaijan before COP29

Arshaluys Barseghyan

••3 min read

Peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan appear to be at a standstill as Armenia continues to push for an agreement to be signed ahead of November’s COP29 summit in Baku. On Tuesday, Sargis Khandanyan, an MP from Armenia’s ruling Civil Contract party, told Armenpress that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan offered to organise a meeting to conclude and sign a peace agreement ahead of the summit, which is scheduled to be held in Baku between 11–22 November. He said that Pashinyan made the offer

Shoghakat Vardanyan standing in front of a picture of her brother, Soghomon Vardanyan. Film still.

Armenia

Armenia’s National Film Academy snubs award-winning Nagorno-Karabakh documentary

Arshaluys Barseghyan

••2 min read

A decision by Armenia’s national film academy to nominate a film by one of its board members to the Oscars over an award-winning documentary centred on the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War has caused controversy in the country. Produced in 2023, Shoghakat Vardanyan’s debut feature documentary 1489 focuses on her family’s two-year search to find her brother, Soghomon Vardanyan, a conscript who went missing during the first days of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War. The title refers to the number assigne

Azerbaijan's Defence Ministry. Official photo.

Armenia–Azerbaijan Conflict

Azerbaijan instructs army to stay on high alert

Arshaluys Barseghyan

••3 min read

Azerbaijan’s Defence Minister Zakir Hasanov has instructed the country’s armed forces to stay on ‘high alert’ to prevent ‘provocations of the revanchist forces’, as peace talks with Armenia continue to flounder. Hasanov held a meeting with high-ranking military officials on 12 October, during which he instructed troops ‘to maintain the combat capability at a constant high level, increase vigilance, as well as to be ready to take preventive measures against all possible provocations of revanchi

Armenia

Armenia refuses to sign CIS agreements at summit in Russia

Arshaluys Barseghyan

••2 min read

Armenia has refused to endorse two statements adopted at the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) held in Moscow. The meeting was attended by Armenia’s Foreign Minister, Ararat Mirzoyan, on Monday. That evening, an Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesperson announced that Armenia had not joined the two statements adopted earlier that day. They did not provide any details behind their decision. The first statement adopted focused on the principles of coop