Author: Goga Akhalkatsi

A new wave of repression in Azerbaijan is targeting foreign-funded independent media as well as journalists who criticize the government and expose high-level corruption. Authorities have arrested at least six journalists and placed them in pretrial custody on bogus charges since November 20. And the number is growing; as I write, police have questioned at least three more. The latest arrests include Rufat Muradli, a host of Kanal 13 online television channel, and Aziz Orujov, the channel’s founder. Kanal 13 has a large Azerbaijani subscriber base and social media following and is known for not being afraid to criticize the…

Azerbaijan and Armenia have agreed to a prisoner exchange, and to work towards normalizing ties and a peace deal to a decades-long conflict — a move the United States and European Union have welcomed. Azerbaijan will release 32 prisoners of war to Armenia in exchange for two, all members of the military, according to a joint statement published by Azerbaijan’s state news agency AZERTAC. “The Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan share the view that there is a historical chance to achieve a long-awaited peace in the region. Two countries reconfirm their intention to normalize relations and to reach the peace…

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili’s visit to NATO once again confirms the “comprehensive nature” of NATO-Georgia relations, Irakli Beraia, the Chair of the Defence and Security Committee of the country’s legislative body, said on Tuesday. He noted Papuashvili would address the NATO-Georgia Commission meeting and would hold high-level meetings at the NATO headquarters during his two-day visit to Brussels. In the capitals of Europe, Georgia is considered as a future NATO member state”, Beraia said, stressing the main topics of discussion by the Georgian delegation would be the regional security environment, the current situation in the Russian-occupied territories of the…

London (06/11 – 58) France and the United Kingdom (UK) have jointly made a request in favour of Sri Lanka to the court of the Southern District of New York, for a six-month freeze on any litigation in the Hamilton Reserve Bank case until Sri Lanka’s external debt restructuring is completed, the Financial Times reported. Accordingly, last week the two countries filed a joint “amicus curiae” to the New York judge hearing the case, arguing in favour of Sri Lanka’s request for a six-month freeze on any litigation. The co-signatories in their “amicus curiae” want the judge to grant Sri…

Azerbaijan is an important partner for the EU in the Caucasus, Chief Foreign Policy Advisor to the President of the European Council Simon Mordue wrote on his X page, Trend reports. Simon Mordue wrote that he discussed EU-Azerbaijan relations with Assistant of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Head of Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Presidential Administration Hikmet Hajiyev. “Stressed that Azerbaijan is an important partner for the EU in the Caucasus. The EU will continue to support the Armenia-Azerbaijan normalisation process to advance a peaceful and prosperous South Caucasus,” he noted. Source : Trend az

Brussel, Frankfurt (16/11 – 23) A levying of embargoes and export bans, the imposition of sanctions, erection of fearsome “license” (= restriction) protocol: there’s nothing new about this back-and-forth in world trade, in the eternal jousting for advantage among markets and nations. The clever Chinese imagined they had the world tea market all locked up until an earnest Scottish botanist carrying the telling name of “Robert Fortune” snuck into the Middle Kingdom to observe their agriculture, steal tea plants, and pick up tricks of tea processing. The Chinese global tea monopoly was busted wide open. The fortunate Mr. Fortune was…

Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, currently on an official visit to London, has held a meeting with Head of the United Kingdom-Armenia Friendship Group Tim Loughton and members of the group. A number of issues pertaining to Armenian-British relations were discussed during the meeting, the foreign ministry said in a statement. The interlocutors recorded the dynamics of deepening the bilateral political dialogue and in that context noted the importance of the Armenia-Great Britain strategic dialogue launched yesterday as an important manifestation of support for democracy in Armenia. Issues related to the security situation in the South Caucasus were on the…

The collapse of the separatist regime in the Garabagh region of Azerbaijan in September completed the de-occupation process of the country’s occupied territories. This has effectively brought an end to the decades-long conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the mentioned region. The mutual recognition each other’s territorial integrity by the two countries, and in particular, Armenia’s recognition of Garabagh as part of Azerbaijan, has laid a strong foundation for a more stable and peaceful future between the two nations. The statement by the Armenian parliamentary speaker Alen Simonyan on November 28 concerning Armenia’s recognition of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity including the…

Copenhagen (13/11 – 37.5) When Ranil Wickremesinghe took over as Sri Lanka’s president in July after a popular uprising ousted his predecessor, the South Asian island nation was engulfed in its worst economic meltdown in 75 years. Since then, President Wickremesinghe has managed to a keep a lid on mass protests, improve supplies of essentials and on Monday, secured a nearly $3 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that opens the door to restructuring about $58 billion of debt and receive funding from other lenders. He has done that despite a deeply unpopular government, his own party commanding just one…

In a dramatic development, the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan issued a surprise joint statement on 7 December, outlining a prisoner exchange and mutual confidence-building measures, while committing to continue negotiations on normalizing relations and reaching a long-elusive peace treaty. The joint statement by the offices of the Armenian Prime Minister and Azerbaijani President opens the path to a full-fledged peace treaty, as European and American diplomats have indicated. Most notably, “for humanitarian reasons” and as a “gesture of goodwill,” Azerbaijan agreed to release 32 Armenian military personnel, while Armenia will free two Azerbaijanis. This will be the first mass prisoner-of-war exchange…