caucasus: regional fractures

From the 2008 Georgia/Russian war to the "rose revolution" of 2003, with contested elections in Azerbaijan and the continued trauma of Chechnya, openDemocracy writers trace the roots of turmoil.
Friday 11th December

Abkhazia prepares to vote

Ivan Sukhov, 11 December 2009
Presidential elections are looming in the Abkhazia, the breakaway republic which Russia recognised as an independent state after the Georgia war. This time, Russia has backed off from playing a candidate, says Ivan Sukhov. But whatever the outcome closer integration with Russia will continue.
Thursday 10th December

Turkey and Israel: ends and beginnings

Kerem Oktem, 10 December 2009
The new chill between once close middle-eastern neighbours reflects both Ankara’s desire to chart a new course and structural changes in the region’s geopolitics. The outcome of both shifts remains open, says Kerem Oktem.
Wednesday 14th October

The Armenia-Turkey process: don’t stop now

Kerem Oktem, 14 October 2009
The critics of the Yerevan-Ankara protocols neglect their potential benefits
Tuesday 13th October

Armenia-Turkey: genocide, blockade, diplomacy

Vicken Cheterian, 13 October 2009
A bad agreement cannot turn old adversaries into good neighbours
Monday 12th October

Armenia and Turkey: forgetting genocide

Juan Gabriel Tokatlian, 12 October 2009
The Armenia-Turkey accord entails a pragmatic and dangerous silence over the events of 1915
Tuesday 25th August

Abkhazia, Georgia, and history: a response

George Hewitt, 25 August 2009
The linguistic, historical and political dimensions of a tangled dispute in the Caucasus
Monday 24th August

Zugdidi: Will I ever go back?

Zygmunt Dzieciolowski, 24 August 2009
Georgian refugees from Abkhazia ask whether they will ever be able to go home
Tuesday 18th August

Independent Abkhazia one year on

Inal Khashig, 18 August 2009

The Black Sea's new state is a year old. But the party is on hold

Monday 17th August

The Russia-Georgia war: mission unaccomplished

Ghia Nodia, 17 August 2009
An anniversary audit on the bitter 2008 conflict from Tbilisi's then education minister
Sunday 16th August

Ingushetia abandoned

Varvara Pakhomenko, 16 August 2009
The dynamics of misrule in Russia's Caucasus are consuming Chechnya's neighbour
Friday 14th August

Sukhumi: Café Lika on the brink of war

Zygmunt Dzieciolowski, 14 August 2009

 Sukhumi, Black Sea Panorama

On a visit to the separatist republic of Abkhazia a week before the Russia-Georgia war in August 2008, openDemocracy/Russia editor Zygmunt Dzieciolowski was aware of growing tension. If war did break out, the locals knew that they would be the ones who paid the price.

The Georgia-Russia war, a year on

Donald Rayfield, 14 August 2009
Georgia’s disastrous defeat in the conflict of August 2008 is only part of a more complex story
Wednesday 12th August

Abkhazia and South Ossetia, a year on

George Hewitt, 12 August 2009
The Georgia-Russia war of August 2008 has clarified the future of the entities at its heart
Thursday 6th August

Tbilisi: Twenty Hours Before the War

Zygmunt Dzieciolowski, 6 August 2009
In August 2008 oD/Russia's editor was in Georgia.  He interviewed Mikheil Saakashvili, as it happens just twenty hours before the war with Russia broke out.  Zygmunt was assured by the President that there were no plans for military action, but later that night he felt very sure that the war could begin at any moment.
Wednesday 5th August

The guns of August: non-event with consequences

Ivan Krastev, 5 August 2009
The political fallout of the Russia-Georgia war of 2008 reverberates across the entire Eurasian region
Tuesday 21st July

Georgia: social chasm, political bridge

Robert Parsons, 21 July 2009
Georgians deserve better than a politics of personal rivalry. Will its leaders listen?
Wednesday 8th July

Georgia: between war and a future

Vicken Cheterian, 8 July 2009
A year on from a disastrous war with Russia, the political elite in Tbilisi remains mired in illusion
Friday 3rd July

Georgia's pluralistic feudalism: a frontline report

Ilia Roubanis, 3 July 2009
Tbilisi's leader-fixated politics highlights doubts over the idea of "transition to democracy"

Karabakh: peace, war and democracy

Hayk Kotanjian, 3 July 2009
How to avoid renewed conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan? A view from Yerevan 
Monday 22nd June

Five years to the day: violence in Ingushetia

Alexander Cherkasov, 22 June 2009
Five years to the day after violent raids in Ingushetia ending with 79 deaths, there has been an attempt on the life of its current president, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov.  His bodyguard and driver died.  He is in intensive care.  Alexander Cherkasov, board member of the human rights organisation "Memorial", comments on recent events in the republic.
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