The Caucasus Digest

The residents of Shukruti, a village in Georgia’s western Chiatura region, have been protesting mining under their village carried out by Georgian Manganese for years. In September, they relocated their protest to Georgia’s Parliament in Tbilisi, demanding that the government intervene in their dispute with the mining company.

Those protesting around the clock in front of parliament are constantly exposed to the elements as the weather grows colder, with at least six of them on hunger strike.

This week, we spoke with OC Media’s co-director and journalist Mariam Nikuradze about the conditions of the protesters and how the authorities have been treating them in Tbilisi, and to the Social Justice Center’s Salome Shubladze about their demands and the ongoing legal dispute between the protesters and Georgian Manganese.

Read more:

• Dying on the steps of parliament — Georgia’s Shukrutians make last bid for their homes

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…or donate to the collective Georgian media security fund.

The high-profile murder of Kesaria Abramidze, a prominent Georgian trans model and media personality, has sent shockwaves through Georgia’s queer community, with many accusing the government of enabling her murder through their transphobic and homophobic rhetoric and their ‘LGBT propaganda’ law. Abramidze’s suspected murder, her former partner, was charged with committing a hate crime based on gender, and not one based on Abramidze’s gender identity.

This week, we spoke to activist Monika Tigishvili about Abramidze’s murder and being trans in Georgia, and to the Rule of Law Centre’s hate crime researcher Nati Gelovani and Parntership for Human Rights criminal lawyer Tamara Zarkua about how Georgia’s legal system handles transphobic hate crimes.

Read more:

• Georgian President attends funeral of murdered trans woman Kesaria Abramidze
• Heartbreak in Georgia after murder of prominent trans woman

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…or donate to the collective Georgian media security fund.

It has been a year since Nagorno-Karabakh’s surrender and dissolution following an Azerbaijani assault on the region. The assault pushed the vast majority of the region’s population to flee their homes and to seek refuge in Armenia, where they were met with bureaucratic hurdles and insufficient support from the Armenian government.

This week, we spoke with Tigran Grigoryan, a political analyst and the head of the Regional Center for Democracy and Security, about Armenia’s handling of the influx of refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh, and to journalist Marut Vanyan about the challenges the refugees have been facing since their arrival to Armenia.

Read more:

• The last bus out of Nagorno-Karabakh

Hear more about Nagorno-Karabakh’s surrender:

• Podcast | The Nagorno-Karabakh Exodus

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…or donate to the collective Georgian media security fund.

BRICS, an intergovernmental organisation named after its core members, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, appears to be making inroads in the South Caucasus, with Azerbaijan applying for its membership, and Armenia accepting an invitation to participate in a BRICS summit in Russia, despite its deteriorating relations with Moscow.

This week, we speak to Azerbaijani independent researcher Shujaat Ahmadzada about Azerbaijan’s prospects for joining the organisation, and to Narek Sukiasyan, an Adjunct Lecturer at the American University of Armenia and a Researcher at the Center for Culture and Civilization Studies, about Armenia’s efforts to diversify its foreign policy.

Read more:

• Azerbaijan applies for BRICS membership
• Armenia to participate in BRICS and CIS summits

Support independent journalism in the Caucasus and become an OC Media Member: Join today.

…or donate to the collective Georgian media security fund.

Bahruz Samadov, a political analyst, OC Media contributor, and outspoken advocate for peace with Armenia has been arrested in Azerbaijan and charged with treason. His arrest was preceded by the arrest of another researcher, Iqbal Abilov, on the same charges, leading many to fear that Azerbaijan has begun targeting researchers and peace activists.

This week, we spoke with journalist Arzu Geybulla about the significance of Samadov’s arrest and the charges pressed against him, and to Sossi Tatikyan a foreign policy and security analyst about how his arrest could impact independent peacebuilding between Armenia and Azerabaijan, and how the charges against Samadov were based on his communications with Armenian peers alleged by Azerbaijan, without evidence, to be members of the Armenian secret services.

Read more:

• Amnesty International calls on Azerbaijan to release Bahruz Samadov and other government critics
• Talysh researcher arrested for ‘treason’ in Azerbaijan

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…or donate to the collective Georgian media security fund.

The siege of Beslan has left a scar on both North Ossetia and Russia. Twenty years on, many in North Ossetia still await the results of an investigation into the Russian authorities’ handling of the crisis, which they believe might have contributed to the deaths of over 300 people — among them 186 children.

This week, we spoke with Zalina Bogazova, a survivor of Beslan, about how those events have continued to shape the lives of her and hundreds of others, and with Ossetian political journalist Rooslán Totrov about Russia’s handling of the attack and how Russia’s war against Ukraine has changed how Beslan is remembered.

Support independent journalism in the Caucasus and become an OC Media Member: Join today.

…or donate to the collective Georgian media security fund.

On 12 July, employees of Evolution Georgia, an online gambling platform, began a strike demanding better working conditions and pay and an end to abusive behaviour by the company’s management. Evolution Georgia, which positions itself as a leading employer of students, is a subsidiary of a company headquartered in Sweden.

This week, we spoke to Giorgi Kajaia, an Evolution Georgia employee on strike, about why he chose to go on strike and the employees’ demands, and to the Social Justice Center’s Salome Shubladze about the legal aspects of the strike, and the Evolution Georgia’s obligations towards the striking employees.

Read more:

• Striking employees stage sit-in outside Evolution Georgia offices

Support independent journalism in the Caucasus and become an OC Media Member: Join today.

…or donate to the collective Georgian media security fund.

June’s deadly and coordinated attacks on synagogues, churches, and police posts in Daghestan’s Makhachkala and Derbent have led to the deaths of 22 people, as well as five attackers. The authorities in the Russian republic and in Moscow have since scrambled to find someone or something to blame, including Ukraine, niqab, and MMA.

This week, we speak to North Caucasus analyst and PhD student at Indiana university, Harold Chambers, about the Daghestan attacks and those that preceded them in neighbouring North Caucasian republics, and to Zemfira Gogui, a human rights consultant from Karachay-Cherkessia, about about people’s relation with the Federal Russian Government and what could be driving people towards radicalism in the region.

Read more:

• Niqab and MMA under fire in North Caucasus following Daghestan terror attack

Support independent journalism in the Caucasus and become an OC Media Member: Join today.

…or donate to the collective Georgian media security fund.

Azerbaijan appears to be trying to position itself as a champion of the anti-colonial movement by criticising France’s colonial past and supporting independence movements in its overseas territories.

This week, we speak to political analyst and PhD candidate at Charles University in Prague Bahruz Samadov about the Baku Initiative Group, a group linked to the Azerbaijani government, and its anti-colonial conference, and how Azerbaijan appears to be appropriating anti-colonial movements for their own geopolitical and authoritarian ends.

Read more:

• Baku-linked group hosts conference on European colonialism at UN HQ
• Opinion | How Azerbaijan uses ‘anti-colonialism’ to authoritarian ends

Support independent journalism in the Caucasus and become an OC Media Member: Join today.

…or donate to the collective Georgian media security fund.

The ruling Georgian Dream party has introduced a legislative package that would ban ‘LGBT propaganda’, potentially setting back decades of progress on queer rights in the country.

This week, we speak to OC Media staff writer Shota Kincha about the contents of the law, to Tbilisi Pride’s director Tamar Jakeli about the future of the queer rights movement in light of the law, and to filmmaker Eka Tsotsoria about how the law could censor the arts.

Read more:

• Georgian Dream to introduce queerphobic legislation

Support independent journalism in the Caucasus and become an OC Media Member: Join today.

…or donate to the collective Georgian media security fund.