Onnik J. Krikorian
@onewmphoto
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Journalist from the UK covering, consulting, and training on conflict, violent extremism, minorities, media, and politics in the South Caucasus since 1994.
Georgia
Joined June 2008
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For 13 years I've covered ethnic Armenian-Azerbaijani villages in Georgia and revisited this summer, this time with
@KonulikShahin
, who has herself documented the ethnic Armenian community in Istanbul.
@Topcenterorg
kindly published our report below.
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To be quite honest, the one headline I’m waiting for now is ‘How Nikol Pashinian Lost Nagorno Karabakh.”
And yeah, I know I’ll be blocking people harassing me for that for quite a while.
But not taking negotiations seriously was a huge mistake. As we can all see now.
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Just remembered this from material I shot in the ethnic Armenian-Azeri co-inhabited village of Tsopi, Georgia, in 2017. With both speaking each other's language, and as this was for AZ media, this ethnic Armenian girl speaks in Azerbaijani. Her best friend is an ethnic Azeri.
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And now for something completely different to take your minds off things that weigh too heavy and we have no control over anyway:
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Nationalists won't like it, but co-existence is inevitable. It will be a long and difficult road, but it is one that will have to be traveled. Hopefully, many Armenians and Azerbaijanis will embark upon it now. Neighbouring Georgia offers many positive examples.
#Karabakh
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Current policy, esp. as some Armenians say Azerbaijanis harass, intimidate, and try to discredit people, is that normal disagreement and discussions is permissible. However, in my case, it's coming 99 percent from Armenians, mainly in the Diaspora, and it's extremist and vile.
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Today's
#StandWithUkraine
solidarity rally at the Embassy in Tbilisi, Georgia.
#UkraineCrisis
#Україна
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'The law student [...] said: “Everyone is beautiful in their own way, regardless of weight, race, colour or shape.”'
Breaking stereotypes: In a first, contestant to wear Hijab for Miss England finals via
@htTweets
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Just found some I took in Aghdam from 2000 or 2001, for example. The 'Hiroshima of the South Caucasus," as one US diplomat called it.
#Armenia
#Azerbaijan
#Karabakh
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I have so many great friends in Azerbaijan that this whole notion of an existential and genodical threat is absurd. Hell, I lived with my ex-girlfriend from Azerbaijan for 3.5 years. Forget the nationalist rhetoric. BOTH sides are human and everyone needs to end this. Peace.
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Unexpected and incredible. While we knew there would be a meeting between Aliyev and Pashinyan as well as Erdogan Pashinyan in Prague today, we were not expecting such an informal meeting of Aliyev, Erdogan, and Pashinyan in such a setting.
#Armenia
#Azerbaijan
#Turkiye
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Every outside international observer or diplomat that I’ve spoken to pretty much thinks he’s finished now, incidentally. It’s not just my opinion. When, of course, not clear, but this was a huge mistake by a populist, who exploited nationalism when it suited him.
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Yaxley-Lennon gets off lightly. Sentenced to 9 months in prison with time taken off for that already served. So basically 19 weeks but will be out on licence after 10.
#TommyRobinson
#XRW
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Overall, has to be said that the ceasefire agreement seems largely well implemented and managed. Here’s Azerbaijani military and an Armenian volunteer unit apparently discussing how to demarcate the AM-AZ border. HT
@Kamal_Makili
. Encouraging.
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Today is the 29th anniversary of the "Karakend Tragedy." On 20 November 1991, ethnic Armenian forces shot down an Azerbaijani Mil Mi-8 helicopter carrying high-level govt. officials and a peacekeeping observation mission. HT
@lmucctl
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Lachin returned, and now negotiations should start given the 7 regions around NKAO have been returned. For over a decade it has been frustrating to see how nationalists never understood the specific importance of Shusha and Lachin to Azerbaijan.
#Karabakh
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10 years ago it seems:
Ethnic Armenian teacher helping ethnic Azerbaijani pupils learn Georgian, Tsopi (majority ethnic Azeri, minority ethnic Armenian), Georgia © Onnik James Krikorian 2012
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In Marneuli, SOCAR central. The Georgian branch of Azerbaijan’s State Oil Company provides free gas to religious centres throughout Georgia. Not just mosques but also Georgian, Armenian churches. Recently visited an ethnic Armenian village. The kids’ football team also supported.
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Still confused why so many analysts say they were surprised by the 19 September military action by Azerbaijan in Karabakh. After refusing to engage with Baku and opening the Aghdam road, linked to Armenia's refusal to agree on the Nakhchivan route, I warned many for two years.
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Horrific scenes from Barda. It's really time for the international community to do much more than it has to end this conflict once and for all.
How? That's for the politicians to decide, but the targeting of civilians on all sides must stop.
#Armenia
#Azerbaijan
#Karabakh
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Samvel Babayan has spoken and alleges that Arayik Harutyunyan was told to resign by the Russian FSB. Moreover, he alleges, after rumoured talks to disband Karabak's military, an offer to afford autonomy to a 4,400 km area was offered but then rejected by the de facto authorities.
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Speaking in Yerevan, I'd always highlight an urgent need for peace with Baku. But people were too used to the status quo. The war ended in 1994, they said.
Wrong. As the whole world can see now. Karabakh didn't end with the ceasefire. It can only end with a negotiated peace.
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"Turkish ports will open and many vast opportunities will be provided. Perhaps the Azerbaijani market will open for us, and our market for Azerbaijan."
New Economy Minister of Armenia Talks about Cooperation with Azerbaijan via
@AzStudies
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Interesting film on Armenia-Turkey relations, inc. a 1992 appeal by the Armenian govt. to Turkey for it to urgently supply wheat as winter approached. Ankara checked with Baku. "No-one should be deprived of bread," Elchibey responded.
v
@nizamibonjovi
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BREAKING!!! A MAJOR development in Armenia-Azerbaijan talks with a JOINT statement from Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s office.
This is what we needed right now to believe an agreement could still come.
#Karabakh
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And I remain ashamed that we voted to leave the EU. Now, more than ever, I hope even Leave voters realise the error of our ways and how it was the worst think the UK could ever have done in the 21st Century. Or ever.
#Ukraine
#Kyiv
Biden at the EU on Putin - "The whole idea of the unity of Europe as a whole, not just NATO, the G7 and this organisation really matters, it's the single most important thing that we can do to stop this guy who in our country we believe who has already committed war crimes."
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I think what started off as just some was amplified by media coverage to become standard practice. Yes, emotions are high, but as some were pushing for a right to return, that's pretty much blown now. Very regrettable and can't be condoned at all.
#Armenia
#Azerbaijan
#Karabakh
Nə yaxşı ki, bu görüntülər var. Dünya bu milləti daha yaxşı tanımağa başladı.
#Kalbajar
#Karabakh
#Azerbaijan
Video:
@AP
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Interesting. Russian accounts starting to spam
#armvote17
w/ the fake
@USAID
memo that
@usembarmenia
has already debunked.
#armelections2017
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Armenian diplomacy veteran urges to normalize ties with Azerbaijan, Turkey
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Indeed, and there used to a ban on taking photos in Aghdam precisely because the sight of a once bustling market town razed to the ground *after* it was taken is one impossible to justify. Same in Fizuli, Zangelan, etc, but not as visually shocking.
#Armenia
#Azerbaijan
#Karabakh
The old Aghdam, famous for musicians, gangsters + cheap red wine will not return. Rebuilding a new one will be a big endeavour. Returnees will feel anger at seeing these ruins--one element of the new trauma and hostility Azerbaijanis and Armenians are facing in 2020.
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@robobzbz
@aygunimanly
I can tell you I hate the sight of whole Azerbaijani villages, towns, and cities cleansed of their inhabitants in the early 1990s, and the very idea that this war should continue.
Here's a photo of Aghdam I took in approx 2001. A mini-Hiroshima, one US govt. official called it.
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Empathy. This is what we're missing most in this conflict. On both sides.
#Armenia
#Azerbaijan
#Karabakh
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When nationalists tag me in gruesome images and videos in order to promote ethnic intolerance and hatred as well as to perpetuate war and death that can only lead to more of the same, you're going to get blocked. Go get your nationalist kicks elsewhere. A far-right group perhaps.
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It's official. Aliyev has pulled out of tomorrow's meeting with Pashinyan at the EPC in Granada. The reason given is France's uncanny knack of disrupting talks will ill-timed words, actions, and visits. Aliyev does, however, say he'll agree to the tripartite format with Michel.
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"[…] a small Hiroshima lying below. Aghdam used to have fifty thousand inhabitants. Now it is completely empty. After Armenians captured the town in 1993, they slowly stripped every street house. […] I puzzled again over the reasons for this apocalypse."
–
@Tom_deWaal
Footage from Agdam - Azerbaijan took over that region in Nagorno-Karabakh from Armenia.
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My favourite holiday incidently. First I attended was in London in 1995. then in Elazig in 1997, and then quite a few times in Marneuli since 2011. My visit to Algeti on Tuesday was my third in a village.
Novruz Bayram Mubarak Olsun. 🔥🍃🌞
Happy Novruz / Nowruz in advance to all of you who celebrate. I know that for many of you Azerbaijanis, having lost loved ones to war or disease, this will be a dark Novruz. I hope that this spring will be the beginning of a brighter future for all of us. (1/2)
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@Robert_E_Kelly
Not weird. Charming. Great kids btw. Your eldest is likely destined for the stage. :)
@David_Waddell
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So photogenic… Sophia, an ethnic Armenian girl, in an Armenian-Azeri co-inhabited village in Georgia. Her best friend is Jeyran, an ethnic Azeri girl who lives opposite. Residents of the village speak both the Armenian and Azerbaijani languages. This is not uncommon in Georgia.
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True, she broke my heart when we broke up after 5 years of being with her, including those 3.5 years living with her, but it certainly wasn't 'genocide' or 'ethnic cleansing.' I mean, seriously. Ditch this 'existential' bullshit already. I know.
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A girl in Lachin, circa 2002. Did a lot of work – articles and photos – for years. Please always remember there are families involved. This girl didn't choose to move there, and her parents did because they were poor in Armenia. And no excuse for firing on Ganja civilians either.
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For those commenting on the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno Karabakh, I strongly advise that you read Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War or watch this Armenia-Azerbaijan production, Parts of a Circle. Takes just 75 mins.
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Those of you accusing people of being pro-Armenian or pro-Azerbaijani, how about becoming pro-peace?
There is the framework for a peace deal. It's time to accept and implement it with peacekeepers on the ground.
Otherwise, you're only calling for war.
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Would have been better if System of a Down had recorded a track promoting peace rather than effectively glorifying ethno-nationalism and war. Then again, music and lyrics have been used since the beginning of time to radicalise and recruit.
#Armenia
#Azerbaijan
#Karabakh
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Two best friends, one ethnic-Azeri and one ethnic-Armenian in a co-inhabited Armenian-Azeri village in Georgia. It has an Azeri majority with an Armenian minority.
The next village along is also co-inhabited, but the situation is reversed with an ethnic-Armenian majority.
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Speaking in Tbilisi, Aliyev says that if Armenia agrees then there is no reason why bilateral and trilateral talks can’t be held in Georgia. I totally agree and have hoped for this for years. No need for so many trips to Brussels, Berlin, Moscow, and D.C.
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Seriously. For all those responding quoting Njdeh – an Armenian ultra-nationalist with much in common with the Nazis – you're instantly blocked. Not only did he collaborate with Nazi Germany, but any concept of 'race worship' is particularly alarming.
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Ignore the title. This interview with Libaridian is much more than that suggests. Touches especially on Russia's objectives in Karabakh and also the fundamental problem and mistakes of Yerevan's policy towards Azerbaijan:
#Armenia
#Azerbaijan
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In an interview broadcast by Public Television, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said aloud for the first time what most observers knew for at least 25 years. No country will recognise Karabakh as independent from Azerbaijan or part of Armenia and people should understand this.
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In 1994 I visited Nagorno Karabakh for UK media. On my return to London, some analysts I interviewed said a peace deal would not be signed for 20 years. 26 years later and it still hasn't. The lack of that deal has led to a resumption of hostilities today.
#Armenia
#Azerbaijan
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So now we know why WarGonzo is reportedly back in the region. War is business and business is good. He's almost like a barometer for conflict…
#Armenia
#Azerbaijan
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Yeah, I'm a British citizen who had an Azerbaijani girlfriend and we lived together for 3-4 or more years. So what? This is actually how peace happens...
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My wish for 2024 is that people stop referring to an 'expert' community because it clearly doesn't exist in the Armenia-Azerbaijan context. Just self-professed 'experts' who award their own the same title in highly dubious bubbles with no connection to real people on the ground.
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“If Karabakh had kept our agreement on lowering the bar, this would not have happened as it did,” Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told parliament today. “We lowered it and Karabakh raised it.”
#Armenia
#Azerbaijan
#Karabakh
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On a brighter note, and hope I'm not tempting fate, Mataghis hasn't been razed to the ground like every single Azerbaijani settlement was when Armenians took them in the early 1990s. Imperative to sign a peace deal now and allow every IDP and refugee a voluntary right of return.
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I listen to a lot of nationalist claims that Karabakh was an independent state. It never was. First, forgetting the massive depopulation, Karabakh is reliant on Armenian passports, the currency, and the supply of the poorest conscripts from Armenia to the territory. Discuss.
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So, in my opinion, Russian peacekeeping forces should have been in the Kelbajar settlements to stop some residents burning their homes, and this school, before departing. Let them learn this lesson before some of the settlements around Lachin are vacated.
#Armenia
#Azerbaijan
1/2
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I spent years documenting attempts to settle Lachin before 2020 and have to say I don’t even recognise it now. Lachin never developed before and each time I visited, staying for a week at a time, it was said that for every family that arrived two left.
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More wise words from Libaridian:
"[Armenia] lost because instead of facing reality, for over two decades our leaders based their judgments on ideological, political, partisan and personal considerations."
#Armenia
#Azerbaijan
#Karabakh
via
@herr_mh
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Seriously, if people don’t like war there is only one avenue… peace. Yes, it won’t be easy and it won’t be quick, but seriously this is the only way forwards. Pretty much every nation has gone through this process. Time for the South Caucasus to do so too.
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By all means disagree, put forward another argument, or whatever, whether you can comment on my tweet or add your own in a quote retweet, but when you insult, attack, and in one case send a death threat to me tonight, you show yourself not worthy to listen to.
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Now the next warning… Though Baku can theoretically do without a peace agreement now it has Karabakh, it is in Armenia's interest to sign a peace treaty this year. Any later will only lead to the collapse of Armenia. Europe and the US will not save it. Russia may well punish it.
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I'll go even further. My ex from Azerbaijan was so fantastic. She helped me tremendously and actually got me on a brighter path. We split up, yes, but she did do that. And I'm experiencing the same from another friend in AZ right now. People are people. Humans are humans. Peace.
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BREAKING: What appear to be Azerbaijani surgical strikes on military targets in Karabakh. Believed in response to an earlier mine incident that left Azerbaijani fatalities but also likely about the continued presence of military hardware in Karabakh and allegedly Armenian troops.
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Aliyev reportedly stated yesterday in an address to the nation that Azerbaijan is willing to establish normal relations with Armenia if it 'makes the right choice and improves relations with its neighbours.' That's to be welcomed and is the only way forwards.
#Karabakh
1/3
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A representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on the ground says that perhaps only a few hundred people remain in Karabakh – mainly the disabled and the elderly. House to house checks are being conducted to locate anyone left behind.
#Armenia
#Azerbaijan
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More horrific war crime videos being shared. No question that those responsible must be arrested and prosecuted harshly. No exceptions.
But also true there’s a nationalist delight in these videos to perpetuate war. In reality, they’re precisely why the situation MUST change.
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Positive news from Brussels following the meeting between Ilham Aliyev, Nikol Pashinyan, and Charles Michel. Armenia and Azerbaijan to establish a working group on border delimitation by end of April.
Meanwhile, on a peace deal:
"The process has started. It started tonight"
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Seems the French are celebrating Novruz this week too… 🤪🔥🌱
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"Iran was a “staunch critic” of any transit corridor linking Azerbaijan to Nakhchivan, […] running through Armenia […]. However, the Iranian authorities were quick […] to agree to the same corridor project running through Iran […] to Nakhchivan […]."
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Sophia, an ethnic Armenian kid in a co-inhabited village in Georgia. There are quite a few such villages, towns, and cities here. Her ethnic Armenian mother teaches ethnic Azeri first graders the Azerbaijani language. Sophia's best friend is an ethnic Azeri, Jeiran. ✌️
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The situation between Armenia and Azerbaijan grows more serious by the day. The attacks on towns and villages by both sides has been horrific, but last night's attack on Ganja, a huge urban centre more populous than Karabakh itself, marks another alarming turn in hostilities. 1/3
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The de facto Karabakh leadership, whoever it might be, is at least consistent. For three decades it has obstructed and rejected any and every peace proposal on the table, believing that somehow an untenable status quo of its choosing can emerge no matter the danger or reality.
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Two members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Atilla Çiçek and Hüseyin Yıldırım, have been handed over to Turkey. Turkish media not providing any more information for now but Kurdish media says Armenian intelligence services did so. If true, very interesting indeed.
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An ethnic Azerbaijani kid in Marneuli, Georgia. Think I took this in 2012, definitely while sitting in on and photographing their dance rehearsal.
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To be fair, while he didn't use the headline, Libaridian warned about this at the beginning of September.
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Wow, what a story. A Karabakh Armenian conscript stuck in a forest for 33-days not knowing the September military operation was over. Armed only with a knife, he came across an Azerbaijani Police Colonel who helped him get to ICRC for transfer to Armenia.
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Total lie. First, no idea who this guy is, though it is possible I might have met him a LONG time ago.
However, if I have met him, he's f**ked up on one important fact. I was a vegetarian.
Talk about a desperate attempt at mis/disinformation.
#Armenia
#Azerbaijan
#Karabakh
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BREAKING: Through the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Karabakh, a ceasefire starting at 1 pm has been declared. Remaining units of Armenia's military will be withdrawn and Karabakh's forces will be disarmed. Talks with Baku on integration into Azerbaijan in Yevlakh tomorrow.
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All in all, and despite the church and government encouraged
#XRW
violence this week, a good day...
#TbilisiPride
#PrideWeek
#iPhoneOnly
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We’ll know later, but it seems
#UniteTheRight2
in D.C. today will be poorly attended. Likely they’ll be vastly outnumbered by counter-protestors. Imperative that Antifa remains restrained and under control.
How antifa violence has split the left via
@WSJ
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So, my conclusion. Western mediators failed to mediate a peace process around a dysfunctional ceasefire in the absence of peacekeepers since 1994. No progress since, so war was inevitable. Judging from analysis I’ve read, they still fail to recognise their blame in this mess. 1/2
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This, no doubt, will become the basis for a caption or meme contest later today…
#Armenia
#Azerbaijan
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"I’ve worked with hundreds of people and their situations are all different. But I can tell you with full certainty that every single one of them was led to [hate] because they were searching for identity, community, and purpose.”
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Pashinyan has also raised the issue of mis/disinformation on social media. In general, he says, the ceasefire holds. Also says claims of mass civilian casualties are untrue as well as there being no direct threat to the ethnic Armenian population. Criticises talk of an exodus.
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The question now is whether ethnic Armenians in Karabakh can remain or should they leave.
@HikmetHajiyev
this week said Azerbaijan will facilitate the former and he’s been consistent on that. Six years ago, he even approached me at an event to thank me for my work on coexistence.
On a brighter note, a pleasure to meet
@HikmetHajiyev
. Appreciated his comments on my work on ethnic Armenian-Azeri coexistence in Georgia.
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Today been editing the video shot yesterday from the Earth Tuesday event in the ethnic Azeri village of Algeti in Georgia. Won't be ready until next week for Novruz itself, but a screengrab. Was nice. Kids even sang cip cip cücələrim for me. 🎵 🐥🎵
#Chershenbe
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Reports electricity has been restored in Stepanakert. The region’s info centre had said that this would happen today. What they didn’t say, however, was that power would be supplied from Azerbaijan’s energy grid and not Armenia’s. At some point the gas will no doubt switch too.
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The one analysis and commentary everyone should watch or listen to. Libaridian was on fire last night for this presentation and discussion. Almost criminal that he is not given space by the local and international media.
#Armenia
#Azerbaijan
#Karabakh
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Lots of insults today and many nationalistic and misogynistic attacks referencing my mother (she is English btw). Also some homophobic slurs, though I’m not gay. Nationalism and patriarchy often go hand in hand, but am not blocking criticism if it doesn’t contain hate speech.
Ok, who is this guy and which Armenian man or woman broke his heart? 😂 #ՀԱՂԹԵԼՈՒԵՆՔ
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@Drjohnhorgan
And worth noting that anyone who would equate the IRA to every Irish person in the UK, Ireland, or elsewhere would be considered a nutter.
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Honestly, this year is the last chance for an Armenia-Azerbaijan agreement. As always, it will require painful concessions but foreign funded initiatives involved in this area need to weigh up whether they are part of the solution or actually part of the problem all these years.
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Thanks to
@TheCriticalDri2
for turning me on to All Of Us Are Dead. The Walking Dead was so tiring, mundane and tedious that this is a breath of fresh air.
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