Armenian and Azerbaijani Leaders Meet Blinken, Participate in Panel Discussion at Munich Security Conference February 20, 2023
Armenian Foreign Minister Visits Turkiye After Earthquake, Rekindles Hopes for Normalization February 16, 2023
The Folk Performer Who Embodied the Spiritual Code of Kyrgyz Art Dies, 53 The surviving popularity of the komuz as a living instrument, rather than a museum artifact, and the flourishing tradition of Kyrgyz folk music is in no small way thanks to Malik Alikeyev, who died on January 17. January 25, 2023
Tajikistan: In a World of Unreliable Men, Polygamy Offers Uneasy Answer Polygamous marriages can grant women some financial stability, but no legal protection if they are abandoned. January 20, 2023
Kazakhstan Slaps Crypto Miners With Higher Energy Bills Miners flocked to Kazakhstan from China in 2021 after Beijing banned operations there. January 13, 2023
Rallies Demanding Release of Former Georgian President Saakashvili Held in Many Countries January 04, 2023
Georgia’s Emaciated Former President Appears in Remote Court Hearing The former president has been hospitalized for months. December 22, 2022
Banking Cooperation Between Iran and Russia Increases as De-Dollarization Campaign Intensifies December 16, 2022
Tajikistan: Families Freeze While Energy Independence Chimera Remains Ever Distant Tajikistan has struggled for over a decade to raise funds for the world's tallest dam, leaving its population freezing each winter and skimping on basic social services. December 15, 2022
Russia Is Using The Caspian Sea To Launch Strikes Against Ukraine. So Why Are The Caspian Countries Silent? December 08, 2022
Armenia’s Economic Boom Hurts Tech Sector An influx of Russians has pushed up the value of the dram, undercutting Armenia’s exporters and the celebrated IT industry. December 01, 2022
Exclusive - Kazakh McDonald's Shut Outlets Temporarily after Halting Supplies from Russia November 30, 2022
Aliyev Says He Won’t Meet Pashinyan in Brussels due to Macron’s Anti-Azerbaijani “Insults” November 25, 2022
EU Taps Kazakhstan for Rare Earths, Green Hydrogen Kazakhstan is itching to get its lithium out of the ground. November 09, 2022
Garage Schools For Georgia’s Azerbaijanis A new generation of ethnic Azerbaijani activists are trying to help people in their home villages improve their Georgian-language skills. November 04, 2022
Israel Says It Plans to Open Transit Camps for Russian Jews in Azerbaijan The temporary camps are to accommodate those Jews who are seeking to emigrate from Russia amid the Ukraine war. But Baku is staying quiet on it. October 13, 2022
Azerbaijan and Armenia Agree to Mutually Recognize Each Other’s Territorial Integrity October 07, 2022
Ukraine War: I’ve Just Returned From Georgia Where They Are Angry About the Conflict and Fear an Invasion October 04, 2022
Kazakhstan: Rents Rocket as Russian Draft Dodgers Push Up Demand Kazakhstan's president pledged unspecified assistance for Russians fleeing a "hopeless situation." September 28, 2022
Kazakhstan’s Congress of Faith-based Reconciliation Bumps Up Against Harsh Reality Echoes of war drowned out talk of peace. September 16, 2022
Junked American Cars Do a Roaring Business in Georgia When cars die in the U.S., they often find a second life in the Caucasus. September 08, 2022
Will Hollywood's Departure from Russia Give Kazakhstan’s Film Industry a Leg-up? The Ukraine war has upended the Russian-language dubbing of Western blockbusters. Kazakh cinemas are turning to domestic features. August 29, 2022
Experts from Baku and Khankendi Cooperate on Forging an Action Plan for the Sarsang Reservoir August 24, 2022
South Ossetia to Partially Reopen Crossing Points for Akhalgori Georgians The authorities in South Ossetia are to reopen the checkpoints between South Ossetian and Georgian government-controlled areas for 10 days per month. August 19, 2022
Twitter Unblocked in Uzbekistan Officials say they are in talks with TikTok to see if they can reach an agreement to lift the ban on that resource too. August 02, 2022
Azerbaijan’s First Set of Returnees Head for the Completely Reconceived “Smart Village” of Aghali July 21, 2022
Pride Week Kicks Off in Tbilisi with Strong Support from Ambassadors Queer rights advocacy group Tbilisi Pride has launched Pride Week in Tbilisi with a film screening. June 30, 2022
Armenia Diaspora Faces Waning Influence on Turkey, Azerbaijan Negotiations Recent moves toward restoring relations with Armenia’s traditional enemies have run into strong resistance from the global diaspora. But will it make a difference? June 28, 2022
Georgia's Borjomi Fizzes Amid Water Production Dispute A day after Georgia's government announced it had taken over a majority stake in the iconic Borjomi bottled-water brand, workers remain on strike and the precious liquid is running straight into the town's river. June 15, 2022
Azerbaijani, Russian State Media in Tit-For-Tat Attacks Azerbaijan blocked a Russian state news agency after it published pro-Armenian articles; now Moscow is hitting back, threatening Azerbaijani state media for being pro-Ukraine. June 14, 2022
Russia and the Looming Armenia-Azerbaijan Peace Deal Amid all the attention on the war in Ukraine, two historic foes in the South Caucasus are close to reaching a peace agreement that would help alleviate Armenia’s isolation. The potential rapprochement is in parallel to progress on establishing diplomatic ties between Armenia and Turkey. Together, these factors can potentially upend the geopolitics of the South Caucasus. June 07, 2022
Lack of Cimate-change Research in Central Asia Raises Odds of Harsh Consequences A new report highlights gaps in understanding of how climate change will impact the region. June 03, 2022
South Ossetia Cancels Referendum on Joining Russia South Ossetian President Alan Gagloyev has signed a decree suspending a planned referendum on the annexation of South Ossetia by Russia, South Ossetian state-news agency RES has reported. May 31, 2022
How Hard Can It Be to Mark a Border? Delimitation and demarcation of the border is a harder challenge than it seems for Azerbaijan and Armenia. Base maps, Soviet-era exclaves and changing on-the-ground realities categorize the issues. May 25, 2022
Beauty Ban: Turkmenistan Puts Severe Restrictions On Women's Appearance, Ability To Travel May 05, 2022
Kazakhstan: Political Party Reshuffle Hints at the Arrival of a New Order Tokayev says he wants to see more competition, but he clearly wants his former Amanat party to be first among equals. May 03, 2022
Kidnapped Outside Mariupol Huseyn Abdullayev, an Azerbaijani student held for a month by Russian troops, tells of daily abuse, torture, and apparent extrajudicial executions. April 29, 2022
Armenia and Russia Working to Dedollarize Bilateral Trade The central banks are discussing a ruble-dram exchange to facilitate the move from dollars. April 22, 2022
South Ossetia Says it Will Seek to Join Russia It’s not the first time the breakaway Georgian territory’s de facto authorities have signaled the intention. In the past Russia has blown the calls off, but its calculations may be different now. March 31, 2022
Azerbaijani Student Reportedly Captured by Russian Troops in Mariupol A 20-year-old Azerbaijani student has reportedly been captured by ethnic Chechen Russian troops in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol as he was attempting to flee the country. March 24, 2022
Azerbaijan, Iran Sign Transport Deal Bypassing Armenia The route is an alternative to a corridor crossing Armenia, one of Azerbaijan’s key demands since the 2020 ceasefire. March 22, 2022
Uzbekistan Calls for an End to Aggression in Ukraine Tashkent’s support for Ukraine's territorial integrity is notable considering its deep diplomatic and economic ties with Russia. March 17, 2022
Interview With Rap Artist Payam Turk: My Music Breaks Stereotypes Around Azerbaijani-Turkish in Iran March 16, 2022
Armenia Anticipates Influx of Russian Businesses, Capital As they struggle to manage the new sanctions regime, many Russian IT firms are looking at Armenia as a potential new home. March 11, 2022
‘Why I Burnt My Russian Internal Passport’ At a demonstration in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, on 25 February, Anton Mikhalchuk, a citizen of Russia, set alight his Russian internal passport, his identification documents, in support of Ukraine. Anton tells the story of fleeing to Georgia from repression in his homeland, and what Russia’s invasion of Ukraine means to him. March 03, 2022
Azerbaijani MPs Visit Armenia for the First Time in a Decade Two Azerbaijani MPs have visited Yerevan as participants in the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly hosted by Armenia. The last time Azerbaijani MPs had stepped foot on Armenian soil was in 2012. February 22, 2022
The Return of More Armenian Detainees and Azerbaijani MIA Remains. Small Steps Towards Peace? February 15, 2022
Armenia, Georgia Battle over Yogurt The Caucasus neighbors have started a food fight over the fermented milk product that is the region’s pride and joy. February 15, 2022
Georgia’s Displaced People: A Life in Limbo The suicide of a man who was forced to flee Abkhazia 30 years ago has put the spotlight on the emotional and economic plight of hundreds of thousands of Georgian IDPs. February 03, 2022
Central Asia Struck by Major Region-wide Blackout The cause of the blackout is not yet clear, but fingers are being pointed at Kazakhstan. January 25, 2022
Kyrgyzstan: Town Near Tajik Border Renamed in Nationalist Gesture Isfana is to be renamed after a venerated first secretary of the Kyrgyz Communist Party. January 03, 2022
Chess King Carlsen Loses to 17-year-old Uzbek Sensation Magnus Carlsen was beaten at the World Rapid Championship by an Uzbek youngster. December 29, 2021
Railway Linkages Between Armenia and Azerbaijan to Restart – Brussels Meeting Produces an Apparent Breakthrough December 16, 2021
The International Court of Justice Tells Both Azerbaijan and Armenia to Tone Down the Ethnic Discord December 08, 2021
Another Maps-for-Detainees Deal Sees 10 Captured Armenians Return Home from Azerbaijan December 06, 2021
New American Company Seeks to Realize Trans-Caspian Pipe Dream The new proposal’s modest scope, and new diplomatic developments, could finally make the pipeline feasible. December 02, 2021
Migration Out of Armenia Spikes A struggling economy and defeat in last year’s war appear to be driving large numbers of Armenians to leave the country. November 09, 2021
Iran Appears to Accept Azerbaijan’s Concerns over Cross-border Supply Routes as Truckers are Released October 22, 2021
‘Zangezur Corridor’ Closer to Realization as Armenia Readies to Normalize Relations With Turkey and Azerbaijan October 22, 2021
Saakashvili Pops Up and Gets Arrested In the Latest Act of Georgia’s Ever-exciting Political Theatre October 04, 2021
Prospects of Armenia-Turkey Normalization Appear Closer Than Ever Unlike the last time the two sides explored restoring ties, Azerbaijan doesn’t seem to be trying to play the spoiler. But questions remain about Russia’s involvement in the process. September 15, 2021
Iran Gives a Sigh of Relief as its Navy Gets Home Safely from a Nose-thumbing Atlantic Voyage September 14, 2021
Azerbaijan, Iran and Uzbekistan Celebrate a Sweep of Successes at the Tokyo Paralympics September 04, 2021
COVID-19 Update - Russia and Central Asia In part two of our country-by-country overview of the Caspian region’s Covid situation, we examine Russia and Central Asia September 02, 2021
COVID-19 Update – South Caucasus and Iran As the fight against COVID-19 continues, we examine the widely differing responses of each Caspian region country in battling the epidemic. In this, part one, we look at Iran and the South Caucasus. September 01, 2021
Kazakhstan Defence Minister Resigns after Fatal Explosion that ‘Looked Like a Nuclear Strike’ August 31, 2021
A Month of Sadarak Shootings A flashpoint for un-Biblical burning bushes sees regular shooting incidents in a continuing low-level conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia. August 27, 2021
Stifling Summer Heat Brings Water Shortages to the Biggest Ethnic-Armenian City in Azerbaijan August 21, 2021
Gold and Wind on the Borderline –the Mine and Turbines That Got Caught Up in a Frontier Dispute August 19, 2021
Kazakh Language Police Trigger Russian Politicians Fringe Kazakh nationalists are giving politicians in Moscow something to campaign about. August 17, 2021
Saving the Planet While Making Cities More People-friendly: Transit-Oriented Development in a Caspian Context August 12, 2021
Brotherly Love in Times of Trouble: Azerbaijan Sends its Top Fire-fighting Force to Turkey August 10, 2021
Georgian Government under Fire for Investigations into Far-right Violence Rather than trying to punish the perpetrators of the attacks on journalists and LGBTQ+ activists, the authorities seem intent on blaming the victims. July 16, 2021
Azerbaijan Bans More Plastic The country follows Georgia and Turkey in banning most disposable plastic products. July 07, 2021
Armenia’s Battles with Industrial River Pollution An important fight on which Armenians and Azerbaijanis share a common concern June 29, 2021
The United States and the Caspian: Doing All the Right Things? Section 907 has been waived annually for the last 19 years. It's time for repeal. June 24, 2021
It's Getting Personal... Elections in Armenia The 2021 Parliamentary Elections in Armenia are increasingly about two people. June 18, 2021
Minefield Maps - What About the Rest of Them? At a recent rally, Armenia’s acting prime minister Nikol Pashinyan admitted that the mine-maps handed over to Azerbaijan in return for the release of 15 Armenian detainees, were just a fraction of those originally held. June 14, 2021
ECHR Rejects Armenia's Request for Azerbaijan to Release Prisoners - AZ Foreign Ministry June 12, 2021
Georgia Re-opens its Land Borders to Private Citizens Since the start of June, Georgia’s land borders have finally reopened. Here’s a summary of what you need to know if you’re planning a trip. June 06, 2021
Baku Backs Russia’s Proposal for Solution to Azerbaijan’s Border Dispute with Armenia — PM May 29, 2021