The Region in Brief

Armenia

Governor of the Gegharkunik province Karen Sargsyan said that the Sotk gold mine remains partly operational. The Russian-owned company GPM Gold operating the mine announced last week that its open-pit section has been closed due to an escalation in crossfire at the Armenia-Azerbaijan border. Employees at the mine have repeatedly come under fire and have been forced to evacuate. Sargsyan told reporters on Tuesday that underground mining operations will continue.

Annual inflation in Armenia dropped to 1.3-percent this May, compared to 8.6-percent in 2022, according to official data. The Armenian Statistical Committee said that the price of vegetables, wheat and cooking oil fell by 20-percent, and fuel, 25-percent. Regardless, economists say that inflationary pressures remain, and the Armenian Central Bank has not indicated plans to cut the refinancing rate.

Azerbaijan

An Azerbaijani student has been detained in Iran on charges of espionage. Farid Safarli went missing in March after he traveled to Tehran to visit his girlfriend, and his whereabouts were unknown until news of his trial broke this week. The Azerbaijani Foreign Minister has warned its citizens to avoid traveling to Iran. Relations between Azerbaijan and Iran have been deteriorating since the 2020 Artsakh War, as Azerbaijan has accused Iran of supporting Armenia. Tensions have further escalated since Azerbaijan closed its embassy in Iran in January after a deadly attack on the embassy that Azerbaijan blames on Iran. Azerbaijan has since expelled several Iranian diplomats and conducted mass arrests targeting Shia people.

An Azerbaijani activist has been sentenced to 30 days in prison after criticizing President Ilham Aliyev on social media. Amrah Tahmazov’s arrest on May 27 was just made public this week. On May 16, he posted on Facebook calling on Aliyev to release a political prisoner from the opposition Popular Front Party. “Damn you, Ilham Aliyev! Free the prisoner. You have exhausted people, you have exhausted everyone. Free Alizamin Salayev. Let us live,” Tahmazov wrote. Tahmazov has been charged with petty hooliganism and disobeying the police. However, Azerbaibaji activists say he was arrested because of his Facebook post.

Georgia

Twenty Georgian human rights groups have released a joint statement condemning the escalation of police violence against protesters in recent weeks. Demonstrations were held in Tbilisi over the weekend defending freedom of expression and assembly and criticizing a series of crackdowns on peaceful protests by the police. Seven people, including prominent human rights advocates, were arrested on June 2, and their banners, including a blank sheet of paper and a sign including a vulgar reference to the prime minister’s name, confiscated. Police have justified their actions by stating that the posters are “offensive.” Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili called the protesters’ actions the “simple provocations” of a “degraded, immoral” opposition.

Bio
Twitter
Latest Posts

Lillian Avedian

Lillian Avedian is the assistant editor of the Armenian Weekly. She reports on international women's rights, South Caucasus politics, and diasporic identity. Her writing has also been published in the Los Angeles Review of Books, Democracy in Exile, and Girls on Key Press. She holds master's degrees in journalism and Near Eastern studies from New York University.