Turkey
Round the clock protest ahead of possible Armenia-Turkey breakthrough
While most were enjoying a sunny afternoon in the Armenian capital, a few dozen members of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation – Dashnaktsutyun (ARF-D) continued their round the clock hunger strike outside the main government building and the adjacent Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The nationalist party is staging the action to protest what many consider to be […]
Putting mobile reporting to the test (again…)
Frontline Club bloggers seem to be meeting up and working together a lot of late. Guy Degen recently worked with Matthew Collin on a story about the breakaway territory of Abkhazia for Al Jazeera English and the latter is currently in Armenia filming two news reports for the same on the case of Mariam Sukhudyan, […]
Armenian political groups fume, but little visible opposition to Turkey protocols
As the international community applauds the presidents of Armenia and Turkey for making unprecedented progress in attempts to normalize relations, others are not so ecstatic. Indeed, while many consider the establishment of diplomatic relations and the opening of borders between the two estranged neighbours as crucial in establishing peace and stability in the region, opposition […]
Armenia and Turkey set to establish diplomatic relations
Following media reports earlier today that Armenian President Serge Sargsyan had "chided Turkey" for not seriously seeking to unconditionally open the border between the two countries comes unexpected news. Within the last few hours at time of writing, reports from the BBC, Reuters, AP and others now say that "domestic discussion" in the estranged neighbouring countries […]
Moldy cheese, medieval instruments, and just enough beer…
Walking through his hometown of Gyumri, Armenia’s second largest city, 26-year-old Narek Barseghyan still attracts looks from fellow residents for his unruly hair and an earring worn in what still remains a noticeably traditional and conservative society. Gyumri is slightly different from the rest of the country, however, and is not only suffering from a […]
Armenia’s bleak pictures of the past
As mentioned in two previous posts, I’ve been spending the past week and a half fixing for the BBC and photographing for The National. With all that work now having finished last Friday, the first article by journalist Daniel Bardsley accompanied by my portrait of the subject of his piece on Armenia-Turkey relations and […]
Back from Karabakh
After several days fixing for the BBC for a report on Armenia-Turkey relations and the conflict with Azerbaijan over the breakaway territory of Nagorny Karabakh, a photo commission from The National newspaper saw me return to the same topics no sooner had that work finished. There’s much to be said about both subjects and […]
Tweeting and fixing with the BBC
Relations between estranged neighbours Armenia and Turkey is big news at present, and not least since the August war between Russia and Georgia last year and Obama taking the presidency in the United States. That’s also good news for yours truly because in addition to fixing for Al Jazeera English covering the story, […]
Nationalist party quits government, prepares for municipal election
Nothing is ever simple in the South Caucasus, and no sooner had world leaders hailed a ground-breaking announcement from Armenia and Turkey that might set the scene for the normalization of relations between the two estranged neighbors, than nationalists throughout the region became agitated. Here in Yerevan, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation — Dashanktsutyun, for example, […]
Nationalist party quits government, prepares for municipal election
Nothing is ever simple in the South Caucasus, and no sooner had world leaders hailed a ground-breaking announcement from Armenia and Turkey that might set the scene for the normalization of relations between the two estranged neighbors, than nationalists throughout the region became agitated. Here in Yerevan, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation — Dashanktsutyun, for […]
The Day of Killed Journalists
Turkey commemorated the 13th Day of Killed Journalists on Monday. 62 journalists have been killed in the country to date. To mark the day, journalists gathered at the grave of the first victim, Hasan Fehmi, the editor of Serbesti newspaper, who was killed in 1909, “We expect the facilities for journalists to be developed, and […]
Who killed Hrant Dink?
Hrant Dink was shot dead on January 17, 2007 outside the Istanbul offices of Agos, the bilingual Armenian weekly where he worked as editor-in-chief. 20 suspects have been arrested for the killing of the Turkish-Armenian journalist. Eight remain in custody, but none have been charged. To mark the anniversary of Dink’s assassination this week hundreds […]
Under the Turkish cosh
In their own different ways, Diyarbakir, Hasankeyf and Hakkari are trying to cope with events that have become more than a regional struggle between the Turkish state and its Kurdish minority. The run-down city of Diyarbakir remains the regional hub and political centre of the Kurdish rights movement, where the city’s crumbling infrastructure is testimony […]