South Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia)

Russian Energy Policy in the South Caucasus

by Lilia Arakelyan

The ECHR and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict - applications concerning "historical situations" and the difficult quest for legal certainty

by Serena Forlati

will be published in the next issue of Diritti umani e diritto internazionale, 2012

This comment to the  ECHR Grand Chamber Decisions in Chiragov and others against Armenia (no. 13216/05) and... more This comment to the  ECHR Grand Chamber Decisions in Chiragov and others against Armenia (no. 13216/05) and Sargsyan against Azerbaijan (no. 40167) analyses the Court's approach to the admissibility of cases stemming from events occurred before the "critical date", i.e. moment in which the respondent State ratified the Convention or accepted the right of individual petition. With regard to events giving rise to continuing situations, in respect of which the 6-month rule does not apply, the decisions under discussion held that the requirement that the application is not unduly delayed, developed in Varnava v. Turkey, applies also to situations of violations of the right to property and home. The comment argues that this requirement should apply also to cases where jurisdiction ratione temporis is asserted (in the light of the principle set out in Silih v. Slovenia)  as regards procedural obligations arising from unlawful killings or suspicious deaths occurred before the critcal date.

Acem Hoyuk - Ulama - Purushattum ?

by Joost Blasweiler

Comments are welcome !

Foreign Policies of the States of the Caucasus: Evolution in the Post-Soviet Period

by Uluslararası İlişkiler

Brenda Shaffer, "Foreign Policies of the States of the Caucasus: Evolution in the Post-Soviet Period", Uluslararası İlişkiler, Cilt 7, Sayı 26 (Yaz), 2010

Bu makale Güney Kafkasya ülkelerinin-Ermenistan, Azerbaycan ve Gürcistan-Sovyet sonrası dönemde dış politikalarının... more Bu makale Güney Kafkasya ülkelerinin-Ermenistan, Azerbaycan ve Gürcistan-Sovyet sonrası dönemde dış politikalarının gelişimini ve stratejilerini incelemektedir. Makale ilk olarak her üç ülkenin ittifak kurmalarında ve dış politika yönelimlerinde ideoloji ve kimliğin çok az etkili olduğunu öne sürmektedir. İkincisi, her üç ülke Rusya’ya ilişkin olarak tamamen farklı politikalar benimsemişlerdir. Üçüncüsü, coğrafi faktör bu ülkelerin dış politika tercihlerinde önemli bir etkiye sahiptir. Dördüncüsu ayrılıkçı çatışmaların sonuçlarının düzenlenmesi dış politika çabalarının en esas amacı olmuş ve çatışmalar komşu güçler için faydalı manivelalar teşkil etmiştir. Beşincisi, üç ülkenin de dış politika yapma kabiliyeti büyük ölçüde artmıştır. Son olarak, üç ülkenin dış politika seçenekleri büyük güçlerin bölge politikaları tarafından sınırlandırılmaktadır.

1995 was a Good Year for the South Caucasus

by Uluslararası İlişkiler

Gerard J. Libaridian, "1995 was a Good Year for the South Caucasus", Uluslararası İlişkiler, Cilt 7, Sayı 26 (Yaz), 2010

Bu makale Güney Kafkasya’da etnik çatışmaları Azerbaycan, Ermenistan ve Gürcistan liderlerinin politikalarına... more Bu makale Güney Kafkasya’da etnik çatışmaları Azerbaycan, Ermenistan ve Gürcistan liderlerinin politikalarına odalanarak tartışmaktadır. Çatışmaların çözümlenmesinde liderliğin rolünü yerel, bölgesel ve uluslararası boyutları da dikkate alarak aydınlatıcı bir analiz sunmaktadır. Yazar 1995 yılını bölgede istikrarın sağlanma potensiyeli olan bir dönem olduğunu ileri sürerek, kalıcı bir çözüme ulaşılamamasının nedenlerini tartışmaktadır.

From roses to bullets: the rise and decline of post-Soviet colour revolutions

by Donnacha Ó Beacháin

with Abel Polese (2008)

In: Backes, Uwe and Jaskulowski, Tytus and Polese, Abel, (eds.) 2008. Totalitarianism and Transformation: Central and Eastern Europe between Socialist Legacy and Democratic Transformation (Totalitarismus und Transformation Defizite der Demokratiekonsolidierung in Mittel- und Osteuropa). Schriften des Hannah-Arendt-Instituts für Totalitarismusforschung, Band 37 . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen, pp. 63-100.

ISBN 978-3525369111

Бронзовый гравированный умбон из Западной Грузии // Международная научная конференция «Археология, Этнология, Фольклористика Кавказа», Сборник кратких содержаний докладов, Тбилиси-Гори-Батуми, 27-30 сентября 2010 года. стр. 262-264

by Ana Cheishvili

The earliest finds of cultivated plants in Armenia: evidence from charred remains and crop processing residues in pise´ from the Neolithic settlements of Aratashen and Aknashen

by Roman Hovsepyan

Hovsepyan R., Willcox G. 2008. The earliest finds of cultivated plants in Armenia: evidence from charred remains and crop processing residues in pisé from the Neolithic settlements of Aratashen and Aknashen. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, v.17, s.1, pp. 63-71.

Analyses of charred remains and impressions of chaff in pise´ (mudbrick) from the Neolithic sites of Aratashen and... more Analyses of charred remains and impressions of chaff in pise´ (mudbrick) from the Neolithic sites of Aratashen and Aknashen (sixth millennium cal B.C.) situated in the Ararat valley in Armenia demonstrate that naked barley and possible naked (free-threshing) wheat together with emmer and hulled barley were common. Two lesser known crucifers, Camelina microcarpa (false flax) and Alyssum desertorum (alyssum) were found in the form of crop processing residues. These were frequent in the pise´, indicating their use perhaps as an oil source. Lens culinaris (small-seeded lentil) and Vicia ervilia (bitter vetch) were recovered both as carbonized seeds and from crop processing residues in the pise´. False flax and bitter vetch were less common than alyssum and lentil. Two charred pips of Vitis vinifera (wild vine) were recovered, suggesting the early use of vines in the region. Flotation samples alone would have provided limited data; examination of crop processing residues used for tempering pise´ provided important evidence of the plant economy at these two sites.

The Color Revolution Virus and Authoritarian Antidotes

by Donnacha Ó Beacháin

(with Abel Polese) Demokratizatsiya; Spring2011, Vol. 19 Issue 2, pp. 111-132

This paper addresses the post-Communist color revolution phenomenon, utilizing aspects of all the major approaches... more This paper addresses the post-Communist color revolution phenomenon, utilizing aspects of all the major approaches (structure, agency, diffusion). It surveys the varying degrees of success enjoyed by color revolutionary movements and demonstrates that the color revolutions involved a learning process not only for insurgent forces but for the state that such forces aimed to dislodge. Furthermore, it illuminates the factors that facilitated opposition movements to exploit popular disenchantment, framed in the context of contentious elections, and to transform these protests into a force capable of dislodging the regime. We argue that the ability of potentially vulnerable regimes to observe and digest the reasons for initial color revolution successes assisted them in resisting the further spread of the phenomenon. Accordingly, we maintain there is a strong correlation between the attitudes of a regime-in particular its capacity to produce a backlash-and the failure of a color revolution.

Magnetic prospecting in the Caucasus: Bronze Age settlements in the North Caucasus (Russia), new discoveries on the citadel of Erebuni (Armenia) and Neolithic sites in the Milsteppe of Azerbaijan

by Jorg W.E. Fassbinder

Fassbinder, J.W.E.; Reinhold S.; Helwing B.; Belinskiy A. (2011) Archeologia, Ethnologia, Folkloristika. Fund of Caucasus: Conf. Abstr.2010. p.233-236. Tbilisi

Rocking the vote': new forms of youth organisations in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union

by Donnacha Ó Beacháin

with Abel Polese (2010): ‘Rocking the vote’: new forms of youth organisations in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, Journal of Youth Studies, 13:5, pp. 615-630

This paper explores the social change and political engagement witnessed in several former socialist countries,... more This paper explores the social change and political engagement witnessed in several former socialist countries, devoting special attention to youth (or student) movements in Georgia and Ukraine. In particular, it explores the relationship between those youth movements and the so-called colour revolutions, suggesting that these revolutions boosted political opportunities for youth movements. By seizing those political opportunities, informally organised groups have been able to become formalised and more active in their respective societies. This explains
why such youth movements have sometimes been perceived as being created overnight while, this article argues, they were only hidden and ready to emerge when opportunities emerged

Roses and Tulips: Dynamics of Regime Change in Georgia and Kyrgyzstan

by Donnacha Ó Beacháin

Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics, Volume 25, Issue 2-3, 2009, PP. 199-226

The regime changes in Georgia (2003) and Kyrgyzstan (2005) that resulted in the overthrow of Presidents Shevardnadze... more The regime changes in Georgia (2003) and Kyrgyzstan (2005) that resulted in the overthrow of Presidents Shevardnadze and Akaev are widely considered to be part of a common phenomenon of ‘coloured revolution’ in the post-Soviet space. A key factor was the rise of successful opposition movements that dislodged the ruling regimes.
However, in contrast with the widespread notion that opposition unity was a prerequisite for the overthrow of the presidents, opposition parties found it too difficult to coordinate their actions and their leaders could not agree how best to challenge the election results. Neither was it the case that the Rose and Tulip revolutions were orchestrated by Western agencies seeking to induce a change of government so as to further US interests
in the region. Such analyses exaggerate the influence of foreign actors in the Rose and Tulip revolutions, and over-estimate the unity of purpose among the main opposition parties.

Dynamics of Electoral Politics in Abkhazia - Donnacha O Beachain

by Donnacha Ó Beacháin

Corrected Proof. To be published in Communist and Post Communist Studies, Volume 45, Issues 1-2 (June 2012), pp. 165-174.

Presidential and parliamentary elections in Abkhazia are pluralistic and competitive. They have led to the transfer of... more Presidential and parliamentary elections in Abkhazia are pluralistic and competitive. They have led to the transfer of power from government to opposition forces. This in itself is a remarkable fact in the post-Soviet context, where the outcome of elections very often is determined in advance by the ruling elite. The article explains how and why this form of electoral democracy could occur in Abkhazia, arguably the most ethnically heterogeneous of all post-Soviet de facto states. Drawing on a wide variety of primary sources and data from within Abkhazia, particularly interviews with key players, the author describes the
remarkable willingness of the main political actors to compromise and assesses to what extent Abkhazia’s democratic credentials are sustainable

Travelling between Two Worlds-the Tergdaleulebi, their Identity Conflict and National Life

by Oliver Reisner

Travelling between Two Worlds-the Tergdaleulebi, their Identity Conflict and National Life

by Oliver Reisner

Die Entwicklung der Metallurgie während des 2. und frühen 1. Jahrtausends v.Chr. im östlichen Transkaukasus. In: Ü. Yalçın (Hrsg.), Anatolian Metalls III (Bochum 2005) 75-93

by Andreas Schachner

Azerbaycan, eine ‘terra incognita’ der Vorderasiatischen Archäologie. Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient Gesellschaft 133, 2002, 251-332

by Andreas Schachner

Neolithische Erdwerke am Kaukasus -die östlichsten Kreisanlagen Europas?

by Jorg W.E. Fassbinder

Fassbinder, JWE. Koch, J. Linck, R. Becker, F.(2011) Denkmpfl. Info Vol 150, p. 71-73

On the Edge of Empire: 2008 and 2009 Excavations at Oğlanqala, Azerbaijan

by Lauren Ristvet

Co-authored with Lauren Ristvet, Hilary Gopnik, Veli Bakhshaliyev, Hannah Lau, Safar Ashurov, and Robert Bryant in the American Journal of Archaeology, April 2012, 116.2

Please email me if you would like an offprint.

The nature of political complexity in the Caucasus has emerged as a significant research question in Near Eastern... more The nature of political complexity in the Caucasus has emerged as a significant research question in Near Eastern archaeology. Until recently, archaeological developments in Azerbaijan have been left out of this discussion. Two seasons of survey and excavation undertaken by the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences and the University of Pennsylvania at the Iron Age site of Oğlanqala in the Naxçıvan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan have begun to clarify the local origins of an Iron Age polity and its relationship to major Near Eastern empires, including Urartu, Achaemenid Persia, and Parthia. Situated in the northern half of the fertile Şərur Plain, Oğlanqala was in a position to control a pass through the Dərələyəz Mountains as well as the agricultural land of the plain. Indeed, in the Iron Age, the Şərur Plain was a complex landscape dominated by Oğlanqala but including at least six other fortresses and many cemeteries. The 2008 survey revealed that Oğlanqala was founded in the Early Iron Age and has extensive Middle and Late Iron Age material. Excavations in 2008 and 2009 in the citadel and domestic buildings uncovered architectural and ceramic differences from contemporaneous Urartian, Achaemenid, and classical sites, while also revealing evidence for interaction among them.

TartariaMag_issue1-2012

by Nikolay Tsyrempilov