Jérôme Leyraud on electoral system of Armenia and the Constitution

15 years ago, Mikheil Saakashvili’s Georgia was widely regarded by geopolitical observers as a textbook example of what you should not do if you were a former Soviet republic. By contrast, Georgia’s southern neighbor, Armenia, under the presidency of geopolitical “chess master” Serzh Sargsyan, exhibited very much the opposite image—that of a small ex-Soviet state successfully balancing between East and West. ...

Azerbaijan’s official Gazette responded in an editorial: “Our people, army and commander view with disappointment and deep sorrow the attempts to claim and take ownership of our rightful victory. Azerbaijan’s victory is for the entire Turkic world, but Turkey is not its architect. The Architects of the Karabagh victory are Commander-in-Chief Aliyev and the Azerbaijani Army.” The Azerbaijani Gazette described Erdogan’s words as “a heavy moral blow.” ...

As the Azerbaijani government intensifies its crackdown on journalists ahead of the COP29 conference in Baku, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) calls on the international community to step up pressure on the authorities to release the 23 journalists and media workers unjustly imprisoned in Azerbaidjan. ...

The issue of prisoners is sensitive, humanitarian, and it is very important that specialists from different spheres keep the problem in the center of attention. ...

Hikmet Hajiyev, Head of Foreign Policy Department of Pres. Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, announced on July 21 that Armenia was officially invited to the United Nations’ International Conference on Climate Change (COP29) to be held in Baku, Nov. 11-22. Hajiyev said that the invitation was sent by Mukhtar Babayev, Azerbaijan’s Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources, to the Armenian Foreign Ministry. Even though all UN members are automatically invited, Hajiyev made it sound like Azerbaijan was doing a special favor to Armenia by describing the invitation as a “goodwill and inclusive approach in the absence of diplomatic relations between the two countries.” Hajiyev added: “Now is the time for the Armenian authorities to make a decision.” ...