I ran the draft of an article I wrote entirely without using AI through ChatGPT, and the machine rated the human-only contribution at 20-30%! Am I starting to write like AI because I read it all the time? Depressing…

edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-armenia... My forthcoming book now has a dedicated webpage! This gives some indication of what to expect from the second edition of Armenia and Azerbaijan: Anatomy of a Rivalry Revisited, both an update and expansion of the original volume. Cover coming soon!

Armenia and Azerbaijan

Armenia and Azerbaijan

edinburghuniversitypress.com

iphronline.org/articles/rus... New report from IPHR & HCA Vanadzor on Russian interference in Armenia's June 2026 election, documenting "a sustained Russian interference campaign combining economic and diplomatic pressure, covert information manipulation, and ... financial inducements & coercion..."

New Report — RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE IN ARMENIA’S 2026 ELECTIONS: A Post-election Examination - IPHR

IPHR and The Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor Office are publishing their new report, RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE IN ARMENIA’S 2026 ELECTIONS: A Post-election Examination, examining the methods, actors, ...

iphronline.org

For historians of Azerbaijan: this is a fascinating case study of push and pull between centre and periphery under the reforming conditions of Nikita Khrushchev's Soviet Union, focused on the rise and fall of the Ministry of Communal Economy in the Azerbaijani SSR.

Caucasus Survey@caucasussurvey.bsky.social · last wk.

brill.com/view/journal... Recently published in Caucasus Survey: 'The Rise and Fall of a Republican Ministry: Communal Economy in the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, 1954–63', by Aydin Alizade

This is a tremendous study of how the discourse of autochthony was taken up by Armenian political entrepreneurs in the era of self-determination after WW1, by Diana Yayloyan. Recommended.

Caucasus Survey@caucasussurvey.bsky.social · last wk.

brill.com/view/journal... Recently published in Caucasus Survey: 'Claiming the Land, Making the Nation: Armenian Discourses of Autochthony in an Age of Global Self-Determination', by Diana Yayloyan

Armenian-Azerbaijani debates have been roiling for two weeks following an incident on an Azerbaijani tour of cultural heritage sites in Karabakh. What happened and what does it tell us about the state of the peace process?

Crushed by the loss of Richard Giragosian, an anchor of the policy-facing space in Armenia and tireless advocate of normalization with the country’s neighbours, who died unexpectedly in Istanbul on Saturday. Rest in peace, my friend.

www.aup-online.com/content/jour... Caucasia is a new journal, publishing twice a year with the University of Amsterdam, and dedicated to the pre-modern history of wider Caucasia region, from 650 to 1800.

BREAKING: CHW has documented the destruction of Shusha's Old Armenian-Russian Cemetery from May 9-14, 2026. Full investigation: tinyurl.com/z5bmpaek The cemetery contained medieval Armenian khachkars and 19th century Armenian and Russian tombstones spanning 1810-1871. 🧵 1/5

This looks to be a fascinating conference recovering the contingencies in the formation of territorial units in the early years of the Soviet Union, taking place Tbilisi in February 2027. Submission deadline: 20 October.

Caucasus Survey@caucasussurvey.bsky.social · 4w ago

mwsgeorgia.hypotheses.org/13941 Call for papers: Paths Not Taken: Forgotten (?!) (Non-)Territorial Entities in the Early Soviet Union, conference in Tbilisi, 25-27 February 2027, organized by Davit Jishkariani & Jörn Happel. Submission deadline: 20 October.

A fascinating study by Toghrul Abbasov challenging a widely held view of Azerbaijani nationalism as simply reacting to Armenian nationalism in the 1980s, and showing how Azerbaijani nation-building combined with new forms of mass popular culture in the post-Stalin era.

Caucasus Survey@caucasussurvey.bsky.social · last mo.

brill.com/view/journal... Recently published in Caucasus Survey: 'The Nationalization of Karabakh through Popular Culture in Soviet Azerbaijan in the 1960s and 1970s', by Toghrul Abbasov

www.amnesty.be/veux-agir/ag... Amnesty International Belgium has opened a new petition / campaign for young intellectual Bahruz Samadov, imprisoned in Azerbaijan.

En Azerbaïdjan, Bahruz Samadov est en prison pour avoir défendu la paix

Depuis la prison d’Umbaki, Bahruz Samadov nous écrit : “Je lance aujourd’hui un appel à tous ceux qui défendent la dignité humaine : ne me (…)

amnesty.be

The increased explosions in Azerbaijan have highlighted the difficulties of demining. #cknot #Azerbaijan

The increased explosions in Azerbaijan have highlighted the difficulties of demining.

The return of people to the territories over which Azerbaijan has regained control, and the associated activation of agricultural work, have become one of the reasons for the increase in the number of mine incidents.

dlvr.it

brill.com/view/journal... Recently published open access in Caucasus Survey, 'Reunification Viability in Divided Nations: a Conceptual Causal Model and the Case of Divided Azerbaijan' by Vahid Garuslu

css.ethz.ch/content/dam/... The latest edition of the always excellent Caucasus Analytical Digest addresses shifting politics and civic agency in Georgia, edited by Mariam Bibilashvili

www.azatutyun.am/a/33821078.h... More worrying politically connoted sackings in Armenia’s higher education sector - relatives of opposition MPs are being fired as Armenia’s newly elected parliament convenes.

Yerevan State University Continues ‘Political’ Sackings

Armenia’s leading university has fired one of its most renowned law professors, the latest in a series of sackings of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s critics or their relatives working in the public ...

azatutyun.am

An Azerbaijani court has sentenced nine journalists, media workers, and civil society activists to between 12 and 15 years in prison. It's the harshest verdict since the government began its ongoing crackdown on independent journalism.

Azerbaijan Jails Prominent TV Journalists, Media Workers

An Azerbaijani court on July 27 sentenced nine journalists, media workers, and civil society activists to between 12 and 15 years in prison.

hrw.org

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... An interesting new article by Alan Kuperman looking at Russia's experience in Mountainous Karabakh as a case of failed 'muscular mediation'

Russia’s failed “muscular mediation” in Nagorno-Karabakh

From 2015 to 2023, Russia engaged in coercive diplomacy seeking to avert and then truncate war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. This article explores if the rece...

tandfonline.com

brill.com/view/journal... Recently published in Caucasus Survey: 'Writing Unity in a Time of Crisis: Glasnost and the Discourse of ‘Friendship of Peoples’ in Grakan Adrbejan', by Heghine Barseghyan

Enhorabuena, España! Gracias por enseñarnos como ganar y como ganar con gracia ❤️🇪🇸❤️

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Emsh... Mood #engarg

The Verve - Bitter Sweet Symphony (Opus) [zhd bittersweet super extended edit][vmix/remix]

YouTube video by zhd

youtube.com

brill.com/view/journal... Recently published in Caucasus Survey: Contested Narratives: Azerbaijani Intellectual Discourse and the Collapse of Soviet Internationalism, 1987–89, by Nazrin Gadimova-Akbulut

brill.com/view/journal... Recently published in Caucasus Survey: From Cultural Preservation to Transnational Mobilization: the Caucasus Forum and the Circassian Diaspora in Turkey, by Dijan Özkurt #Circassia

brill.com/view/journal... Recently published in Caucasus Survey: Competing Connectivity Strategies in the South Caucasus: Discourse-Based Insights into Armenia’s Strategic Dilemma, by Maria Ohanyan

My book manuscript is now handed in! 2.5 years of work for a deep, wide-ranging revision of my 2019 volume Anatomy of a Rivalry are over… grateful to all those who read and commented on it 🙏🏻 I am exhausted but looking forward to new horizons, new themes and new collaborations!

Hello Bluesky! We are joining the conversation. For over 30 years, we have worked alongside people in conflict to build sustainable peace. Follow us for updates on our global peacebuilding work, policy & practice insights, and ways to get involved. Looking forward to being part of this community.

Reminder to submit your abstract/panel to the #ASIAC 2026 conference on #Central #Asia and the #Caucasus! 14-16 December, in beautiful Università Ca' Foscari, Venice 🙂 Disciplines can vary from linguistics to politics, from anthropology to history and more Link: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

www.redthreads.media/p/armenias-w... I found this reading of the Armenian election to be highly instructive - a recommended counter-perspective to all the geopolitics.

Armenia’s Working Class Is Missing from Election Coverage

Armenia's elections are framed as a geopolitical contest, but the real fault line is class. The ruling party's resilience reflects the legacies of postsocialist transition and the absence of a left.

redthreads.media

A few follow-up thoughts on Armenia's election. Armenian democracy has passed another stress-test and voters were able to decide on the basis of a competitive vote, which is not a given, and the high turnout (59%) reveals an engaged Armenian public.

caucasuswatch.de/en/interview... I spoke to Luka Okropirashvili at Caucasus Watch about the forthcoming Armenian election this Sunday. My thanks to Luka for engaging questions and the opportunity for a deeper dive.