Now that the main phase of the 19 February presidential election in Armenia is over, the Armenia Election Monitor 2008 has become The Caucasian Knot and will take over from this one as my primary blog. Although the main content will be Armenia-related, this is especially timely given parliamentary elections due in the neighboring Republic of Georgia next month. In October, there will also be a presidential election in Azerbaijan and anyway, the development of all three countries in the South Caucasus is interlinked.

Facebook users may also join a Caucasus Knot — Oneworld Multimedia group to receive updates of breaking news, photographs and new projects when appropriate or relevant.

A Facebook Group for Oneworld Multimedia, the working name for journalist, photojournalist and blogger, Onnik Krikorian, who has covered the conflict in Nagorno Karabakh as well as human rights and the Kurdish issue in Armenia and Turkey since 1994. He has also covered general issues relating to Armenia, Georgia and the South Caucasus since 1998 and is the Caucasus Editor for Global Voices Online as well as the Armenia Country Editor for Oneworld.net.

Anyway, The Caucasus Knot is here.

Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008

With the area around Yerevan’s Opera in almost total lock down, prime minister Serge Sargsyan was inaugurated as president in a ceremony and military parade that citizens could few could get even remotely close to. As it happened, myself and another photographer managed to eventually break the police blockade and get right outside the Opera building, but a lot of good that did us. Sargsyan was already inside and all we managed to get was the back of the head of the outgoing president, Robert Kocharian, as he arrived to enter via a side door.

Despite press passes and being in a public area, we were eventually told in no uncertain terms to clear off by plain-clothes security personnel, probably National Security Service (NSS), when we moved to just opposite Northern Avenue to attempt to photograph the podium erected in Liberty Square from a distance. This wasn’t a surprise as the whole ceremony was conducted hundreds of meters away from any representative of the general public — i.e. the electorate — and the only media present was apparently that authorized by the government.

As it happened, and this was later confirmed by one journalist, Armenia Now reports that even those allowed to attend were not permitted into the main concert hall where the inauguration took place.

A small group of photojournalists were allowed credentials to the inauguration. Upon arriving at the Opera House, however, the press pack was sequestered in a room where they – like everyone else in Armenia – could only watch on TV.

The full post accompanied by photographs is on the Armenia Election Monitor 2008.

It’s getting a little old now, but the issues remain the same — poverty, children enrolled into residential care, conflict resolution, landmines, and democracy — so I’ve decided to make the electronic PDF version of my book, Armenia: Poverty, Transition & Democracy available for download. The book was meant to be a vehicle for raising such issues in the Diaspora, but apart from one or two presentations to the London-Armenian community, few were interested.

Armenia: Poverty, Transition & Democracy

[…]

Articles and photographs cover issues as diverse as socially vulnerable families, children enrolled into residential institutions, mental health, landmines and UXO in Nagorno Karabagh and on the border with Azerbaijan, resettlement in the territory between Armenia and Nagorno Karabagh and the impact of the Rose Revolution in the neighboring Republic of Georgia on Armenia.

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