International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) has stripped Belarus of the right to hold the World Championship this year
Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny arrested on arrival as he returns home
LONG READ: The oligarch problem
COVID-19 and Trump’s indifference helped human rights abusers in 2020
Russian opposition activist Navalny calls for supporters to take to the streets this weekend
One of Russia’s biggest wood product companies, Segezha could be Sistema’s next IPO
Oligarchs trying to derail Ukraine’s privatisation programme, warns the head of Ukraine’s State Property Fund
New Ukrainian VC firm QPDigital aims to invest up to $100 million in digital startups
VISEGRAD BLOG: Central Europe's populists need a new strategy for Biden
OUTLOOK 2021 Lithuania
EBRD says loan to Estonia’s controversial Porto Franco project was never disbursed
Czech Pirates and Mayors approve final coalition agreement for 2021 elections
OUTLOOK 2021 Czechia
OUTLOOK 2021 Hungary
BRICKS & MORTAR: Rosier future beckons for CEE retailers after year of change and disruption
OUTLOOK 2021 Slovakia
FDI inflows to CEE down 58% in 1H20 but rebound expected
BALKAN BLOG: US approach to switch from quick-fix dealmaking to experience and cooperation
Corona-induced slump in global clothing sector dragged down Albania’s 2020 exports
BALKAN BLOG: The controversial recipe for building up Albania
Heavy flooding causes chaos in parts of Southeast Europe
Turnover rose on Bosnia's two stock exchanges in 2020 while prices fell
Storming parliaments: New Europe's greatest hits
Bulgaria’s government considers gradual easing of COVID-related restrictions
Sofia-based LAUNCHub Ventures holds first close of new fund on €44mn
ING THINK: Growth in the Balkans: from zero to hero again?
Labour demand down 28% y/y in Croatia in 2020
Zagreb Stock Exchange's Crobex10 index at highest level since March 5
OUTLOOK 2021 Kosovo
Arrera Automobili aims to launch Albania’s first supercar
OUTLOOK 2021 Moldova
World Bank revises projection for Moldova’s 2020 GDP decline to 7.2%
Moldova’s PM resigns to prepare the ground for early elections
Montenegrins say state administration is most corrupt institution
75% of Montenegrins want EU membership
Montenegro’s new ruling coalition carves up top state jobs
North Macedonia's manufacturing confidence indicator down by 8.5 pp y/y in December
OUTLOOK 2021 North Macedonia
OUTLOOK 2021 Romania
Romania’s central bank cuts monetary policy rate by 25bp to 1.25%
Romanian construction companies' activity slows in November after intense 2020
OUTLOOK 2021 Serbia
Slovenia’s opposition files no-confidence motion against Jansa cabinet
Slovenia’s government to release funds to news agency STA after EU pressure
UK Moneyhub picks Slovenia for post-Brexit European base
Slovenia’s dire COVID-19 situation in 4Q20 caused second economic dip
ISTANBUL BLOG: Biden must find a way to work with Trump’s strongman pal Erdogan
Turkcell denies any affiliation with $1.6bn loan in default extended by Ziraat Bank to Virgin Islands company
BEYOND THE BOSPORUS: Let’s tentatively pencil in a date for Turkey’s hot money outflow
CAUCASUS BLOG : What can Biden offer the Caucasus and Stans, all but forgotten about by Trump?
Armenia ‘to extend life of its 1970s Metsamor nuclear power plant after 2026’
OUTLOOK 2021 Armenia
COMMENT: Record high debt levels will slow post-coronavirus recovery, threaten some countries' financial stability, says IIF
OUTLOOK 2021 Georgia
Georgia’s political kingpin Bidzina Ivanishvili quits politics
TEHRAN BLOG: Will Biden bet on a quick return to the Iran nuclear deal?
Tehran Stock Exchange chief quits amid “Black Monday” fury
Durov rejects Western funds’ offer to buy 5%-10% of Telegram with $30bn valuation
Central Asia vaccination plans underwhelm, but governments look unruffled
Fears of authoritarianism as Kyrgyz populist wins landslide and backing for ‘Khanstitution’
Mongolia's winter dzud set to be one of most extreme on record says Red Cross
Mongolian coal exports to China paralysed as Beijing demands virus testing of truck drivers
Mongolia fears economic damage as country faces up to its first local transmissions of coronavirus
Mongolia in lockdown after suffering first local coronavirus transmissions
OUTLOOK 2021 Tajikistan
OUTLOOK 2021 Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan: How the Grinch stole New Year
COMMENT: Uzbekistan is being transformed, but where are the democratic reforms?
Download the pdf version
More...
There’s not much that brings together Armenia and Azerbaijan. But the US’s assassination of a senior Iranian official prompted similar, Tehran-sympathetic responses from the two countries, both of which border Iran.
Following the January 3 killing of Qasem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the foreign ministries of both Armenia and Azerbaijan issued statements broadly supportive of Tehran (and implicitly critical of the US) in near-identical language.
Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan “expressed condolences to the Government and people of Iran on the demise of the high ranking Iranian official,” while his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov “expressed deepest condolences to the leadership and the people of the Islamic Republic of Iran on the death of general Qasem Soleimani.” Both foreign ministers spoke by phone with their Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif.
In Armenia’s protectorate of Nagorno-Karabakh, some officials went quite a bit further in their support of Iran. “The murder of Soleimani is reckless adventurism,” the chairman of the de facto republic’s security council, Arshavir Garamyan, said in a Facebook post. “Soleimani was committed to serving the interests of his country and people, therefore vengeance is matter of honor for the state, people, and soldiers of Iran, in particular for its intelligence and secret services.”
(The statement from Karabakh’s foreign ministry, however, was more measured, not offering any condolences to Iran and calling only for “the reduction of tension and settlement of the situation exclusively by peaceful means.”)
Despite its size and outsized influence in other parts of its neighbourhood, Iran plays a relatively minor role in the Caucasus. Nevertheless, both Armenians and Azerbaijanis seek support from Tehran in their ongoing conflict with one another, even as the Iranian government has refrained from taking sides and keeps friendly ties with both countries.
While Baku and Yerevan also try to keep close ties with Washington, in this case both neighbourly relations and the indefensibility of the American attack appear to have won out.
The sensitivity of ties with Iran was underscored by a bizarre “fake news” episode in Armenia in which a Facebook user under a pseudonym reported that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian had “congratulated” US President Donald Trump on a “successful operation.” The post would likely have been ignored had it not been picked up by Azerbaijani media, which gleefully reported on it.
Pashinian responded publicly, writing on his Facebook page that “this news soon emerged in the Azerbaijani press, becoming the news of the day. From the Azerbaijani press the news moved to the Iranian press, becoming the source of anti-Armenian feeling among some forces. This is a case where the false ‘freedom’ of speech endangers our national security. The authors of the news should be found and their motives determined.”
Soon enough, his wish came true: the National Security Service arrested a man it said was behind the post, and reported that the suspect said he was motivated by his support for ex-president and Pashinyan nemesis Robert Kocharyan.
It all seemed a bit convenient for some: a journalist from RFE/RL, in an interview with independent opposition member of parliament Arman Babajanyan, said the suspect’s confession sounded “Soviet-style.” Babajanyan agreed, noting that the Facebook page in question also had been posting fake news during the 2016 war with Azerbaijan, a far more sensitive time, and that the security services didn’t interfere.
“[T]his is a very troubling development, since this is the second case, when a Facebook user has been detained after [Pashinian] directly instructed the National Security Services to take action,” wrote Yerevan-based journalist Artur Papayan in a blog post.
Azerbaijan, meanwhile, had its own concerns about domestic reactions to the US-Iran crisis. Many in the majority-Shia country sympathise with Iran to a greater degree than the resolutely secular government would like, and in the wake of Soleimani’s killing many Azerbaijani Facebook users posted his photo as their profile picture.
One prominent imam in Baku, Ilgar Ibrahimoglu, wrote on Facebook that Soleimani was a “martyr” and that “we are confident that these pure martyrs' blood will lead to further strengthening of the Islamic Ummah [community] and defeat of the enemy.”
But both pro-government figures and the country’s political opposition took a different line. “My critical attitude toward the government is well known,” wrote Ali Kerimli, the head of the opposition Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan, wrote on Facebook. “But I support the government’s approach to keeping Azerbaijan out of potential conflicts in the region.”
In Georgia, the response predictably took into account first and foremost Tbilisi’s close relationship with Washington. “We condemned recent violence, provocative attack to the US Embassy in Baghdad. US has the legitimate right to defend its citizens,” We condemned recent violence, provocative attack to the US Embassy in Baghdad. US has the legitimate right to defend its citizens. It’s time for diplomacy to de-escalate and reduce tensions @StateDept @SecPompeo — David Zalkaliani (@DZalkaliani) January 3, 2020 Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani on Twitter. (It was an attack by an Iranian-supported militia on the US embassy in Baghdad that precipitated Soleimani’s killing.)
We condemned recent violence, provocative attack to the US Embassy in Baghdad. US has the legitimate right to defend its citizens. It’s time for diplomacy to de-escalate and reduce tensions @StateDept @SecPompeo
And in Georgia’s Russia-backed breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, too, the official reaction was filtered through the prism of US-Russia tension and largely followed the Kremlin line.
“South Ossetia strongly condemns the murder of the high-ranking Iranian general and does not accept terrorism in any form,” the territory’s de facto foreign ministry said in a statement. “The violent action by the US is a blatant, unjustifiable violation of international law and a crude violation of the sovereignty of an independent state.”
This article first appeared on Eurasianet.
Ani Mejlumyan contributed reporting. Joshua Kucera is the Turkey/Caucasus editor at Eurasianet, and author of The Bug Pit.
Register here to continue reading this article and 5 more for free or purchase 12 months full website access including the bne Magazine for just $250/year.
Register to read the bne monthly magazine for free:
Already registered
Password could contain only a-z0-9\+*?[^]$(){}=!<>|:-_ characters and have 8-20 symbols length.
Please complete your registration by confirming your email address.
A confirmation email has been sent to the email address you provided.
Forgotten password?
Email field can't be empty.
No user with this email address.
Access recovery request has expired, or you are using the wrong recovery token. Please, try again.
Access recover request has expired. Please, try again.
To continue viewing our content you need to complete the registration process.
Please look for an email that was sent to with the subject line "Confirmation bne IntelliNews access". This email will have instructions on how to complete registration process. Please check in your "Junk" folder in case this communication was misdirected in your email system.
If you have any questions please contact us at sales@intellinews.com
Sorry, but you have used all your free articles fro this month for bne IntelliNews. Subscribe to continue reading for only $119 per year.
Your subscription includes:
For the meantime we are also offering a free subscription to bne's digital weekly newspaper to subscribers to the online package.
Click here for more subscription options, including to the print version of our flagship monthly magazine:
More subscription options
Take a trial to our premium daily news service aimed at professional investors that covers the 30 countries of emerging Europe:
Get IntelliNews PRO
For any other enquiries about our products or corporate discounts please contact us at sales@intellinews.com
If you no longer wish to receive our emails, unsubscribe here.
Magazine annual electronic subscription
Magazine annual print subscription
Website & Archive annual subscription
Combined package: web access & magazine print annual subscription