Three Thousand Versts of Loneliness

Yerevan, capital of the Republic of Armenia, is a cheerful place to visit in summertime.  The city, many of whose buildings are constructed out of a distinctive pink stone known as tuff, is laid-back and full of parks and cafes. Republic Square, Opera Square and The Cascades, a giant stairway decorated with fountains and artworks, form an axis, running at a diagonal to Yerevan’s grid system.  These hubs are linked by a modern avenue of swanky shops.  If you’re tempted to clothe your children at ‘Armani Kids’, Armenia could be the country for you. At Republic Square, crowds gather in the evenings to watch fountains ‘dance’ to lightshows and music.  Around Opera Square, people mingle in a series of outdoor watering-holes, like VIP Café, where we were moved on for (presumably) not being sufficiently important.  At the bottom of The Cascades they loiter around the artworks, older Armenians staying entertained with the odd game of backgammon and their yo...

Tbilisi looks a little like Prague from its hillside fortress. Georgia and Armenia – are these countries in Asia or in Europe?  Their status has been debated for at least a century, with commentators from outside the Caucasus region usually plumping for south-west Asia, until relatively recently.  Now, more frequently, they are described as European, although that trend is influenced at least as much by politics as geography. I can’t answer this thorny question.  It is a sensitive matter, linked to the identities and perceived futures of Armenians and Georgians.  However I can give a few impressions of how it feels to visit two fascinating countries. Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia is a sprawling, modern city, congested with traffic and, in July at least, hot and dusty.  Yet it also feels distinctly European.  Looking down from the Nariqala Fortress at the Old Town, with its narrow streets of stone houses and churches bisected by the K...

Russia’s influence on its neighbours is most often portrayed as lamentable and exploitative. As such it is unsurprising that Dmitry Medvedev’s efforts to broker a settlement between Armenia and Azerbaijan have been at best ignored and at worst portrayed as a cynical component of Russia’s attempt to establish energy hegemony over the west. Whilst states will naturally be most motivated by projects which accord with their own interests, Russia is in no way unusual in this regard and its mediating in the Nagorno Karabakh dispute should not be lightly dismissed. The conflict, like other post Soviet crises, has been bequeathed upon the states by a strategic piece of Stalinist arbitrariness. Karkakh, a region populated mainly by ethnic Armenians, was allocated to Azerbaijan’s administrative area under Stalin’s policy of divide and rule. Now Medvedev has the leaders of both countries signed up to solving their disagreements by negotiation. This is unequivocally a positive development. ...