Day: May 22, 2025
By all measures, the South Caucasus is standing at a historic moment. For the first time in decades, the prospects for a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia are within real reach. Constructive negotiations are bringing the two sides closer to ending years of hostility and building a framework for sustainable coexistence. Yet, just as diplomacy begins to show tangible results, familiar obstacles are re-emerging—this time in the halls of the US Congress.
Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar answered questions from reporters in Şırnak. Bayraktar, who made extensive statements regarding the point Türkiye has reached in the field of energy, emphasized that oil production, especially in Gabar Mountain, is a “profitable business on a global scale.
The court placed Girchi-More Freedom party leader, Zurab Japaridze, in pretrial detention for refusing to pay the bail imposed for defying the Georgian Dream parliament’s temporary investigative committee’s summons.
Today’s tense hearing took place amid heavy police mobilization inside and around Tbilisi City Court, as Japaridze’s imprisonment was widely anticipated. Citizens were not admitted to the courtyard. Tensions occasionally flared, with two people reportedly detained. TV crews with cameras were not allowed inside the court building, but some journalists broadcast with mobile phones. Two diplomats from the Czech and Swedish embassies, as well as one Amnesty International representative, attended the hearing in a small courtroom that could only accommodate around 15 people. Other diplomats, reportedly from the German and U.S. embassies, arrived but could not attend. The hearing lasted more than three hours.
Judge Irakli Shvangiradze’s decision to place Japaridze in pretrial detention, satisfying the prosecutors’ request, stemmed from his decision not to pay the GEL 20,000 bail that was imposed by the court on April 16 for his refusal to appear before the temporary investigative commission probing the former United National Movement government. Japaridze, like most of the opposition, says he does not recognize the one-party parliament that was formed following the disputed elections on October 26, 2024.
Other opposition leaders have also been bailed for failing to comply with the parliamentary commission’s summonses. Ahali party leaders Nika Gvaramia and Nika Melia have vowed to follow Japaridze’s example, increasing the likelihood that they, too, will face imprisonment. Last week, the court sent Georgia’s former defense minister, Irakli Okruashvili, to pretrial detention in a similar case.
However, some opposition leaders, including Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze of Lelo, already posted their bail, and Giorgi Vashadze of Strategy Aghmashenebeli said he would as well. Investigations into their cases for not appearing before the temporary investigative commission were launched and are ongoing.
Not complying with Parliament’s temporary investigative commission is a criminal offense punishable by a fine or up to one year in prison.
Controversial commission
The Georgian Dream parliament’s temporary investigative commission, headed by GD veteran and former justice minister Tea Tsulukiani, is probing alleged crimes by the United National Movement. The commission is hearing alleged victims of the previous government, but also summons former officials and current opposition figures. Most of whom have refused to appear, considering the one-party parliament illegitimate. The exception was Giorgi Gakharia, former Georgian Dream prime minister, who complied.
The commission is addressing issues such as alleged torture, business racketeering, and the August 2008 war, which it blames on the former government and President Mikheil Saakashvili.
Georgian Dream says the commission’s final report will be submitted to the country’s Constitutional Court to ban the UNM and its “successor parties.” GD says it plans to ban the opposition by the end of the year.
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Ceremony in Abkhazia, Russo-Caucasian War
Every year on May 21, Abkhazia marks the Day of Remembrance for the victims of the Russo-Caucasian War of 1817–1864.
This was the period when the Russian Empire was conquering the Caucasus. Around 1.5 million Circassians, Abkhazians, and Adyghe were expelled from the region to the Ottoman Empire. Eighty percent of Abkhazians were forced to leave their homeland. They are known as muhajirs.
No one can say with certainty how many Abkhazians are scattered across the world today as a result of that tragedy. Estimates range from 500,000 to 1 million.
The largest Abkhaz diasporas are in Turkey, Syria, and Jordan.
During the tsarist and later Soviet periods, returning home was forbidden. But for at least the last 25 years, Abkhazia has officially declared repatriation a cherished national dream and a core idea.
As always, the president of Abkhazia and members of the government took part in the commemorative ceremony.
- Repatriation in Abkhazia: myths, expectations and reality
- ‘Repression on outsourcing’: why is Russia declaring Abkhazian journalists ‘foreign agents’? Opinion
- Abkhaz experts discuss the Georgian narrative about Abkhazia
- Unresolved Georgian-Abkhazian conflict, consequences – poll in Abkhazia. Video
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News in Abkhazia
Vortrag von Oliver Reisner zum Thema “OSKAR SCHMERLING UND DIE WELT DER KARIKATUREN IN TBILISI ZU BEGINN DES 20. JAHRHUNDERTS”
16.06.2025. 12:15 Uhr in Jena, Institut für @Kaukasusstudien. Der Vortrag findet Im Rahmen des Projektes Deutsch-Georgisches Wissenschaftsnetzwerk statt pic.twitter.com/5YI0HmpJe5— Notes from Georgia/South Caucasus (Hälbig, Ralph) (@SouthCaucasus) May 22, 2025