Do you believe in social change in the Caucasus, want to make a difference, or have identified a pressing social need in any of the three societies, including on regional level, that needs addressing, but don’t know where or how to start?

If you answered yes to any or all of those questions then next month’s Social Innovation Camp (SI Camp) scheduled for 8-10 April in Tbilisi, Georgia, is exactly what you’re looking for.

Due to take place as part of the Social Media for Social Change conference at the same time in the same venue, SI Camp Caucasus will bring together ideas and participants from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia to demonstrate how new online tools can empower individuals and strengthen the existing activities of social media for the first time in the South Caucasus. After all, the needs in the region are many, but the potential to implement change has been until now limited.

That, however, is all set to change.

Social Innovation Camp is about solving social challenges in new ways - by bringing together ideas and digital tools to create web-based innovations in just 48 hours.

First Social Innovation Camp in Caucasus will gather 40 participants - designers, entrepreneurs, social needs experts, marketing, legal, advertising gurus from Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia to work on an idea of a potential social start-up that can make a change and compete for a prize.

From environmentalists, youth activists, campaigners for equal rights and an end to discrimination on gender or aimed at minority communities — ethnic, religious and sexual alike — SI Camp Caucasus will bring the ideas together in teams made of participants that are all necessary for a project’s success. The idea might be good, for example, but how will you advertise it so society is aware it exists? How will you market the project to ensure its sustainability and anyway, what good is an idea if you don’t have a catchy name, an enticing logo or the technical know-how to make sure it works in the first place?

SI Camp is about solving all of those issues, creating a working prototype which, if successful, will receive seed funding to take further. Just as importantly, SI Camps are fun! Take a look at the recent CEE SI Camp in Bratislava, Slovak Republic, for example.

SICEE video from Kryscina on Vimeo.

Still not sure about ideas? Well, take a look at some of those submitted for previous SI Camps. In Scotland last year, for example, one idea submitted was to create a tool to make police accountable to the public, a very pressing need in the Caucasus, while another helped coordinate and organize volunteers with specific needs in society.

Meanwhile, at the Bratislava SI Camp, other ideas included creating a tool to address the problem of traffic violations in Ukraine, rating medical services so that patients feel more confident and aware of services on offer, assisting the elderly, or using Ushaihidi to map racially-motivated attacks, all something that could equally be applied to mapping environmental damage, tackling homophobia, empowering youth, or raising awareness of STI/STDs in society.

In Australia this weekend, for example, that is more than evident in ideas submitted and accepted to help refugees integrate in society, counterbalance an inadequate local media, and assist small food retailers or producers to offer higher quality and fresher products than supermarkets can to consumers. Again, all are pressing needs in the South Caucasus. Indeed, here’s what Social Media Guru and SI Camp co-founder Dan McQuillan had to say on the matter last year.

Although online campaigning is of interest to both journalists and NGOs, the real innovations will come from people thinking outside of those disciplines. If the web is going to catalyse in Georgia then people need to to think differently and feel more empowered.”

[…]

[…] At SICamp the development of the idea is totally in the hands of the team who’ve formed around it. They can change it and play with it. They can be spontaneous and creative. But this is serious play - they want to win, and to win they need to create something that will have real social impact.

SICamp and all similar hacktivist initiatives are using digital tech to break through the walls of resources and respectability, tapping straight in to people power by creating a space for free imagination. The liberatory potential of digital is that it allows us to do this without asking for permission. […]

It’s about bringing together the ingredients of geeks and designers, marketers and PR people, business people, and anyone else who is interested in or passionate about it. We mix them up and the mission is to take those simple ideas to produce working prototype projects from nothing in 48 hours.

The projects come from people’s own ideas of what needs there are, what really frustrates them, what really upsets them, or what really makes them excited. […]

Hear more from Dan McQuillan below:

Already identified a pressing social need in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia? Then, what are you waiting for? Submit an idea or apply to participate alongside recognized international experts in social media for social change at the SI Camp Caucasus at http://sic-caucasus.net. And while you’re at it, why not join the SI Camp Caucasus Facebook page or follow it on Twitter at #sicampc.

Hope to see you there!

Photos: CEE SI Camp, Bratislava, Slovak Republic © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2009

For this final segment in our multimedia series on overcoming stereotypes in the South Caucasus, I interviewed Arzu Geybullayeva, an Azerbaijani political and regional analyst, about her work on civil society, women’s, and cross-border issues using new media tools. It was a rare direct conversation between Yerevan and Baku, conducted with the voice-over-Internet service Skype.

I first contacted Geybullayeva in late 2008 via her blog, Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines, and remained in contact through online services such as Twitter and Facebook. We met face-to-face last September in Telavi, Georgia, to make a presentation on new and social media for Armenian, Azerbaijani, and Georgian youth activists. We also visited the nearby, ethnically Azeri village of Karajala and posted photographs, accounts, and multimedia presentations on their blogs (see an audio slide show about it here), a trip that became the forerunner of this project.

Onnik Krikorian is a freelance photojournalist and writer in Yerevan. He is also the Caucasus region editor for Global Voices Online and writes from Armenia for the Frontline Club. He and Arzu Geybullayeva will be co-presenting at the Social Media for Social Change conference in Tbilisi in April.

You can listen to the podcast on the player here or download it here.

После этого, и ряда постов, написанных для Transitions Online Steady State, множество блогеров прореагировали на эту инициативу. В подробном комментарии, Ianyan- армянский интернет журнал, основанный на блоге, говорит, что результат проекта является основанием для надежды в регионе, страдающем от этнических противоречий и исторических различий.

В Тсопи, грузинской деревне, которая находится недалеко от армянской границы, группа из 80 школьников учатся вместе в школе без водопровода и электричества. Хотя в некоторых частях мира этот сценарий может показаться необычным, студенты, которые являются этническими армянами и азербайджанцами, возможно вас удивят. Армяне знают азербайджанский язык и азербайджанцы армянский. После долгих лет войн и конфликтов, подобное сосуществование кажется утопической фантазией для этих двух групп.

[…]

Тот факт, что на свете существует такой уголок, где две этнические группы со сложной историей могут взаимодействовать и жить вместе в условиях мира, оставляет место для надежды. Это можно увидеть по комментариям, оставленным к сообщению на сайте Transitions Online.

The full post is available on Global Voices Online.

From Home to Home by Seda Muradyan and Arsen Gasparyan is an exception to that rule, and tell a fascinating story of a mutual pact between two sides still effectively at war over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh, but who continue to respect the past in the hope of contributing to a better future.

In 1989, the conflict over Nagorno Karabakh had been escalating for a year. The Soviet regime proved unable to curb the violence. Armenians living in Azerbaijan and Azerbaijanis living in Armenia were forced to leave.

Two villages — Kzlshafag (now Dzyunashogh) in Armenia and Kerkenj in Azerbaijan — lay hundreds of kilometers away from each other. Until 1989, Kzlshafag was inhabited by Azerbaijanis, and Kerkenj, by Armenians.

The people in these two villages found a solution of their own: they swapped villages and countries, and made a unique deal.

The Frontline Club caught up with Seda Muradyan, a veteran journalist and also the Country Director for the London-based Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR) in Yerevan yesterday to record an interview on a Nokia N82 about From Home to Home. A clip from the documentary film is used by kind permission of the author.

Since then, and a series of posts for Transitions Online’s Steady State, a number of other bloggers have commented on the initiative. In an extended post, Ianyan, a blog-based Armenian online magazine, says that the outcome of the project is reason for hope in a region fractured by ethnic divides and historical differences.

In Tsopi, a Georgian village close to the Armenian border, a group of 80 pupils study together at a dilapidated school with no running water or electricity. Although this scenario might not seem uncommon in parts of the world, the students, who are ethnic Azeri and Armenians might surprise you. Armenians know the Azerbaijani language and Azeris know Armenian. After countless years of war and animosity, co-existence seems like a Utopian fantasy for these two groups.

[…]

The fact that there is still some corner in the world where two ethnic groups with loaded histories can interact and live together in peace leaves room for hope, a notion that is evident by the comments left on posts as Transitions Online.

The full post where comments can be left is available on Global Voices Online.

The project aims to promote positive examples of ethnic groups coexisting peacefully in a volatile region riven with frozen conflicts in an attempt to provide an alternative to what is usually a partisan local media that not only self-censors, but also spreads misinformation and negative propaganda. As with the first stage of the project, the focus was on ethnic Armenians and Azeris living in Georgia.

The full post where comments can be left is available in English, French and Russian on Global Voices Online.

Ubicado en el vecino Azerbaiyán, pero habitado principalmente por personas de etnia armenia, Karabaj fue el primero de muchos conflictos violentos que acompañaron la desintegración e incluso provocó el colapso de la antigua Unión Soviética. Matando a más de 25.000 personas, millones de personas en ambos lados se vieron obligados a huir de sus hogares, mientras que Azerbaiyán ha perdido el 16 por ciento de su territorio en el momento de la firma del acuerdo de alto el fuego de 1994. Analistas regionales y la comunidad internacional, sin embargo, temen que una guerra de un día podría estallar de nuevo.

Desde entonces varios intentos ha habido para llegar a un acuerdo de paz definitivo, pero las políticas aplicadas por los nacionalistas y las fuerzas políticas en ambos lados de la línea de alto el fuego que los dos grupos étnicos no pueden convivir juntos, todos estos intentos de reducir a la nada. La percepción subjetiva y la interpretación de la historia, pero más aún poner en un callejón sin salida, ha llevado a la triste realidad que, como resultado en esta etapa, ninguna de las partes dispuestas a transigir. Irónicamente, sin embargo, tales posiciones irreconciliables con frecuencia parecen absurdas, dado que los armenios y azeríes en Georgia pueden coexistir.

Alexey y Margarita Petrosyan son sólo un ejemplo de esta realidad. La guerra y la imagen negativa del “enemigo” eterno , promovido por los medios de comunicación locales en Armenia y Azerbaiyán es definitivamente desaparecido al paso y no afectan a estas personas. Ellos - en una casa de té, que les pertenece y está situado en el casco antiguo de Tbilisi. Otras dos personas - de 14 años de niño de edad y un adulto joven - sentado en una casa de té, charlar con ellos y tomar el té de Azerbaiyán. Hablan el idioma armenio, y en ocasiones comunicarse sin problemas en el idioma de Azerbaiyán. Dos adolescentes, de hecho - azeríes de Bakú.

Un poco más tarde, a veinte metros de distancia, el conductor del taxi-armenio hace una parada no programada, cerca de la mezquita y los Baños Turcos, a recoger a un amigo que vive cerca, una de fabricación casera de vino. El hombre - una etnia azerí - está en el balcón y acoge con satisfacción la armenina taxista en idioma armenio. Que, a su vez, responsable ante él en el idioma azerí. Me ha sorprendido gratamente. Mi conductor armenio explica que toda la zona está llena de armenios, azeríes y georgianos, que no sólo hablan el idioma de la otra, sino que también se consideran amigos.

La misma situación en Tsopi, en un pequeño pueblo de Georgia, poblada principalmente por azeries étnicos y situado a sólo dos kilómetros de la frontera de Georgia con Armenia. Allí, armenios y azeríes vivir en paz lado a lado, enviar a sus hijos a la misma escuela, prefiriendo mirar hacia el futuro de la coexistencia pacífica y la amistad mutua, en lugar de en los últimos siglos de la violencia y el odio mutuo. Ambos ejemplos son parte de la realidad, sin embargo, pensando en el pasado, el pasado a menudo oscurece un futuro brillante.

De hecho, al igual que otros señalaron, los armenios y azeríes fácilmente podrían coexistir pacíficamente fuera de la zona de conflicto y, de hecho, tienen más en común con los demás en términos de cultura, tradiciones y lengua, que muchos otros pueblos que viven en la misma región. En los próximos días y semanas, este blog va a cubrir muchos otros casos similares de la utilización de herramientas de nuevos medios y redes sociales, así como la historia y las historias, fotos y videos como una continuación de una cruz de corto-trabajo frontera llevado a cabo en septiembre. Siga con nosotros en Twitter @caucasusproject.

Foto: Tbilisi, Georgia © Onnik Krikorian

Thanks to A. for voluntarily translation of the original post in English into Azerbaijani, Russian and Spanish.

Qonşu Azərbaycanın sərhədində yerləşən və əhalisinin əksəriyyəti etnik Ermənilər olan Qarabağ Sovetlər Birliyinin dağılmasına təsadüf edən və bəlkə də dağılmasının başlanğıcını qoyan bir çox qızğın münaqişələrin ən ilki olmuşdur. 25.000-dən çox insan həlak olmuş, hər iki tərəfdən milyonlarca insan yaşadığı yerləri tərk etməli olmuş, Azərbaycan isə 1994-cu ildə imzalanmış atəşkəs sazişi dövrü üçün ərazisinin 16 % -i itirmişdir. Lakin regional analistlər və beynəlxalq cəmiyyət təəssüflə güman edir ki, müharibə nə zamansa yenə başlaya bilər.

Son sülh sazişinin bağıanmasına nail olunması yolunda bir çox addımlar atılmış, lakin bu addımlar hər iki tərəfdən olan milliyətçilər və siyasi qüvvələrin yürütdüyü “iki etnik qrup heç bir zaman dinc yanaşı yaşaya bilməz” prinsipi ilə demək olar ki, qüvvədən salınmışdır. Tarix barədə subyektiv fikiryürütmələr və təhlillər daha da iki tərəf arasında vəziyyəti çıxılmaz etmiş və tərəflər arasında kompromisin yaranmasını imkansız etmişdir. Lakin belə qarşıdurma Ermənilərin və Azərbaycanlıların Gürcüstanda dinc yanaşı yaşaya bilmələrinin yanında çox gülünc görünür.

The full post is available on Transitions Online’s Steady State.

En Marneuli, en una ciudad con una población de 20.000 personas, los residentes afirman que el 15-20% de la población es de etnia armenia. El resto son personas de etnia azerí. Además, a pesar de los nacionalistas de línea continua a ambos lados por el hecho de que ningún partido no se puede confiar, los armenios de Armenia para llegar a Tbilisi, en realidad, tiene que parar en zonas donde la mayoría de los 280.000 habitantes son azerbaiyanos que viven en Georgia , y lo hacen sin ningún problema. Además, el mercado de Marneuli, armenios, azeríes y georgianos se dedican al comercio con el vecindario.

Blogger de Georgia - Dodka compartió sus impresiones durante su visita a la ciudad para el proyecto de Steady State – Transition Online.

Casa de té de propiedad de los georgianos y azerbaiyanos en Marneuli, donde los comerciantes de Armenia, Georgia y Azerbaiyán la cena. Té trae @ caucasusproject.

Cumplimos azerí, que tiene dos mujeres - una de Armenia y de Azerbaiyán. Finalmente, accedieron a ser entrevistados @ caucasusproject.

Armenio que vende pescado, dijo que el de Azerbaiyán, Armenia, Rusia y Georgia idiomas y trabaja en conjunto con los vendedores de Azerbaiyán @ caucasusproject.

Tsopi . Azerbaiyanos y los armenios no tienen problemas con los demás. Tienen los mismos problemas - el empleo, o más bien su falta de @ caucasusproject.

La ama dijo que su hijo hace unos meses fue una boda - la mitad de los invitados eran los armenios, los otros - los azeríes @ caucasusproject.

La mujer de Armenia dijo que no le importaría si sus hijos se casan por la de azerí o georgiano

En Tsopi escuela. Las terribles condiciones, sin ventanas, ni calor, NADA más que las torres orgulloso de la bandera de la nueva red de Georgia. Triste.

Mujer de etnia de Azerbaiyán, Marneuli, Georgia © Onnik Krikorian

Aproximadamente a 35 kilómetros al sur, a pocos kilómetros de la frontera de Georgia y Armenia, la situación se vuelve aún más interesante, en cuanto a cómo encontrar los armenios étnicos que viven principalmente en los pueblos de Azerbaiyán. En Tsopi, por ejemplo, alrededor de un tercio de los habitantes son armenios de alrededor de 150-200 familias. Todos ellos conviven y hablan el idioma del otro. Por supuesto, las cosas están lejos de las condiciones idílicas en el país con alto desempleo y con las escuelas en mal estado y necesita urgentemente una reparación.

Sin embargo, como Marneuli, y Tsopi, junto con muchos otros ejemplos de la coexistencia pacífica entre los grupos étnicos minoritarios, especialmente durante los conflictos en otros países, puede probar e ilustrar la influencia de los medios de comunicación en países como Armenia y Azerbaiyán en la formación de actitudes y enfoques para resolver problemas. De hecho, se podría argumentar que los periodistas realmente convertirse en combatientes que luchan contra la información negativa y de tomar decisiones sobre la difusión de información objetiva, más que en el criterio de neutralidad priderzhirvanii.

En los próximos días y semanas, este blog va a cubrir muchos otros casos similares de la utilización de herramientas de nuevos medios y redes sociales, así como la historia y las historias, fotos y videos como una continuación de una cruz de corto-trabajo frontera llevado a cabo en septiembre. Siga con nosotros en Twitter @caucasusproject.

Thanks to A. for voluntarily translation of the original post in English into Azerbaijani, Russian and Spanish.

20000 əhalisi olan Marneuli şəhərində əhalinin 15-20% - ini deyilənlərə görə etnik ermənilər təşkil edir. Qalan faizini isə etnik azərbaycanlılar. Bundan başqa, hər iki tərəfdən olan milliyətçilərin “bir tərəf digər tərəfə güvənməməlidir” prinsipini irəli sürməsinə baxmayaraq, Ermənistandan gələn ermənilər Tiflisə çatmaq üçün Gürcüstanda əhalisi 280000 çox olan etnik azərbaycanlıların yaşadığı rayonlardan keçməli olurlar və bunu da onlar maneəsiz edirlər. Qeyd üçün, Marneulinin bazarında ermənilər, azərbaycanlılar və gürcülər birgə yanaşı alverlə məşğul olurlar.

The full post is available on Transitions Online’s Steady State.

В Марнеули, в городе с численностью в 20000 человек, жители утверждают, что 15-20 % населения составляет этнические армяне. Остальные являются этническими азербайджанцами. Кроме того, несмотря на линию проводимую националистами с обеих сторон по поводу того, что ни одной из сторон нельзя доверять, армянам из Армении, чтобы достичь Тбилиси, на самом деле приходится пресечь через районы, где большинство из 280000 жителей составляют азербайджанцы, проживающие в Грузии, и делают они это без проблем. Кроме того, на рынке в Марнеули, армяне, азербайджанцы и грузины занимаются торговлей вместе по соседству.

The full post is available on Transitions Online’s Steady State.

In Marneuli, a city of around 20,000 people, residents say as much as 15-20 percent of the population is ethnic Armenian. The rest are ethnic Azeris. Moreover, despite the line from nationalists on both sides that neither group can be trusted, Armenians from Armenia actually have to pass through regions where most of Georgia’s 280,000 Azeris reside to reach Tbilisi, and they do so without problems. Moreover, at Marneuli’s market, Armenian, Azeri and Georgians trade side by side.

The full post is available on Transitions Online’s Steady State.

Indeed, his last completed film was Ashik Kerib, an Azeri folk tale made even as troubles between Armenia and Azerbaijan descended into violence over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh. Effigies of the cult Armenian cultural icon, revered by international filmmakers such as Fellini, were even reportedly burnt during the Karabakh movement’s demonstrations in Yerevan according to peace activists such as Georgy Vanyan. Today, of course, few Armenians remember the controversy over Parajanov’s work in Azerbaijan or even know of the films he made in Georgian, Azeri and Ukrainian.

Even fewer people in Azerbaijan know about him or Sayat Nova at all, especially in an environment where the portrayal of Armenians is arguably more negative than that of Azerbaijan by the Armenian media. For most outsiders, however, the media in both countries tend to equally concentrate on the negative rather than the positive or even neutral.

The full post is available on Transitions Online’s Steady State.

Situated within neighboring Azerbaijan, but inhabited mainly by ethnic Armenians, Karabakh was one of the first of many simmering conflicts which accompanied and perhaps even ushered in the collapse of the former Soviet Union. Over 25,000 were killed, a million people on both sides were forced to flee their homes, and Azerbaijan lost 16 percent of it territory by the time a 1994 ceasefire agreement was signed. Regional analysts and the international community, however, fear that the war might one day resume.

Various attempts to broker a final peace agreement have since faltered with nationalists and political forces on both sides of the ceasefire line maintaining that the two ethnic groups can never live side by side together again. Subjective perceptions and interpretations of history have only added to the stalemate leading to the sad reality that neither side is willing to compromise. Ironically, however, such entrenched positions often appear absurd given the peaceful coexistence of Armenians and Azeris in Georgia.

The full post is available on Transitions Online’s Steady State.

Precise numbers for the number of families in Armenia’s second largest city of Gyumri still living in such a situation are still unknown, but it is believed to be around 4-7,000. But while the government has promised to provide them with apartments by the end of the year, bloggers continue to focus on the problems faced by many. Peaches and Pomegranates visited Gyumri a day before the anniversary.

It was a fitting time to be in the city as Monday will be a remembrance day for those who lost their lives during the devastating earthquake. Gyumri also lies close to the Turkish border. […]

[…]

I fell in love with the small city. Despite the sadness sown by the earthquake, a subtle beauty exists in the crumbling 19th century buildings. […]

Writing on the Birthright Armenia blog, one ethnic Armenian volunteer from the Diaspora recounts his time in the city working with a journalist organization as well as the local Caritas Armenia NGO, and one encounter in particular.

I can tell you that if you dig, you will find out what a “domik” is, what it looks like, what it smells like, which legally blind man lives alone in a particular one in the “Barracks” district; you will find out that besides the legally blind man, 7,500 families still live in domiks; you will understand the true nature of hospitality; you will realize where the mistrust of government stems from; […] you will know why your host grandfather’s eyes glaze over whenever he talks about anything circa 1988; […] you will uncover that nearly all marshrutka’s are privately owned by the mayor and drivers pay 2,000 AMD a day to rent them; you will realize that the youth are bored and disenchanted; […] you will realize why people want to leave…and why they want to stay.

Of course, digging around in Gyumri requires sifting through a lot of rubble. In most cases it’s psychological rubble. I met my host uncle Moso the very first night I was there. […] Oh, and he was deaf… which was an interesting surprise for my first night there […]. He taught me Armenian sign language (I don’t know if he was kidding or not, but the sign for “Gyumri” is apparently to beat your chest with your fists…like a silverback gorilla, while the sign for Yerevan kind of looks like playing the world’s tiniest violin). […] He could read lips and he could even sound a few words, having lost his hearing when he was three years old. That is…21 years ago. That is…in 1988. […] I forget how I brought it up, but he started telling me about his experience in the earthquake. Apparently, he was standing outside his school when buildings began collapsing. His father had rushed over to him and snatched him up, just as his own school began crumbling in front of his eyes. He didn’t hear after that.

The full post accompanied by photos and video is available on Global Voices Online.

En quinze ans, depuis qu’un accord de paix a mis en suspens le conflit entre l’Arménie et le Karabagh au sujet du territoire disputé du Nagorno-Karabagh, plusieurs propositions de paix ont trébuché. Or, si le premier président de l’Arménie fut même contraint de démissionner, suite à des pourparlers concernant un accord sur des concessions, par des nationalistes purs et durs de son gouvernement opposés à un compromis, le principal obstacle a été ces dernières années l’opinion publique.

En Azerbaïdjan, la rhétorique guerrière dirigée contre les Arméniens s’est banalisée, se déversant même récemment lors d’une banale Eurovision, tandis que les forces politiques en Arménie, des deux côtés de la frontière, exploitent imprudemment ce conflit pour se maintenir ou parvenir au pouvoir. Pendant ce temps, les médias locaux continuent de perpétuer des stéréotypes négatifs de « l’ennemi », alors que la propagande et la désinformation empêchent que le moindre débat sincère existe.

[…]

Pourtant, en dépit des risques, la popularité croissante de sites tels que Facebook, ainsi que d’autres nouveaux médias d’expression personnelle comme les blogs, offrent un potentiel nouveau aux médias sociaux et à d’autres outils en ligne, permettant de combler le vide informationnel. Bien que ne constituant pas en soi un moyen de mettre un terme au conflit, ces outils peuvent avoir un potentiel significatif en s’intégrant à d’autres initiatives traditionnelles de règlement, de gestion et de transformation des conflits.

The French translation of the English original can be read here. An Italian translation is also available.

When Armenian police dispersed an opposition sit-in on Yerevan’s Liberty Square in the early hours of 1 March 2008 following a bitterly disputed presidential election a little over a week before, supporters of former president Levon Ter-Petrosyan regrouped later in the day close to the French Embassy in the center of the capital. But, with Ter-Petrosyan under effective house arrest, other opposition figures had to lead the protest. One of the main figureheads that day was Nikol Pashinyan, the 34-year-old opposition newspaper editor best known for his trademark firebrand anti-government political rhetoric.

[…]

Following the chaos that ensued, Pashinyan, like many other senior opposition figures, went into hiding and didn’t emerge until July earlier this year. Police put him on a list of Armenia’s most-wanted, but failed to locate him let alone arrest the fugitive editor. Meanwhile, Pashinyan published many articles and diatribes against the government in opposition newspapers or distributed in the true spirit of samizdat online via blogs. Although the radical activist, who had openly espoused revolution as the only way to remove the president from power, had made previous promises to materialize in public, few expected him to actually do so.

However, on 1 July 2009, Pashinyan surprised many by turning up at the Prosecutor-General’s office in Yerevan. A statement posted on his website a week earlier stated that he would do so to become a “political prisoner” following the announcement of a general amnesty in connection with the 1 March 2008 disorder by the authorities the same month. “They will arrest and I will be remanded in custody,” he nevertheless told journalists covering his unexpected return. “They will then sentence me to as many years in prison as possible and I will continue my struggle in prison.”

The full article published by Osservatorio Balcani e Caucasuso is available in English and Italian.

And it’s not hard to see why. Despite hundreds of millions of dollars that flooded into the city to finance reconstruction after the earthquake which left around 25,000 people dead and many more homeless, Gyumri is the center of Shirak, a region that most in Armenia have forgotten. Impoverished, and with unemployment higher than the national average, travel agents continue to advertise flights to parts of Russia from the local airport. As in many other parts of Armenia, with few job prospects inside the country, the only hope lies outside.

But, in the environment of a global economic crisis, there are now also fewer opportunities even there.

The full post accompanied by photos, tweets and a video interview with Caritas Armenia (also below) is available on the Frontline Club. The post also demonstrates how mobile phones could be used for mobile reporting in the regions of Armenia in light of a lack of extensive coverage in the local mainstream media.

However, an article will also be published in Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso in the coming weeks accompanied by photographs taken with D-SLR. Until then, some photos from the Art Therapy Class at the Caritas Armenia Aregak Day Center for Disable Children are below.

27 children having multiple disabilities visit the centre, where they have the opportunity to take part in a number activities, which greatly contributes to their development.

Art therapy plays an important role in the activities of the centre, which allows children to express themselves by colors. The paintings of the children were exhibited, which was a step towards integrating disabled children into society.

“Art therapy is an important part of social culture. In promotes mental, psychological and physical development of a person. It helps the person to express, to solve the inner conflicts and problems and to discover the strengths by involving in creative process. In our context Art Therapy provides access to disabled children into the open society”, Aleksey Manukyan, Aregak Art Therapist said.

Caritas Armenia Aregak Day Center for Disable Children, Gyumri, Shirak Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimediia 2009

In the 15 years since a ceasefire agreement put the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh on hold, various peace proposals have faltered. But if Armenia’s first president was even forced to resign over talk of a concessionary deal by nationalist hardliners in his government opposed to a compromise settlement, the main obstacle in recent years has been public opinion.

Bellicose rhetoric directed against Armenians in Azerbaijan has become common and recently even spilled out into something as trivial as Eurovision, while political forces in Armenia on both sides of the divide have recklessly exploited the conflict to either maintain or come to power. Meanwhile, the local media continues to perpetuate negative stereotypes of the “enemy” while propaganda and misinformation has drowned out what little genuine discussion did exist.

[…]

Yet, despite the risks, the increasing popularity of sites such as Facebook as well as other new mediums for self-expression such as blogs offers new potential for social media and other online tools to move in to fill the information gap. Although not a means to an end in themselves, these tools could have a significant potential as part of other traditional conflict resolution, management and transformation initiatives.

The full article published by Osservatorio Balcani e Caucasuso is available in English and Italian.

He is the Caucasus Editor for Global Voices where he amplifies the latest discussions taking place among bloggers in Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia. Most recently he has focused his efforts on covering the case against two Azeri bloggers who were sentenced to two and two and a half years in jail.

In addition to his own blog, he also writes at Frontline Club and tracks his photojournalism on Lightstalkers and on his website.

The full video interview where comments can be left is available online at Global Voices Online.