NEWS: RFE/RL Caucasus Report 11/12/2009 (rferl.org)

A review of RFE/RL reporting and analysis about the countries of the South Caucasus and Russia's North Caucasus region. For more stories on the Caucasus, please visit and bookmark our Caucasus page .

Armenian Opposition Leader Backs President On Turkey Armenian opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrossian has signaled his readiness to recognize the legitimacy of President Serzh Sarkisian and attacked nationalist critics of Yerevan's ongoing rapprochement with Turkey, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reports. More

Armenian Newspaper Changes Name To Evade Ban A leading Armenian opposition newspaper has altered its name to get around a court order suspending its publication, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reports. More

Jail Time For Azerbaijani Critics Bloggers Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizada have been sentenced by an Azerbaijani court to at least two years in prison on hooliganism charges. The case, which the defendants and rights groups dismiss as politically motivated, has drawn broad international criticism. More

Jailed Armenian Editor Barred From Running For Parliament Armenian authorities have barred Nikol Pashinian, an outspoken opposition figure and newspaper editor, from standing in an upcoming parliamentary by-election, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reports. More

Reactions (And Overreactions) To Virus's Spread As the swine-flu virus continues to spread through the Balkans and the former Soviet Union, the measures taken by some governments range from bizarre and befuddled to seemingly political. More

Azerbaijani Official Sues Editor Critical Of Interior Ministry Azerbaijani Interior Minister Ramil Usubov has filed a libel lawsuit against lawyer and newspaper editor Eyyub Karimov, RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service reports. More

Armenia To Send Troops To Afghanistan A senior NATO official says Armenia will soon send a small contingent of troops to Afghanistan to assist the United States and its NATO allies against the Taliban insurgency, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reports. More

Armenian Opposition Reaffirms Rejection Of Turkey Deal The opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK) has reaffirmed its strong condemnation of agreements to normalize Armenia's relations with Turkey, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reports. More

Georgian Teenagers Detained By South Ossetian Police Police in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia have arrested four Georgian teenagers and charged them with illegally crossing the border and possession of arms and explosives, RFE/RL's Georgian and Russian services report. More

Five Presidential Candidates Registered In Abkhazia The Central Election Commission of the breakaway Republic of Abkhazia has registered five candidates who applied to run in the presidential election on December 12. A sixth would-be candidate, Djamalik Ayba, withdrew his application before the November 2 deadline. More

Georgian Opposition Gears Up For New Protests November 6 is the second anniversary of a brutal police crackdown in Tbilisi on demonstrators who had for days picketed the parliament building to demand early parliamentary elections and the release of persons they considered political prisoners. Georgian media have recently been discussing the possibility that the opposition will launch a new wave of protests on November 7 to demand President Mikheil Saakashvili's resignation. But with the opposition divided over tactics and strategy, the likely impact remains unclear. More

Armenian Party Seeks To Criminalize Talk Of Karabakh Concessions The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) is supporting calls to prosecute anyone in Nagorno-Karabakh who publicly advocates the return of Azerbaijani territories that are now controlled by Karabakh Armenians, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reports. More