Maria Karapetyan, member of the National Assembly of Armenia and Standing Committee on Protection of Human Rights & Public Affairs, discusses the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in depth, including Azerbaijan’s Ilham Aliyev’s interviews justifying the conflict, the claims Turkey is sending Islamist Syrian rebels to fight on Azerbaijan’s side in the contested region, why Turkey’s re-entry into the South Caucasus is a threat to Armenia’s existence, allegations Armenia has struck Azerbaijan’s energy infrastructure, the prospect of the region becoming a hotbed of international terrorism, the international community’s recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh as Azerbaijan’s territory, and more! Finally, we speak to Kyrgyzstan’s ambassador to the UK, Edil Baisalov, on the recent revolution in Kyrgyzstan following elections which drew mass protests after revelations of vote-buying and the nullification of the results. He discusses how certain political actors bought votes on a mass scale and attempted to ‘privatise the state’ as well as buying the institutions for the next two decades, the theme of revolutions in Kyrgyzstan’s post-USSR nation-building, why the revolution was entirely organic and not a product of foreign intervention by economic institutions or foreign powers, why Kyrgyzstan’s foreign policy and Russian-friendly foreign policy is likely to continue after the revolution, the confusion over who holds what position as protests and violence sweep the capital, Bishkek, and more!
