Global Voices Online

Armenia: Blogger Bank Boycott

Wednesday, August 6th, 2008 @ 05:16 UTC

by Onnik Krikorian

Countries:: Armenia, Azerbaijan
Topics:: Business, Cyber-Activism, Protest, War & Conflict, Politics
Languages:: English

The Armenian Observer reports that following the closure of a branch in the self-declared Republic of Nagorno Karabakh, some Armenian bloggers are urging a boycott of the Russian-owned VTB Bank. Central to the problem is that Nagorno Karabakh is recognized internationally as a part of Azerbaijan, and the bank is making a bid to acquire a bank in a country which is technically still at war with Armenia over the disputed territory.

Start the Conversation

Recent Links also in Armenia

After a news item in the local press reported that a British MP had been appointed as rapporteur on Armenia and Turkey, Unzipped says that it used Twitter to check the accuracy of the story. Tweeting a question to the MP in question, it turned out that the report was false.

Running around Armenia post photographs and a comprehensive account of a wedding in the South Caucasus country. The blog says that in some ways an Armenian wedding is similar to those in the West, but in other ways not.

Marking International Day of Peace, letzi83 notes that Armenia also celebrates its independence from the former Soviet Union on the same day and says her mind automatically makes a connection between the two events. unzippedblog also weighs in and says that despite sounding naive, maybe there's room for hope and welcomes the coincidence. My own Twitter feed notes that both events also come as Azerbaijan marks the end of Ramadan.