Global Voices Online

Unzipped quotes news reports saying that 300 Turkish citizens visited the Genocide Memorial and Museum in Yerevan on the sidelines of this month's World Cup qualifying football match between Armenia and Turkey. However, as one comment says, it is unclear how many were ethnic Armenians or ethnic Turks. Nevertheless, the blog notes that the grandson of Jemal Pasha, described by Lawrence of Arabia as the Ottoman Butcher, did visit to pay his respects to those that died during what most people refer to as the 1915 Armenian Genocide.

Recent Links also in Central Asia & Caucasus

Musafirbek says that the president of Uzbekistan officially thanked the cotton-growers for gathering the harvest of this strategic product for Uzbekistan. However, those who sweat away, collecting this cotton (including children) were not mentioned in the president’s address.

Alexander Visotzky writes about the opening of a monument in Astana, the new capital of Kazakhstan, where the authorities uncovered a 15-foot high bronze statue of incumbent president Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Dafydd reports that the EU has lifted the arms embargo on Uzbekistan. Reasons given are abolishment of the death penalty and release of political prisoners.