The Azerbaijani president held talks with his Iranian counterpart last week. According to the Baku-based Caspian newspaper, after the election of President Hassan Rouhani many believe that relations between Baku and Tehran may change for the better. However, one had to wait a long time for certain moves aimed at improving bilateral ties. Still, commenting on the main results of the visit, the author of the article, political analyst Eldar Velizade, notes that bilateral relations between the two states have changed since the time of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Rouhani is a very cautious politician, while Ahmadinejad was doing his best to show the neighbours Iran's superiority, the author believes. According to him, Rouhani is a pragmatist, who is unlikely to provoke conflicts or establish hotspots for no reason. Iran is interested in a stable partnership with Azerbaijan so that the country will abstain from taking part in anti-Iranian projects. However, Azerbaijan wants Iran to articulate its position on a number of regional matters, including the Karabakh conflict.
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The issue of businessmen whose property was confiscated by former authorities has not been settled in Georgia yet, Business Georgia reports. that is why many condemn the current government as lacking political will. Responding to this criticism in September 2013, Bidzina Ivanishvili, who was prime minister at the time, said that the state cannot return these fortunes to their former owners since it is a question of some 3-4 billion dollars. The issue has already been examined by the head of the EU mission to Georgia, Thomas Hammerberg. He has met with several Georgian businessmen, representatives of NGOs and human rights advocates. According to the EU official, he has also met with Georgia's Chief Prosecutor Georgy Badashvili, who has noted that there are only 500 relevant lawsuits. According to lawyer Irakli Kereselidze, these words prove that the number of cases is limited and the former prime minister's statement was insincere.
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Armenia's newspaper New Time published an article devoted to migration processes. According to the article, Russia remains the most popular destination for Armenian labour migrants. Knowledge of the language and cultural proximity help the migrants to integrate into society and find a job. 90 percent of Armenian labour migrants leave for Russia rather than any other country. Around 10 percent leave for Ukraine, Belarus or Kazakhstan. Only a few go to the EU or the US. Some 60-80 thousand people leave Armenia for seasonal work every year. Mainly these are men aged from 20 to 54. At first Armenians only worked in the sphere of construction, but now they also work in such fields as trade, production and services.
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The Parliament of Kabardino-Balkaria has adopted a new education law, the Kabardino-Balkarskaya Pravda newspaper reports. According to the law, the Kabardinian and the Balkarian languages will be taught at school from first grade. Residents of the republic will also be granted a right to study in their native language when possible. The Council of Adyg Public Organizations and the Association of Adyg Language Teachers, who believe that local youngsters do not speak the republic's official languages properly, demand that all subjects should be taught in Kabardinian or Balkarian up to seventh grade. According to the newspaper, the professional community is sceptical about this initiative. "If Russian law specifies that the official language of education is the state language, local laws cannot contradict this with regulations," the newspaper cites the head of the Education Department of the Prokhladny District, Tatyana Zolko, as saying.
