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Our 10 most read articles of 2020

Three articles on Nagorno-Karabakh are among the 10 most read in Nationalia among those published in 2020. New articles on linguistic diversity have been the other major focus of interest among our readers, along with some background analysis on countries that are not usually make headlines. Thank you all for reading, and we hope that next year will be better than the one we are closing.


10. Blossoming life amid frozen conflict: Karabakh women

This story by Ami Chichakyan from Stepanakert and Yerevan is part of the series “For our fellow women, for our peoples,” and portrays aspects of Nagorno-Karabakh society from the point of view of five women. A much valuable text after the upheaval that the small country of the Caucasus has suffered this autumn.

9. Dossier “Minoritised peoples, collective rights and global justice in Catalonia”

This CIEMEN-commissioned research carried out by University of Lleida sociologists Mariona Lladonosa and Özgür Günes Öztürk on the situation of the collective rights of minoritised groups in Catalonia is the only non-journalistic content of 2020 that is among the most read in Nationalia. The work is part of the Collective Rights Collection that this newspaper has been publishing since 2017. [This content is only available in Catalan.]

8. Karabakh commemorates independence day as threat of Azerbaijani attack continues to haunt country

Three weeks before the war started, we were writing about fears of Karabakh’s Armenian population of an attack by Azerbaijani forces. We spoke to Karabakh Foreign Minister Masis Mayilian, who regreted that “instead of preparing its population for peace, Azerbaijan has been preparing it for war.”

7. Why has a conflict erupted between Ethiopia and Tigray?

As the Karabakh war unfolded, another armed conflict began in the Horn of Africa over control of the federal state of Tigray in northern Ethiopia. In this explainer, David Forniès looked onto the reasons why. The war is still going on in just two months it has cost the lives of several thousand people. More than 1 million have had to flee their homes.

6. Without rights there are no languages, and we have entered a critical phase

Why is the loss of linguistic diversity accelerating, and what needs to be done to reverse it? Linguists Albert Badosa and Ernest Montserrat give many answers in this analysis, which covers from the beginning of the Modern Age to the present day, with examples of the resistance that is emerging around the world against such a cultural catastrophe. [This content is only available in Catalan.]

5. Scotland: Gaelic to become default language for pupils starting primary education in Western Isles

In line with the previous article, at the beginning of the year we told you that the Council governing the schools of this Scottish archipelago had decided that all children starting primary school will be enrolled by default in Gaelic-medium schooling. Parents who want the English-medium system instead must expressly state so.

4. Azerbaijan launches new offensive against Karabakh

The start of the war on 27 September between Azerbaijan and the Armenian forces is our most read content on Karabakh in 2020. More recently, we have devoted others to explaining in depth the regional context and the consequences of the war, like this one by Marta Ter, or this one by Karlos Zurutuza writing from Karabakh.

3. North Macedonia’s quest for its own national identity

The historical trajectory and current debates on the national identity of the Balkan country are the main arguments on the first of the contents placed on our 2020’s top 3. An in-depth report by Miguel Fernández Ibáñez from Skopje that helps understand the phenomenon of nation-building.

2. “Away from Rome”: independence slogans written with fire on mountains in South Tyrol

The coronavirus has also made it into the list of most read articles. The pandemic has done so with this content —2020’s most read brief news on a protest by a pro-independence organization in South Tyrol, which blamed the Italian state for mismanaging the health crisis and not respecting the powers of the Alpine autonomous province.

1. Mongolian government seeks to spread official use of traditional alphabet by 2025

We come to the most read content of 2020, which is also an article related to linguistic diversity. In this case, more specifically, about the diversity of alphabets. In March, we drew on the news of the Mongolian government’s plans to spread the usage of an 8-century old traditional alphabet to dive into the existence of several unique alphabets around the world.