Developments in the South Caucasus continue to race ahead of Europe’s understanding of them. By the time an event has been noticed, recognized, digested, and interpreted (whether correctly or incorrectly), other events have followed in a wave that necessitates the revision of any understanding already reached.
Before the Patriotic War, Azerbaijan repeatedly raised the issue of the state and fate of the cultural heritage destroyed and pillaged by Armenia in our occupied territories, officially appealing to UNESCO to take measures to protect it and send a mission to these territories. None of these appeals received an adequate response.
The implications of Iranian pressure on Baku extend well beyond the southern Caucasus, but Israel must tread carefully in this complex region.
At its height 2,500 years ago, the Persian Empire was one of the world’s most advanced civilizations. Now, occupying the same homeland, the Iranian regime is one of the most backward governments on the planet.
On October 15, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, in an online summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), declared his country’s readiness to provide both railway and highway connection to Azerbaijan, via southern Armenian territories, that would link mainland Azerbaijan with its exclave of Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.
Tensions are likely to rise as Turkey seeks to gain more influence, and Iran balances Ankara by working with Russia to help Armenia stabilize its weakening position.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s interview with French television channel France 24 late last month (September 28) highlighted both current and future perspectives for bilateral relations between the two countries.
October 18 marks the 30th anniversary of the restoration of the state independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Sad news came on October 15. Georgi Vanyan, well-known Armenian human rights activist, head of the Caucasus Center for Peacekeeping Initiatives, died from coronavirus in a Tbilisi hospital. He was only 58 years old.
The Armenians of Baku were so different because they were part of the "Bakintsy" ("Bakuvians"), a nation of sorts formed by Azerbaijanis, Jews, Russians and other ethnicities living in the city.
A year after a deadly conflict over the mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh region that killed thousands and led to accusations of war crimes from both sides, arch foes Armenia and Azerbaijan have shown some signs that they are open to improving relations.
Tensions are flaring between Baku and Tehran after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched widespread military drills in a show of force along their shared border. Iran’s exercises mark the first time in Azerbaijan’s thirty years of independence that a foreign state has directly threatened its sovereignty.
Azerbaijan has said that it is looking to repair its diplomatic ties with Iran through dialogue after the two fell out earlier this month following a series of allegations that the Israeli military was present in Azerbaijan and that Iran's military supported Armenia in last year's conflict.
With the bar for success high, proceedings will likely turn into a forum to air grievances, throw mud at one another, and ultimately reinforce division between Armenians and Azerbaijanis. It is the exact opposite of what is currently needed; lawfare rather than diplomacy.
Tehran remains categorically against the opening of any corridor between Azerbaijan proper and Nakhichevan through the Zengezur corridor, but its pledge to help Armenia build a corridor between Armenia and Iran could unintentionally make progress on the Azerbaijani one possible.
A picture is worth a thousand policy briefs. On Oct. 4, Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, mugged for the cameras. Beaming before reporters, he stroked, patted, and put a loving arm around a Harop, a kamikaze drone manufactured by Israel.
With the victory of Azerbaijan against Armenia in the Nagorno-Karabakh region almost completing its first year, the South Caucasus region does not yet seem ready to enter a phase of long-term stability.
Azerbaijani officials rejected claims by Iranian officials that Israeli forces are present on the Azerbaijani-Iranian border.
For the first time since the 2000s, tensions between Azerbaijan and Iran have dramatically escalated in recent weeks.
A year after the beginning of the Patriotic War, more and more details of the events of those difficult but historically important days for the entire Azerbaijani people continue to emerge.
The current state of Azerbaijan's relations with Iran can be seen as a cold war with far-reaching consequences. For the third time in the history of the newborn Azerbaijan Republic, an escalation of confrontation reaches the point of bifurcation, leaving a deep negative imprint in the relations between the two countries.
This is the opinion voiced by the chairman of the Center for Analysis of International Relations, political scientist Farid Shafiyev, as he comments on the latest events in the region.
Iran wants Russia to know that it is concerned by both the presence of Israel-Azerbaijan relations as well as Turkey’s moves to open up a land corridor.
A year on from its victory over Armenian forces in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan is now dealing with a new potential threat, this time from Tehran.
