AZERBAIJAN AND GEORGIA: ASYMMETRICAL RELATIONS
Abstract
The relations between Georgia and Azerbaijan are a key factor in regional politics and security in the Southern Caucasus. They strongly affect economic contacts and trade, as well as the implementation of all sorts of communication and energy projects. The two countries agree on many issues of regional policy, the way ethnopolitical conflicts should be settled, and the degree to which external actors could or should be involved. Turkey’s presence in bilateral Georgian-Azeri relations is another important factor that may end in a geopolitical triangle of sorts in the Southern Caucasus. On the other hand, these relations cannot and should not be described as a formalized full-scale political, let alone, military-political alliance with corresponding mutual obligations. The author discusses these and other aspects of bilateral relations, assesses the prospects for further cooperation, and points to the possible challenges and problems that might crop up later.
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See: Z. Shiriyev, K. Kakachia, “The Foundations and Challenges of the Strategic Alliance”, SAM Review, Special Double Issue, Vol. 7-8, July 2013, pp.40-41.
Ibid., pp. 12-18.
For more on historical and political state-border related problems, see: E.V. Arkhipova, “Azerbaidzhano-gruzinskaia granitsa: istoricheskie faktory poiavleniya sovremennykh territorialnykh sporov,” Vestnik Volgogradskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, Seria 4, Istoria, No. 2 (22), 2012.
M. Tsereteli, “Azerbaijan and Georgia: Strategic Partnership for Stability in a Volatile Region,” Silk Road Paper,September 2013, p. 51.
See: “KNGG obnarodovala statistiku tranzita nefti po territorii Gruzii,” available at [http://bizzone.info/
nergy/2013/1358799736.php], 21 January, 2013.
This can be clearly seen in the hectic activities of the pro-Azeri and pro-Georgian structures in the United States, viz.
amestown Foundation and Central Asia—Caucasus Institute.
“Zavershenie zh/d Baku-Akhalkalaki otlozheno na dva goda—Saakashvili,” IA Novosty-Gruzia, available at [http://
ewsgeorgia.ru/politics/20130708/215768142.html], 8 July, 2013.
C. Prasad, “Georgia’s Muslim Community: A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy,” ECMI Working Paper #58, February 2012,p. 4.
See: Georgia’s Armenian and Azeri Minorities, International Crisis Group Europe Report, No. 178, 22 November,2006, pp. 4-6.
C. Prasad, op. cit., p. 6.
See: A. Yunusov, Islam v Azerbaidzhane, 2004, pp. 244-270.
C. Prasad, op. cit., pp. 8-12.
[http://www.news.az/articles/georgia/38433], 14 June, 2011.
See: A. Yunusov, Meskhetinskie turki: dvazhdy deportirovanny narod, Baku, 2000, pp. 109-111.
There are reasons to believe that the number of Ingiloys in Azerbaijan is bigger: the census registered Ingiloy Chris-tians as Ingiloys while those who adopted Islam very registered as Azeris.
National Security Concept of Georgia [http://www.mfa.gov.ge/index.php?lang_id=ENG&sec_id=12/].
“Interview: Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili,” RFE/RL, 18 January, 2013 [www.rferl.org/media/
ideo/24877492.html].
For more details, see: S. Minasyan, “Armenia and Georgia: A New Pivotal Relationship in the South Caucasus?”PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo, The George Washington University, PONARS Eurasia Policy Conference, Washington, D.C.,No. 292, September 2013.
See: M.H. Cecire, “The Merchant Hegemon: Georgia’s Role in Turkey’s Caucasus System,” in: Georgian Foreign Policy: The Quest for Sustainable Security, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, Tbilisi, 2013, pp. 121-123.
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