Abstract
In the Soviet Union and earlier, in the Russian Empire, the region was divided into the Northern Caucasus and the Transcaucasus (now the Southern Caucasus); the same applies to its geographic, cultural, ethnoconfessional and spiritual aspects. In the early 1990s, as soon as the three Transcaucasian republics gained independence the old geopolitical division based on Russia’s ideas about the region changed radically. Today, geopolitical reality presupposes that this socioeconomic expanse consists of the northern, southern, and central parts.1
References
See: E. Ismailov, Z. Kengerli, “The Caucasus in the Globalizing World: A New Integration Model,” Central Asia and the Caucasus, No. 2 (20), 2003.
A. Osipova, “Krasnodarskiy kray: migratsia, natsionalizm i regionalistskaia ritorika,” Kavkazskie regional’nye issledovania,No. 1, 1996.
See: G. Avakian, “Armianskaia apostol’skaia tserkov, ee mesto v sovremennom armianskom obshchestve,” Tsentral’naia Azia i Kavkaz, No. 2 (3), 1999.
S. Polonskiy, “Islam v kontekste obshchestvennoy zhizni sovremennogo Azerbaijana,” Istoria, No. 28, July 1999,pp. 10-13.
See: T. Swietochowski, “Azerbaijan: The Hidden Face of Islam,” World Policy Journal, Fall 2002, pp. 69-76.
The region’s proven oil reserves amount to 3.635 billion tons, of which 535m tons are found in the Northern Caucasus and Russia’s Caspian shelf (see: Information about the reserves and development of hydrocarbons in the Russian part of the Caspian basin [www.strana.ru] dated to 23 May, 2001); in the Central Caucasus (Azerbaijan)—1billion tons (BP-Oil section [www.bp.com]dated to 26 February, 2004); in the Southeastern Caucasus (Iran)—2.1 billion tons (possible reserves), 350m tons—proven ([http://www.petros.ru/nik/country4.asp]).
Iu. Fedorov, “Kaspiyskiy uzel,” Mirovaia ekonomika i mezhdunarodnye otnoshenia, No. 4, 1996, p. 82.
NIA Habar service, 7 June, 1994, Bulletin No. 904, p. 1; 21 June, 1994, Special Issue, p. 2.
There is the opinion that the agreements concluded by three out of five Caspian states on the division of the Caspian Sea into national sectors with different jurisdictions of the seabed, water and surface have already determined approaches to the issue and supplied them with legal support. This proves that bilateral agreements have priority over agreements signed by the five Caspian states.
See: Eni Azerbaijan, 20 February, 2004.
See: Ekho, 17 February, 2004.
International Islamic Relief Organization, Azerbaijan Office, Baku, 2004.
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