Paul Goble is director of publications at the
Authors articles:
Endgame or Game End? The OSCE Minsk Group and the Resolution of the Karabakh Conflict
Never in the period of its existence has the OSCE Minsk Group been subjected to as much criticism as it has been in the last several months, a development that has led some to conclude that this structure, set up to find a resolution of the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Karabakh and the other occupied territories, has had its day, should be replaced by some other entity, or, because of its failure to achieve its goals, has opened the way to new military action...
Territorial Integrity and Self-Determination: From "Either-Or" to "Both And"
The evolution of discussions about the Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the last 15 years provides some important lessons about the complex and evolving interrelationship of two principles of international law: the territorial integrity of states and the right of nations to self-determination...
Baku Increases Funding for Study Abroad Program
Last month and despite the difficulties of the current economic situation, the Azerbaijani government announced that it was increasing by nearly 50 percent its funding of a program that supports Azerbaijanis studying at universities abroad, both a recognition of the success this program has had over the last decade and an indication of the importance Baku is now attaching to using such training to transform domestic educational institutions and promote the development of the country...
Not By Embassies Alone: How Azerbaijan Represents Itself Around the World
At the direction of President Ilham Aliyev, Baku has nearly doubled the number of its embassies over the last five years, but that achievement, which has stretched the diplomatic resources of the country, nevertheless means that Azerbaijan has had to adopt other means to reach out to many of the more than 100 countries around the world in which it does not have a diplomatic mission but with which it has important political and economic relations...
Endgame on Karabakh?
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s statement that Baku would use force to recover the occupied territories if an agreement on their return is not reached soon, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan’s suggestion that Yerevan would recognize Karabakh as an independent state if any force were used against that enclave, repeated media suggestions that one or another parties in the dispute is going to turn away from Russia or from the West depending on what occurs next – all these and many other events over the last month have sparked speculation that the South Caucasus is on the verge of a new outbreak of violence...
Azerbaijan Serves as Bridge among Religions and Peoples
Azerbaijan’s tradition of religious tolerance, when compared to the situation found in many countries in the region, and its location at the crossroads of various faiths, many of whom often lack either a venue or an opportunity for conversations with those of other denominations, were highlighted at an international conference in Baku November 6-7 on “Inter-Religious Dialogue: From Mutual Understanding to Joint Cooperation”...
Railroads Again a Key Factor in Geopolitics of the South Caucasus
The participation of Arif Asgarov, the chairman of Azerbaijani Railways, in the 51st session of the CIS and Baltic Countries Railway Transport Council which took place in Tashkent at the end of October, not only calls attention to one of the most remarkable institutions to have survived the demise of the USSR but also to the growing importance of railways in Eurasia and especially in the geopolitics of the South Caucasus...
Turkic Republics Reaffirm Ties to Turkishness at Nakhchivan
The presidents of Azerbaijan, three of the five Turkic republics of Central Asia, and Turkey reaffirmed their common cultural and political heritage at the 9th Summit of the Turkic States in Nakhchivan...
Azerbaijan’s Position in the Middle East: Challenges And Opportunities
Azerbaijan occupies a unique position in its relations with the Middle East: It is the only country in the world that maintains good relations with all the countries of the region, despite the tensions and conflicts among them and the demands of each that all outside powers take sides...
Azerbaijan and Central Asia: From Bridge on the Silk Road to Partnership in a Globalized World
Baku’s relations with the five post-Soviet states of Central Asia have evolved more radically over the last 20 years than have its ties with any other region of the world. That is true whether one thinks in terms of the expectations of analysts and governments outside the region, the goals of Azerbaijan and its interlocutors in the region, or the aspirations of all five countries involved...
The Armenian-Turkish Rapprochement and the Reordering of Geopolitics in the Caucasus
Armenia and Turkey have announced that they plan to sign agreements within the next six weeks to re-establish diplomatic relations and open their common border...
Azerbaijan’s armed forces: a key player in Baku’s foreign policy
As in almost all countries, the military in Azerbaijan plays a key role as a symbol of the state, as an integrative institution tying the citizenry to the government, and as an expression of the ultimate basis of national power...
Minsk Co-chair Presidents Press for Karabakh Settlement
On July 10, at the conclusion of the G-8 summit in Italy, the presidents of the three countries who occupy three co-chairmanships of the OSCE Minsk Group on Nagorno-Karabakh – US President Barak Obama, Russian Federation President Dmitry Medvedev, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy – delivered what many observers are calling an almost unprecedented “ultimatum” to the governments of Azerbaijan and Armenia, “urging” them “to resolve the few remaining differences between them and finalize their agreement” on “a renewed version” of the November 2007 Madrid Principles, “which will outline a comprehensive settlement”...
The Azerbaijani-Russian Gas Accord: A ‘Milestone’ On More than One Road
Gazprom and SOCAR signed an agreement on June 29 under the terms of which the Russian company will purchase 500 million cubic meters of gas from Azerbaijan next year. That gas will then pass through Russian territory rather than flow through one of the various pipelines projected to bypass Russia...
Azerbaijan’s Balanced Foreign Policy and the Muslim World
Most analysts have focused on only one aspect of Azerbaijan’s balanced foreign policy – its careful navigation of a course between relations with Moscow, on the one hand, and the West – Europe and the United States – on the other...
How The Russian-Georgian War Transformed The World
Nine months ago, Russia’s invasion of Georgia shattered many of the assumptions leaders of the post-Soviet world had about how countries will behave toward each other, leading to apocalyptic predictions that Moscow would now use force to “reclaim” the former Soviet space and the international community not only in that part of the world but more generally faced a headlong race toward violence and war...
The European Union’s Eastern Partnership: Opportunities and Challenges
The Eastern Partnership between the European Union and six former Soviet republics – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine – represents economic, political and cultural opportunities and challenges for the EU, the six countries who signed on to this accord in Prague on May 7th, and the Russian Federation...
If Turkey Reopens Its Border With Armenia: What It Might Mean And What It Won’t
Turkey’s rapprochement with Armenia and especially the publication of the five-part “road map” for future relations between Ankara and Yerevan have sparked much anger in Baku with some people viewing this Turkish move, in the absence of significant progress on ending the Armenian occupation of 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s territory as a betrayal and others predicting that it will force Azerbaijan to re-orient its foreign policy away from Turkey and the West and towards Moscow...
Azerbaijan Language and Cultural Center Opens in Moscow
On April 15, on the eve of President Ilham Aliyev’s visit to Moscow, Azerbaijani officials participated in the opening of the Azerbaijani Language and Cultural Center at the Moscow State Linguistics University, yet another institution designed to build upon and expand the influence of Azerbaijan internationally...
Not A Defining Moment: Azerbaijan's Referendum and International Standards
In advance of Azerbaijan’s referendum on constitutional amendments that would allow Ilham Aliyev to serve more than two consecutive terms as president, some commentators both in Baku and abroad treated this event as a defining moment in the history of Azerbaijan, as an event that had the potential to shift Azerbaijan from the category of those post-Soviet states that are moving toward greater openness and democracy to that of countries in that region which have been moving in exactly the opposite direction...
