Latest Articles about South Caucasus
SOUTH OSSETIAN LEADER CHOOSES EUROPE
Dmitry Sanakoyev, leader of the Tbilisi-backed provisional administrative unit in South Ossetia, visited Brussels on June 24-26 for informal introductory talks with representatives of European institutions, diplomatic missions, and think tanks and a speech in the European Parliament. Invited to Brussels by the European Union-Georgia... MORE
U.S.-BORN POLITICIAN RESHAPES ARMENIAN OPPOSITION CAMP
The May 12 parliamentary elections in Armenia, swept by political allies of President Robert Kocharian and Prime Minister Serge Sarkisian, were a massive blow to the country’s fragmented opposition. Most of its top leaders, including the two men who had nearly unseated Kocharian in the... MORE
RIVAL CASPIAN CANAL PROJECTS COMPETE FOR INVESTORS
Azerbaijan, one of the rising Caspian energy exporters, has dismissed a Russian proposition to renovate the Volga-Don Canal (Itar-Tass, June 19). Baku apparently favors a Kazakh proposal for a “Eurasia Canal,” calling Russia’s plans a simple upgrade of the existing canal. Speaking in Rostov-on-Don on... MORE
PUTIN’S GABALA OFFER GETS MIXED REACTION IN AZERBAIJAN
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s proposal to jointly use the Gabala radar station with the United States caused debates and split opinions in Azerbaijan. Putin made the offer on the sidelines of the June 6-8 G-8 summit in Germany. The Gabala station is the only Russian... MORE
GUAM AT TEN
Heads of state and governments of Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Moldova -- the GUAM group of countries -- met June 18-19 in Baku, together with the presidents of Romania, Poland, and Lithuania. The meeting marks the tenth year of GUAM’s existence. The anniversary summit was... MORE
SUMMIT TAKES STOCK OF GUAM’S PROJECTS, INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
On June 18-19 in Baku, the GUAM countries’ annual summit reviewed the state of implementation of the group’s policies, projects, and institutional development. Presidents Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia, Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine, Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, and Moldovan Prime Minister Vasile Tarlev (substituting for President... MORE
ARMENIAN PM FORMS NEW CABINET AFTER ELECTION TRIUMPH
Armenia’s President Robert Kocharian and his top political allies have cut a new power-sharing deal resulting from their landslide victory in the May 12 parliamentary elections. In a decree made public on June 8, Kocharian formally approved the composition of a coalition government headed by... MORE
NEW OPPORTUNITIES OPENING FOR AZERBAIJANI-TURKMEN RELATIONS
Although the political establishment in Azerbaijan was chagrined by the May 12 agreement among Turkmenistan, Russia, and Kazakhstan for plans to construct a new gas pipeline to export Turkmen gas to Western markets through Russia, official Baku still sees great opportunities in bilateral relations with... MORE
ARMENIAN, AZERI PRESIDENTS SET FOR “DECISIVE” TALKS ON KARABAKH
The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed to hold yet another face-to-face meeting that could result in a long-awaited breakthrough in international efforts to resolve the conflict over Karabakh. The U.S., French, and Russian diplomats acting under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group... MORE
LOYALIST ADMINISTRATIVE UNIT CONSOLIDATING IN SOUTH OSSETIA
A series of incidents staged in recent days by South Ossetian secessionist forces seeks to provoke the Georgian government into retaliating, so as to derail a political process that Moscow and Tskhinvali cannot control. That political process involves the consolidation of Tbilisi-backed alternative authorities under... MORE