Two seemingly unrelated developments are worrying officials in the South Caucasus, Russia and the West. On the one hand, tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the opening of a transit corridor between Azerbaijan and its non-contiguous Nakhchivan autonomy are growing, the result of Armenia’s failure... MORE

A new standoff is maturing around the long-standing issue of privatization of real estate in Georgia’s secessionist region of Abkhazia. On November 8, the “president” of Abkhazia, Aslan Bzhania, stated at an official meeting in the city of Tkvarcheli that citizens of Russia should have... MORE

On November 26, the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan met for the second time since the end of the Second Karabakh War (September 27–November 9, 2020). The meeting took place at the initiative of the Russian government in a similar way to the last trilateral... MORE

Last September, long-brewing strains between Iran and Azerbaijan reached an unprecedented level, resulting in the deployment of troops and large-scale military drills by both sides. The most immediate trigger was the Azerbaijani authorities’ arrest of two Iranian truck drivers on Armenia’s Goris–Kapan highway (which partially... MORE

On November 12, Istanbul hosted the eighth summit of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States (Turkic Council), attended by the leaders of member states Turkey, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, and of observer states Hungary and Turkmenistan (Turkkon.org, November 12). The summit, dedicated this... MORE

On November 8, the Blue Ridge–class command-and-control ship USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20) and the Arleigh Burke–class guided-missile destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78) arrived in Batumi, Georgia (1tv.ge November 8). According to a statement released by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), “The port visit... MORE

Since the victory of Turkey’s ally Azerbaijan in the Second Karabakh War (September 27–November 9, 2020), Russian commentators have been concerned about Ankara’s efforts to create a union of Turkic states under its aegis. And that alarm has only intensified now that Turkey has established... MORE

On November 13, one of the top leaders of the ruling Georgian Dream party, former parliamentary chairperson Irakli Kobakhidze, issued a statement, in which he referred to Polish member of the European Parliament (MEP) Anna Fotyga as a “patron of criminals” (Facebook.com, November 13). Fotyga,... MORE

Late last month (October 26), Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, together inaugurated the Fuzuli International Airport, in Azerbaijan’s recently liberated city of Fuzuli, in Karabakh. This is the first airport built by Azerbaijan in the areas retaken as a... MORE

The recent defeat in the Estonian parliament of a resolution denouncing Moscow’s russification of non-Russian peoples reflects two diametrically opposed trends. On the one hand, the down-vote is a product of the increasing unwillingness of Europe and the West to focus attention on this issue—an... MORE