Turkey sent peacekeeping forces to Azerbaijan last year following the victory in the Nagorno-Karabakh war with Armenia. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked parliament today to extend Turkey’s military presence in Azerbaijan. Erdogan requested that the deployment be extended for another year so that Turkish forces can continue monitoring the …
Read More »A Geopolitical Reshuffle In South Caucasus – Analysis
One of its most important points in the trilateral statement signed by Armenia’s prime minister Nikol Pashinyan, Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev, and Russia’s president Vladimir Putin in Moscow on 10 November 2020—which established the ceasefire and capitulation of armed forces of the Republic of Armenia in the Second Karabakh War—is …
Read More »Fears Of Russian Influence Haunt Abkhazia – Analysis
Geopolitics informs Russian attitude toward Abkhazia. It is both of benefit and curse for Abkhazian elites who aspire to a greater level of maneuverability not only from Tbilisi, but from Moscow as well. Russian investments might be beneficial economically, but they could be also laying the groundwork for a more …
Read More »Iran-Azerbaijan Tensions Ensnare Regional Powers
Tensions between Iran and Azerbaijan are aggravating – and at times benefitting regional powers. Iran’s policy toward Azerbaijan has domestic implications for the former, because a large percentage of the Iranian population is of Azeri origin. Iran perceives that Azerbaijan’s alliances with regional adversaries, particularly Israel, pose a significant threat …
Read More »Iran’s Defeat In The Second Nagorno-Karabakh War – Part I: Geopolitical And Economic Ramifications
The second Nagorno-Karabakh war (September-November 2020) in the southern Caucasus ended with Azerbaijan’s victory over Armenia, which had held the Nagorno-Karabakh area since the first war between the two countries (1991-94). Azerbaijan’s victory in the war has important geopolitical and economic ramifications for the southern Caucasus region and for the …
Read More »Azerbaijan-Israel relations and Iran’s national security concerns
In 1991, Israel was one of the first countries to recognise the independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan. As a neighbour of Iran, Azerbaijan’s expanding relations with Israel have always been one of Tehran’s major security concerns. In the 1990s, 20 per cent of Azerbaijan’s territory was occupied by Armenian …
Read More »Iran tests drones amid simmering tensions with Azerbaijan
The exercise was held at a time of intensifying hostile rhetoric between Tehran and Baku, as Russia continues its cautious position in between. The air force of the Iranian army launched a major drill on Oct. 21 involving several bases nationwide, the latest in a series of muscle-flexing gestures by …
Read More »The Huseynyun: Iran’s new IRGC-backed movement in Azerbaijan
The distinctive symbol of the clenched fist has become synonymous with various revolutionary, social and political movements across the world. The imagery of a fist clutching an assault rifle is commonly associated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and supported armed movements in other countries, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, …
Read More »Russian-Iranian competition heats up in South Caucasus
For Moscow, contradictions with Tehran may turn out to be much more sensitive than disputes with Ankara. During Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian’s visit to Moscow on Oct. 5, one of the main topics of the talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov was rising tensions in Iranian-Azerbaijani ties. At …
Read More »Azerbaijan, Iran agree to de-escalate through dialogue
Following weeks of heightened tensions between the two countries, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian agreed to settle their differences through dialogue. Azerbaijan will settle its differences with Iran through dialogue, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday following weeks of tensions over Baku’s ties …
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