Central Asia, the Caucasus, and 21st-century security

By  Ross Wilson.

Great conflicts and security challenges of the 20th century took place in Europe and Asia. Since 2001, Afghanistan and Iraq have been leading preoccupations for foreign policy and security planners in both the East and the West. But other states in the region where Eurasia abuts South Asia and the Middle East – especially Central Asia and the Caucasus – look vulnerable. No state in this region is really succeeding. They are variously burdened by inadequate and often authoritarian governance, immense economic problems, corruption, environmental, social, security and other challenges. Interstate and interethnic conflicts abound. Connections with the outside world remain limited aside from the energy ties that Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have forged. Relations among regional states are limited as well, and not just because of interstate issues. It is not unfair to say that long-term stability remains a goal, not a state of being for the Caucasus and Central Asia. This region could be a global nightmare, if not flashpoint, in 10, 20 or 30 years’ time. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by admin Posted in: Turkish Press No Comments » September 2011

Parliament counts protocols null, void

Protocols signed between Turkey and Armenia in 2009 to normalize relations between the two countries were recently counted as null and void after Parliament failed to approve them during its 23rd term. Armenia also suspended the protocols one year after they were signed because they were not carried out.

“[Turkey’s] aim was obvious from the get-go. The purpose was merely to attract attention from the international community,” Hagop Çakıryan, an expert on Turkey and a columnist for the Armenian daily Azg, told the Hürriyet Daily News. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by admin Posted in: Turkish Press No Comments » August 2011

Turkish, Russian presidents to discuss Karabakh

Turkish President Abdullah Gul and his Russian counterpart, Dmitriy Medvedev, are to discuss the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Karabakh.

The subject will be part of discussions  during the Turkish president’s visit to Russia in September, where he wiill attend a Global Policy Forum in Yaroslavl on the 7th to the 8th, Turkish newspaper Zaman reported. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by admin Posted in: Turkish Press No Comments » August 2011

Karabakh peace a ‘priority for Obama’

The US envoy in Baku has responded to an appeal to President Obama about Nagorno-Karabakh from more than 1,000 Azerbaijani women.

At the initiative of the Karabakh Liberation Organization’s women’s council, the appeal was sent to the UN secretary general and the presidents of France, Russia and the USA. Those three countries co-chair the OSCE Minsk Group, the international body mediating a solution to the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by admin Posted in: Uncategorized No Comments » August 2011

German ombudsman on Karabakh peace

Germany’s human rights commissioner, Markus Loening, has stressed the importance of a peaceful resolution to the Karabakh conflict.

“Recently, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said that negotiations held in the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group should promote the resolution of the Karabakh problem,” the ombudsman told a briefing in Baku on Monday.
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Posted by admin Posted in: Turkish Press No Comments » August 2011

Karabakh Airport built with Turkish machinery

Turkey’s Demirci Makina has provided metal raw materials for the ongoing construction of a Nagorno-Karabakh airport, according to Dmitri Atbashian, the president of Armenia’s national airliner, Demirci has no direct sales to both Nagorno-Karabakh or Armenia, says the head of the Turkish company

The machinery used in shaping metal components at a newly constructed airport in the contested region of Nagorno-Karabakh were manufactured by an Ankara-based firm that has denied making any direct sales to either Armenia or Karabakh. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by admin Posted in: Uncategorized No Comments » July 2011

EU ‘may mediate’ Karabakh talks, Azeri official says

The EU may emerge as a new mediator if Russian-brokered talks fail to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute, a senior Azerbaijani lawmaker says. Rasim Musabayev also says Baku will support the Palestinians’ state bid

The European Union may emerge as a new mediator if Russian-brokered talks fail to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute, a senior Azerbaijani lawmaker has said. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by admin Posted in: Turkish Press No Comments » June 2011

Failure of Karabakh talks a ‘disappointment,’ US says

The failure of a peace summit aimed at reducing tensions around the Nagorno-Karabakh region is “disappointing,” U.S. officials said Monday.

“I would says it’s disappointing,” said U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, when asked about the summit organized last week in Russia. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by admin Posted in: Turkish Press No Comments » June 2011

Leaders fail to make headway on Karabakh

Azerbaijan and Armenia failed to come to an agreement on the path to peace in Nagorno Karabakh after a meeting of their leaders in Russia on Friday, but said some progress had been made, Russian RIA Novosti news agency reported.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev hosted Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian leader Serzh Sargsyan in the Volga city of Kazan, for another round of talks seeking to end the two-decade conflict over Nagorno Karabakh. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by admin Posted in: Azerbaijan Press No Comments » June 2011

Russia hosts Karabakh peace talks

The start of peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region has left some hopeful that a resolution to the decades-long conflict is near, but a former Armenian official said on Saturday that the problem would not be solved as long as “the Karabakh administration is not included in the talks.”

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, one of the mediators of the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, will host Armenian President Serge Sarkisian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in the Volga city of Kazan to discuss a settlement to the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, an Azerbaijani territory occupied by Armenia since 1994. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by admin Posted in: Turkish Press No Comments » June 2011

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