Tag Archives: international relations

Russia and Turkey open joint military facility in Azerbaijan

BAKU/JAN. 30 2021 (The Bulletin) — Russia and Turkey opened a joint military facility in Azerbaijan to monitor the Russia-negotiated peace deal that ended a war in nearby Nagorno-Karabakh last year.

But the opening of the centre in the village of Giyameddinli in Aghdam province hides growing tension between the two regional rivals over Turkish plans to station military units permanently in Azerbaijan, which Russia sees as part of its sphere of influence.

The day after the 120 soldiers stationed at the Turkish-Russian Joint Monitoring Center ate cake together to mark its opening, Turkish media reported that its military wanted to station fighter-jets in the Azerbaijani cities of Ganja, Gabala and Lankaran.

It said that this was part of a deepening alliance with Azerbaijan since November when, with Turkish military advice and drones, Azerbaijani forces defeated Armenia in a war for the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Since then, Turkey has made it clear that it wants to play a more permanent role in former Soviet South Caucasus. Russia has said that it will resist the establishment of a more permanent Turkish presence in Azerbaijan but senior government officials have said that Turkey was now a force in the region that needed to be built into policy decisions.

Dmitry Medvedev, chairman of Russia’s Security Council, was quoted in the media as saying: “Turkey is our neighbour and a very important partner. And a very close country for Azerbaijan. This factor cannot be ignored.”

As for the Joint Monitoring Center, with 2,000 Russian soldiers patrolling Nagorno-Karabakh, analysts said that its role may be more of a symbolic act between Russia and Turkey than any real soldiering or information-gathering initiative.

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— This story was first published in issue 471 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Iran ramps up charm offensive in the South Caucasus

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JAN. 24/26 2021 (The Bulletin) — On a tour to woo leaders in the South Caucasus, Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif visited Baku, Yerevan and Tbilisi before flying to Moscow for more talks. Iran has been ramping up its charm offensive in the South Caucasus, looking to cut military and trade deals with its neighbours.

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— This story was first published in issue 469 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

European Court for Human Rights says Russia mistreated Georgian civilians in 2008 war

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TBILISI/JAN. 21 2021 (The Bulletin) — Nearly 13 years after the case was originally submitted, the European Court for Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that Russia was responsible for crimes committed against Georgian citizens during a five-day war for control of South Ossetia in 2008.

It said that towards the end of the war in August 2008, Russian forces had been in control of Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian capital, when Georgian citizens were rounded up from their homes and kept prisoners in inhumane conditions in the basements of official buildings.

“The conditions of detention of some 160 Georgian civilians and the humiliating acts to which they had been exposed had caused them undeniable suffering and had to be regarded as inhuman and degrading treatment, the court said.

The court did rule, though, that at the start of the war, which ran between Aug. 8 – 12, South Ossetian militia was in control of Tskhinvali and Russia could not be held responsible for alleged war crimes during the first three days of the conflict.

Georgia lost the war, which the Kremlin said was started by the then Georgian President Mikheil Saakahsvili, but has since worked to discredit Russia.

Georgian politicians said that the ECHR ruling was an important win. In a tweet, Georgian PM Giorgi Gakharia said that the ECHR’s ruling was “one of the most important days in the history of Georgia”. It was probably no coincidence, either, that as the verdict was announced Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili was touring Brussels in another drive to build support for Georgia’s entry to the EU and NATO.

Russia, which is a member of EHRC, has said that the findings were biased and that it does not recognise them.

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— This story was first published in issue 469 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan agree deal to develop Caspian Sea oil block

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BAKU/JAN. 21 2021 (The Bulletin) — Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan agreed to jointly develop an oil block in the middle of the Caspian Sea, ending a 30-year feud that has slowed energy development in the region.

Analysts said that the deal to develop the Dostyk block was the most significant for the Caspian Sea energy industry since plans to exploit the giant Kashagan field in the Kazakh sector were put into action in the 1990s.

After watching, on a video screen, the Azerbaijani and Turkmen foreign ministers sign the deal in Ashgabat, Turkmen Pres. Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov described the agreement as “historic”.

“This is a truly significant event in the life of our countries and peoples,” he said. “It is aimed at strengthening our friendship and cooperation.”

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan have argued about the ownership of the Dostyk block which lies, roughly, in the middle of the Caspian Sea. The Dostyk block neighbours the Chirag and Azeri fields which Azerbaijan has exploited, with the help of BP, and used to anchor a major oil export business.

As well as developing the Turkmen and Azerbaijani oil industries, analysts said that the development of the Dostyk field should also accelerate plans for a trans-Caspian Sea pipeline that would connect to pipelines running to Turkey and Europe.

This is a potential game-changer for Turkmenistan, which holds the world’s fourth -argest gas reserves but is largely reliant on Russia and China for sales.

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— This story was first published in issue 469 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Gazprom increases gas purchases from Turkmenistan

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JAN. 20 2021 (The Bulletin) — Russia’s Gazprom increased gas imports from Turkmenistan in 2020, although these exports still only measure around a tenth of the value of China’s gas purchases from Turkmenistan, but cut purchases from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, media reported. Demand for gas in Russia has dropped because of the coronavirus pandemic.

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— This story was first published in issue 469 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Turkey Council promotes Shushi as its capital of culture

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JAN. 19 2021 (The Bulletin) — The Turkey-led Turkic Council wants Shushi, a town in Nagorno-Karabakh captured by Azerbaijan in a six-week war with Armenia last year, to become its culture capital next year, in a move that will antagonise Armenia-Azerbaijan relations. The Turkic Council includes Turkey, which uses it to promote its agenda, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan. It chooses a culture capital each year to promote. Azerbaijan, a key ally of Turkey, has promoted its capture of Shushi as an important liberation.

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— This story was first published in issue 469 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Turkey ratifies free trade deal with Azerbaijan

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BAKU/JAN. 19 2021 (The Bulletin) — — Turkey’s parliament ratified a free trade agreement with Azerbaijan, part of a plan to boost bilateral trade by five or six times over the next couple of years.

The free trade deal was originally signed by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in February last year. Since then the coronavirus has slowed global trade but Azerbaijan’s victory, supported by Turkey, in a war against Armenia has accelerated increasingly close relations.

Turkish media reported that the free trade deal will allow quotas and customs to be lifted on certain goods. Turkey’s main exports to Azerbaijan are machinery, construction materials and mechanical appliances.

And media in Azerbaijan has reported that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that he would prioritise handing contracts to rebuilding Nagorno-Karabakh to Turkish companies in what appears to be a clear statement of gratitude for Turkish support in Azerbaijan’s war with Armenia in 2020.

One of the first deals to be announced was a $50m investment by Turkey into a textile factory in Nagorno-Karabakh.

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— This story was first published in issue 469 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Azeraijan and Iran extend railway cooperation

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JAN. 19 2021 (The Bulletin) — Azerbaijan and Iran signed a deal to extend their cooperation in the railway sector, media reported. Iran has increasingly tried to engage its neighbours in the South Caucasus. Azerbaijan-Iran relations have improved over the past five years or so and the heads of their railway companies emphasised the importance of the Rasht-Astara cross border railway link.

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— This story was first published in issue 469 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Pashinyan and Aliyev due to meet in Moscow for first time since war

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YEREVAN/BAKU/JAN. 8 (The Bulletin) — Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev are due to meet in Moscow for the first time since a war over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh last year, media reported (Jan. 8).

Neither side has confirmed or denied the media reports that the two rivals will meet in the Kremlin on Jan. 11 to discuss a peace deal, policed by Russian soldiers, with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The meeting will be an especially tense affair for Mr Pashinyan who has been under major pressure since he signed the deal that ended the six-week war in November and handed swathes of the region back to Azerbaijan.

Thousands of people have regularly protested in Yerevan against Mr Pashinyan, calling the deal a humiliation and calling on him to resign. Mr Pashinyan has resisted these calls but has conceded that a parliamentary election should take place this year.

“I can leave the position of Prime Minister only by the decision of the people,” Mr Pashinyan wrote on his Facebook page on Dec. 25. “There is only one way to get the answer to all these questions: holding extraordinary parliamentary elections.”

Mr Pashinyan, who was propelled into the PM’s position after a revolution in 2018, has cut an increasingly diminished figure since the war. Senior ministers have resigned and, as well as regular protests in Yerevan attended by thousands of people, protesters have stormed the Armenian parliament and blocked a government motorcade from reaching Stepanakert, the only remaining Armenia-held town in Nagorno-Karabakh. All this is a humiliation for Mr Pashinyan, who has always seen himself as a man of the people.

By contrast, Mr Aliyev secured his legacy with his swift victory over Armenia in the war.

He has reclaimed land that Azerbaijan lost to Armenian in the first war over Nagorno-Karabakh in the early 1990s and has also secured Turkey’s involvement in the South Caucasus, a reliable ally that Mr Aliyev hopes to use to counterbalance Russia.

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— This story was first published in issue 467 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Aliyev says that Russian tomato ban was a surprise

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JAN. 7 2021 (The Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said that he was surprised that Russia imposed a ban on Azerbaijani tomatoes from Dec. 10. Russian officials said that they had found pests in some tomatoes but some analysts have said that the ban is retaliation for Azerbaijan’s comprehensive victory over Armenia for control of the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020.

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— This story was first published in issue 467 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin