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One year ago, in a piece titled “Armenian–Azerbaijani rapprochement: Facing a hurdle,” I concluded that Armenia is stuck between myth and reality and has to move from myths related to ‘imagined communities’ defined by kinship and history to new, pragmatic relations with its neighbors, Azerbaijan and Türkiye.[1] Today, despite some sporadic attempts by the Pashinyan…
The “security dilemma” is one of the key concepts in the academic study of international relations and foreign policy. First articulated by John Hertz in 1950 and subsequently analyzed in detail by scholars such as Robert Jervis, Charles Glaeser, and others, the security dilemma describes how actions taken by one state to enhance its security—building…
When a video of former President of Armenia Levon-Ter Petrosyan confessing to ethnic cleansing against non-Armenians in Armenia and the Karabakh region of the Republic of Azerbaijan at the congress of the terrorist organization “Yerkrapa” in 1993 was revealed 31 years later, it led to serious debate. Yerkpara was founded by Armenia’s first defense minister,…
On January 31st, 2025, the Center of Analysis of International Relations (AIR Center) organized an international conference titled “France and the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict.” In his introductory remarks, Chairman of the Board of the AIR Center, Farid Shafiyev, stressed that the cool down in the bilateral relations is solely the responsibility of France. He noted that…
Executive Summary: On December 25, 2024, Azerbaijan Airlines Flight J2-8243, planned to fly from Baku to Grozny, Chechnya, crashed near Aktau, Kazakhstan, after a Russian surface-to-air missile exploded near the aircraft mid-flight. The incident has strained Azerbaijan-Russian relations. Azerbaijani officials criticized Moscow’s denial, lack of transparency, and open airspace amid tensions, leading President Ilham Aliyev…
On December 30, Germany’s Der Spiegel, a publication often perceived as critical and biased against Azerbaijan – similar to many other German media outlets – reported on Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s reaction to Russia’s handling of a recent aeroplane crash crisis between the two countries. The publication noted, “Aliyev’s reaction is a testament to the increased…
The signing of a strategic partnership document in Washington between Armenia’s Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken can be considered an unsurprising and anticipated development. Over the past four years, the Biden administration’s Armenia-focused regional policies, the deepening of bilateral cooperation in various spheres, and the June 2024 decision by…
The Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process began the new year with a bombshell revelation: a video recording from the first congress of the “Yerkrapah” Volunteer Union in July 1993. The footage features Armenia’s first president, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, delivering a speech on the “success” of Armenia’s “national liberation movement.” The speech, along with the reaction of Vazgen Sargsyan…
The year 2024 was a particularly remarkable year in Azerbaijan as the country hosted the 29th Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (COP 29) from November 11 to 22 in Baku. COP29 was the biggest international event in the entire region. Around 78 world leaders arrived Baku for climate talks, and more than 70,000…
On December 10, the Center for Analysis of International Relations (AIR Center), a Baku-based political think tank closely affiliated with the Azerbaijani government, held a high-level international conference titled “The Main Obstacle to a Peace Agreement Between Azerbaijan and Armenia.” The conference identified the territorial claims in Armenia’s constitution against Azerbaijan as the primary obstacle to peace….
