A Year in Review: Armenia and Azerbaijan Getting Nearer to Peace

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…

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Armenia’s Militarization: Fueling A Security Dilemma In The South Caucasus – OpEd

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…

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Armenia’s confession: Ethnic cleansing of Azerbaijanis and its legacy

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,…

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Airplane Crash Exposes Flaws in Baku-Moscow Relations

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…

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JF-17: a new page in Baku-Islamabad military cooperation

The official website of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan announced that the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) JF-17C Block-III was “integrated into the arsenal of Azerbaijan’s Air Force,” On 25 September 2024. Azerbaijan is currently the third foreign country to purchase this aircraft after Myanmar and Nigeria; some others, including Iraq, are now considering to do the same…

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Opinion: What Aliyev’s reaction to the airplane crash tells us about Azerbaijan’s relations with the West

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…

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