Azerbaijan, Central Asia merge paths for new frontier

Azerbaijan and Central Asia are joining forces to explore new strategic opportunities and tackle regional challenges Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev attended the sixth consultative meeting of the Central Asian leaders held in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, on Aug. 9, 2024, for the second time as an honorary guest. The consultative meetings of the Central…

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Türkiye’s growing interest in BRICS: Analysis of motivations and implications

Türkiye’s recent bid to join the BRICS group has sparked discussions about the potential implications for the country’s foreign policy direction. Türkiye’s interest in the organization is not new—it dates back to 2018. At the BRICS summit that year, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, attending as a special invitee, expressed the country’s desire for membership….

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External interventions undermine Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process

The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, two republics in the South Caucasus, has never been solely about their bilateral relations. Regional and distant powers have long sought to influence the conflict, pursuing their own strategic interests. This dynamic persisted even after the Second Karabakh War (27 September – 10 November 2020), which ended the core…

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The Urgency of Now: How Armenia and Azerbaijan can’t afford to wait

Since 2020, the peace negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan have faced persistent challenges, with various mediation efforts—spanning Washington, Brussels, and Moscow, which have all collapsed by mid-2023. In fact, there is a deeper crisis in the peace process: despite attempts at bilateral talks and suggestions for Georgia to step in as a regional mediator, as…

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Deepening ties between Türkiye and China: Türkiye’s volume of trade increasing

A series of high-profile visits by Turkish officials to China signals a positive trend in increasing diplomatic interaction and shared interests between China and Türkiye. The recent developments in economic engagement and a growing common ground in the international arena are creating new opportunities for both countries to comprehensively boost their relations. BYD’s investments in…

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Electricity Grids, Smart Grids, and Micro Grids Implications for Electricity Security in Azerbaijan Beyond COP29

Policymakers around the world continue experimenting with different approaches to produce more renewable power in an attempt to achieve their obligations within the framework of the UNFCCC. On the one hand, wind and solar energy projects are on the agendas of numerous governments worldwide. On the other hand, producing renewable energy requires developing electricity infrastructure…

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Azerbaijan-Jordan: recent developments and future cooperation to curb the Shia Crescent

Shia Crescent goes “Full Moon” post-October 7 During the Global War on Terror in the early 2000s, King Abdullah II of Jordan coined the term “Shia Crescent” to describe the Iranian grand strategy of large-scale and wide-ranging ideological armed struggle to create a Shiite empire from Tehran to Damascus. There is no other way to…

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Karabakh after war: Mapping post-conflict reconstruction

In the summer of 2022, Azerbaijan began resettling its first village in Karabakh*, a region in its southwest that had been under Armenian control for about 30 years and was partially recaptured during the 2020 war. Since a war in the 1990s, the predominantly Armenian-populated mountainous parts of Karabakh, as well as seven Azerbaijani-majority districts…

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Beijing Revives China–Kyrgyzstan–Uzbekistan Railway

On June 6, the heads of state from China, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan approved a trilateral pact to transform an oft-discussed railway from a vision into a reality. According to the agreement, construction of the China–Kyrgyzstan–Uzbekistan (CKU) railway is expected to commence in October (Xinhua, June 6). Based on a memorandum signed in May 2023, it…

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