"HEYDAR ALİYEV AND THE FOREIGN POLICY OF AZERBAIJAN"

Abant Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 2021

With the end of the Cold War, a global competition began for the exploration, extraction and transportation of the Caspian energy resources. It is suggested that the cooperation of the two energ-rich countries, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, will not only increase the influence of these countries in the international arena, but also contribute to the energy security. Turkmenistan's active foreign policy with Berdimuhamedov increased the impact of Turkmenistan on the energy projects. Azerbaijan, on the other hand, will be able to focus more on energy projects after it liberated its territories from the Armenian occupation in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with a successful military operation. In this article, the cooperation of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan is analyzed within the framework of the developments in foreign policies of these countries and regional security.

SSRN, 2023

Azerbaijan is a different geographical location that the European Union associates with national security and has a geopolitical vital position in terms of maintaining the security of the energy supply. Azerbaijan possesses critical energy resources, particularly the Caspian Basin. This region also has the feature of an alternative transportation route to eliminate the excessive dependence of the European Union on Russia in terms of energy imports. After recovering its independence, Azerbaijan established political and economic ties with a number of world power centres, including the European Union. In the first years of independence, there was political and economic instability in Azerbaijan. In order to overcome this instability, it was more necessary to develop relations with the European Union. In particular, the TASIC, TRACECA, INOGATE, and ECHO initiatives have helped to build cooperation between the EU and Azerbaijan. The expansion of relations between Azerbaijan and the EU is mostly due to Azerbaijan's energy resources. In order to secure energy security, the EU specifically wants to lessen its reliance on Russia and diversify its resource base. Therefore, the EU values its relationship with Azerbaijan in the area of energy cooperation. This study's major goals are to demonstrate Azerbaijan's energy potential and analyse how this country influences the EU's energy security. In this article, the concept of energy security has been evaluated scientifically and the role of Azerbaijan in the energy security of Europe has been mentioned. The major finding of the study, which is based on the method of comparison and statistical data analysis, is that the energy factor is significant in Azerbaijan's strategy toward the EU and that the EU has a high demand for the energy resources of the Caspian Basin to ensure its energy security.

2017

The problems of energy security and energy security are of paramount importance for each state, regardless of the availability or lack of energy resources. For this reason, the logic of supply and demand has emerged, and the need to participate in international projects that regulate energy imbalances and ensure energy security. The Concept of National Security of the Republic of Azerbaijan contains a strategy for supplying energy resources through the expansion of oil communications. By providing a unique opportunity to use transit oil supplies through its territory, Azerbaijan, on the one hand, replenishes its state budget, on the other, diversifies its economy and, on the third hand, creates partnership relations, it strengthens its international ties. Therefore, the topic of the proposed article is not only of current importance, but also of applied utility as an experience for world practice.

This article outlines the principles of energy diplomacy and power of balance in main directions of country's foreign policy. The first section of this article demonstrates the way in Azerbaijan derived many habits from the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the first Muslim democracy in the world. Even though world is differentiated nowadays, some of today's tendencies are acquired from those stated by Fatali Khan Khoyski, the first prime minister of ADR. The study examines principles and main directions of Azerbaijan foreign policy demonstrated by National Security Concept of the Republic of Azerbaijan, adopted in 2007, and Statement made by H.E. Mr. Elmar Mammadyarov, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan at the General debate of the Sixty-Ninth Session of the United Nations General Assembly. The second section of this article shows the directions Azerbaijan evolved from struggling for independence and territorial integrity to act as a relatively strong international actor today. This section studies tendencies in  country's Western-oriented foreign policy associated with oil diplomacy and contracting some multinational oil companies, showing that some of strategic economic steps were not only pure business-wise, but also pivotal for reaching country's political goals.

Following a study visit in Baku, the author exposes in this paper some of the research results, being also embedded the opinions of Azerbaijanis experts that were interviewed. The aim is to perform an analysis on the evolution of Azerbaijani state interpreted both from the European and Azerbaijani perspective. On the one hand, it is approached the development of the Republic of Azerbaijan after the collapse of Soviet Union and the way the Nagorno-Karabakh unsolved conflict has influenced Azerbaijan's foreign policy. On the other hand, it is researched the manner in which the European Union -Azerbaijan relations have evolved since 1991, but especially once the Eastern Partnership has been created. Considering the fundamental purpose of the European Neighborhood Union, to ensure security, stability and prosperity in the EU's vicinity, it is analyzed the impact of two multilateral platforms within the Eastern Partnership (Democracy, good governance and stability, and Energy security) was achieved on the Republic of Azerbaijan. At the same time, it is investigated whether the European Union should accept an authoritarian leadership, as a legitimate actor and partner on the international stage just because the EU has a strategic interest to diversify its energy sources and, eventually, reduce the dependence on Russian Federation, or it should change its approach and adopt a firmer stance. Last but not least, are revealed the geopolitical frictions in the South Caucasus region and the reasons for which Azerbaijan tries to maintain its status as a sovereign and independent country, avoiding to ally with any geopolitical bloc, but opting for economic, energy and military cooperation with both sides.

It could be said that energy sector, energy production and energy distribution gained unprecedented importance for all us in the 21th century. This century has also demonstrated that the energy security is a precondition for economic stability and an indivisible part of a state’s overall security. Especially growing demand on energy resources day by day means that the future energy security of Eurasia very much depends on diversification of sources of energy supplies and enhancing security of the energy network. This paper proposes that the major potential for Eurasian energy security in Afghanistan and its immediate neighbors lies in the revival of trade and transportation links like Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and more distant Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. While counting the name of these countries we cannot underestimate Russia's weight and importance in Eurasia and thus the paper also purposes the relations between the European Union and Russia by taking into account the recent energy wars especially started after the invasion of Crimea by Russia. It is because the paper offers a general perspective to Eurasian energy security, we embark on our study with touching upon the radical Islam and drug trafficking in Afghanistan and Central Asian countries and try to put forward why Eurasian energy security is dependent on eradicating these security problems. By doing this, this paper will also assess the risks associated with utilization of Central Asia and the Caucasus as a logistical backyard to the war on terror in Afghanistan and lack of a longer term strategy to confront internal problems of each of the region’s countries. At the end, before we put forward our general energy approach to the Eurasian energy security, we will touch upon the significance of Turkey for the Eurasian energy security and point out why this region does matter for Turkey.

Azerbaijan’s perceptions about the great powers and its place in the world have changed over time. In the initial post-independence period, Azerbaijan placed great hope on the west in securing its three main goals: retaining independence, restoring territorial integrity, and securing economic recovery and self-sufficiency. Since then, however, it has grown disappointed in the west’s ability and willingness to address its key interests and has begun to diversify its ties, including to Russia and Iran.

The Eurasian Economic Union could change the economic and political landscape in Eurasia and in the South Caucasus. Armenia, with its recent decision to join the Union, is especially sensitive to resulting changes in the South Caucasus. Low oil prices are changing the energy politics in the South Caucasus, which means that that the importance of Azerbaijan as an oil-exporting country is decreasing, and this in turn impacts the entire South Caucasus as an oil transit route. Armenia's ambitions to be involved in the process of establishing a "single energy space" are of strategic importance. This, together with its participation in the "North-South high-voltage energy corridor" project - might help Armenia to reinforce its position in the South Caucasus.

Insight Turkey, 2015

This article analyzes Turkey’s official energy strategy to indicate how it responds to actual challenges by striking a compromise between market characteristics, and geopolitics and foreign policy. It points to Turkey’s growing energy demand as one of the most significant factors that affect the country’s policies and elaborates how Turkey’s supply security perspective intersects with geopolitical features and foreign policy issues on behalf of international cooperation. The first section, with conceptual highlights, gives a brief picture of the actual energy security challenges that Turkey faces. The second part focuses on Turkey’s official energy strategy (Turkey’s Energy Strategic Plan, as introduced by the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources) to understand how these policies respond to the challenges Turkey faces. The final section gives an idea of how Turkey’s energy security strategy supports international cooperation with diverse actors. Turkey’s Energy Strategy: Synchro...

Elnur Soltanov, "The Emerging Patterns of Azerbaijan’s International energy Policy: Continuities and Changes", The Caspian Energy Dance: Towards a New Age of Partnership?, Caucasus International, Vol. 2 • No: 2 • Summer 2012, http://cijournal.az/post/caucasus-international-vol-2-no-2-summer-2012

Book "Russian and CIS Relations with the Gulf Region: Current Trends in Political and Economic Dynamics", Marat Terterov ed., Dubai: Gulf Research Center Publications, 2009

The prominent strategist Brzezinski referred to Eurasia as a “grand chessboard,” where bothregional and global actors compete in terms of geo-strategic and economic interests.1 Hence,both the Caspian and the Gulf regions constitute vital areas in this complex chessboard ofinternational politics, particularly due to their rich energy reserves. This study, first, aims toanalyze the competition and complementarities between the Caspian and Gulf regions fromthe perspective of energy security. Second, this chapter presents an extensive study of activediplomatic engagements and commercial ties, between Azerbaijan and the Gulf region.

Sciences of Europe, 2024

In 1991, the three South Caucasus republics-Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia-which regained their state independence, faced new security problems. The new geopolitical conditions made it necessary to take a number of steps in the field of political, military, and economic security. In the first years of independence, although the issue of energy security was seen as a component of economic security, it gradually became clear that it was also a matter of political security. From this point of view, the study of energy security issues of the South Caucasus countries in the post-Soviet period from a historical-political aspect is relevant. The purpose of the research is to determine the energy security problems that the fall of the USSR faced the countries of the South Caucasus, and to analyze the factors affecting the energy security of these countries. One of the main tasks is to investigate what methods and means are used by Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia to ensure their energy security.

2016

The Caspian Basin has been one of the most important geopolitical scenes since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The historical development of the basin in the last decade and a half provides us with some important clues about the dynamics of the new energy geopolitics. This article aims to examine geopolitical events that have occurred in connection with the hydrocarbon riches of the basin from a historical perspective. The focus of the article is mainly on the energy upstream and midstream projects developed between Turkey and the Caspian states, especially Azerbaijan. These significant events are investigated as part of nine “game” concepts. After examining these games thoroughly, the winners are listed according to their degrees with a discussion of results and possible conclusions.

THE CHANGING PERSPECTIVES AND 'NEW' GEOPOLITICS OF THE CAUCASUS IN THE 21ST CENTURY, 2021

Azerbaijan, which is the third actor of the Caucasus Region together with Georgia and Armenia, holds a special position with its features that will be expressed throughout the study. Gaining independence with the dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), Azerbaijan has gone through a really challenging and difficult process in the last thirty years. Within the framework of national, regional and international developments, Azerbaijan has been struggling for its existence, development and dignity in the context of consolidating its independence, strengthening its national identity, preserving its territorial integrity, revitalizing its economy and integration with the international community. Under the rule of four presidents and the shadow of the conflict and war with Armenia, Azerbaijan has reached its current status. After it had existed as a socialist republic under the umbrella of the USSR for most of the 20th century, Azerbaijan stepped into a different phase in political, military, economic, social and cultural aspects with its independence in the last part of the century. Especially the increasing geopolitical, geostrategic and geoeconomic importance of the Caucasus and the activities of extra-regional powers have constituted a fundamental determining factor on Azerbaijan’s policies. With the transition to the 21st century, Azerbaijan began to seek right ways to adapting to the process and consolidate its identity within the newly formed conjuncture. Energy resources, the West-East conflict in the region, the Russia-Georgia War, problems with Armenia and the victory in 2020 have been the cornerstones of the experience in the process. In addition to all of these, the main policy determinants of Azerbaijan in the past 20 years have been the Soviet heritage etched in memories, state and national identity building efforts, characteristic attitudes of the presidents and internal groups, presence in a strategic geography also called Trans-Caspian, regional dynamics and the policies of the extra-regional actors, relations developed over energy resources and of course the recapturing of its occupied lands.