By Svante E. Cornell and Mamuka Tsereteli (6/15/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

BACKGROUND: The building of BTC reconfigures the mental map with which political observers and decision-makers in the Caucasus look at the world. BTC constitutes an umbilical cord that will tie Azerbaijan and Georgia in ever closer relation to Europe. For Turkey, with its significant trade relations to Russia including the Blue Stream gas pipeline, BTC is a cause to revisit its eastern vocation.

By Tamar Mikadze (6/15/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

BACKGROUND: According to various estimates the scale of human trafficking in Georgia is on the rise, and the government’s negligence to crack down on criminal networks puts more people at risk of being trafficked. Various sources indicate that hundreds of Georgians are trafficked annually to Turkey, Russia, France and Spain, Greece, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, the Netherlands, with smaller numbers trafficked to Israel and Portugal, and even as far as Philippines. Because of the proximity of and cheaper travel Turkey seems a chief destination country.

By Hooman Peimani (6/15/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

BACKGROUND: Iranian-Russian relations have been growing since 1987 when then the Soviet Union changed its policy of supporting Iraq in its war against Iran. By removing obstacles and creating common political and security grounds, certain factors, apart from economic incentives, have made Tehran and Moscow closer to each other since 1991, including the Soviet Union’s fall, Washington’s efforts to create a unipolar international system and the growing presence of the Western countries, particularly the United States, in the Caucasus and Central Asia. However, their cooperation on energy-related issues has been limited.