Field Reports
ARMENIA AND IRAN TO LAUNCH MAJOR JOINT PROJECTS
By Haroutiun Khachatrian (7/21/2010 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Armenia will speed up its joint projects with Iran in an effort to secure its supplies and extend its export markets. In the coming months, Armenia and Iran will launch three major joint construction projects in the energy sector. The Armenian Minister of Energy and Natural resources Armen Movsisyan said on July 14 that a joint hydropower station on the border river of Araks (near the Armenian city of Meghri), a high-voltage power line connecting the two countries, and a pipeline for exporting oil from Iran to Armenia will be constructed.
IS THE EU READY TO PAY THE BILL FOR THE AZERBAIJANI-TURKISH GAS AGREEMENT?
By Inessa Baban (7/8/2010 issue of the CACI Analyst)
On June 11, Bulgaria announced its defection from Russia's Burgas-Alexandroupolis project planned to carry Russian and Caspian oil from a Bulgarian Black Sea port to a Greek port in the Aegean Sea, bypassing the Turkish Straits. Considered by Russian experts as an outcome of European and American pressure, the Bulgarian initiative was actually the first immediate effect of the Azerbaijani-Turkish gas agreement signed on June 7, which opened the door for accomplishing the EU-backed energy projects Nabucco, ITGI and TAP. The second effect of this agreement was the conclusion on June 17 of a memorandum of understanding between three Italian, Greek and Turkish gas companies for the ITGI gas pipeline, which according to its signatories “will enhance European energy security”.
SUKHUMI TAKES TIME OUT FROM GENEVA TALKS
By Maka Gurgenidze (7/8/2010 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Sukhumi temporary withdraws from the five-party Geneva talks due to disagreements over key security issues, the head of the Abkhaz presidential administration Nadir Bitiyev declared on June 23rd.
ARMED INCIDENT IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH DOES NOT STOP THE NEGOTIATION PROCESS
By Haroutiun Khachatrian (7/8/2010 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Late in the night on June 18, a major armed incident took place on the contact line between Azerbaijan and Armenian-controlled territories in Azerbaijan, which resulted in casualties. As usual, each party accused the opposite side for violating the cease-fire. However, all casualties were sustained in Armenian-held positions, near the village of Chaylu in Mardakert region.
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Staff Publications
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, Greater Central Asia as A Component of U.S. Global Strategy, October 2024.
Analysis Laura Linderman, "Rising Stakes in Tbilisi as Elections Approach," Civil Georgia, September 7, 2024.
Analysis Mamuka Tsereteli, "U.S. Black Sea Strategy: The Georgian Connection", CEPA, February 9, 2024.
Silk Road Paper Svante E. Cornell, ed., Türkiye's Return to Central Asia and the Caucasus, July 2024.
Book Svante E. Cornell, ed., "The Changing Geopolitics of Central Asia and the Caucasus" AFPC Press/Armin LEar, 2023.
Silk Road Paper Svante E. Cornell and S. Frederick Starr, Stepping up to the “Agency Challenge”: Central Asian Diplomacy in a Time of Troubles, July 2023.
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, U.S. Policy in Central Asia through Central Asian Eyes, May 2023.