Troubling support for Armenian terrorism has been ongoing since the end of nineteenth century. Since 1991, it has enjoyed various forms of justification and glorification by the Armenian state itself, including in two noteworthy but contradictory instances that have taken place very recently (April and May 2023)—i.e., in the midst of the active phase in the peace negotiations between Yerevan and Baku

Unpredictability is one of the hallmarks of the Middle East. States that yesterday were on the verge of war are nowadays moving towards reconciliation. The tendency for rapprochement that has emerged in recent years between several countries, primarily between Israel and the Arab world, is becoming even more apparent today. This is especially true against the backdrop of a thaw in relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, the Syrian breakthrough after years of isolation, and Türkiye’s foreign policy achievements. At the same time, hot spots in the Middle East, starting with the unresolved Palestinian-Israeli issue, periodically remind us of themselves. In addition, due to the huge number of internal contradictions and the socio-political and economic crisis, the regional situation remains quite explosive, as, for example, recent events in Sudan have shown

Working Paper represents a first attempt to grasp the ascending global role of India, as well as its geopolitical mindset, ambitions, and interests, with particular emphasis on security concerns. More specifically, this document focuses on explaining how the need to maintain connectivity to the world drives India’s alliance-building strategy, including the logic and rationales behind the developing Indian-Armenian rapprochement.

The purpose of this IDD Analytical Policy Brief is to examine the state of the field, to highlight the existing and emerging trends and geographic regions of concern, and to place the phenomenon of terrorism into a broader context.

Azerbaijan has a solid and strong relationship with most of the 22 countries belonging to the Arab world. Although the roots of these ties can be traced back to the Arab conquest of Persia and the South Caucasus by the Abbasid Caliphate in the eighth century, the contemporary history of relations between the Arab and Muslim worlds, on the one hand, and Azerbaijan, on the other, began with the restoration of the latter’s independence in 1991. At that time, the country rapidly joined various international formats, including those that self-identified as belonging to the Muslim world.

Two recent events have further heightened scrutiny in Iran’s decent into domestic turbulence, which is now approaching its five-month anniversary. The first was a fatal act of terror against the embassy of Azerbaijan in the Islamic Republic of Iran committed on the morning of 27 January 2023; the second, a drone strike against Iranian state facilities in Isfahan, took place nearly two days later, late in the night of 28 January 2023.

This IDD analytic policy brief will thus examine the main aspects of the role of the Türkiye in the South Caucasus in the post-Second Karabakh War period and analyze different possible scenarios with regards to the evolution of Türkiye’s foreign policy in the South Caucasus.

Relations between China and the most active countries that make up the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are evolving in new directions, as Beijing eyes opportunities to fill the gap that is emerging in the region in light of America’s waning influence and interest. Although the rapprochement between China and the GCC countries, particularly the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a source of concern for the United States, which still seeks to preserve its role as the region’s leading security patron, it is unlikely that Beijing’s influence in the critically important Gulf region will soon decline strategically as a result.

On 15-16 November 2022, Indonesia hosted the G20 summit, which was significantly different from previous events of this kind. For the first time since 2008, Russia was represented only at the level of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The war in Ukraine dominated the sidelines of the summit and was reflected in the final communiqué, which criticizes Russia’s actions rather harshly. Along with this, the most important negotiations took place on the eve of the summit: in particular, bilateral talks between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, which, for example, had a positive impact on global financial markets. Although the G20 is often criticized for its inability to seriously respond to global challenges and threats, the outcome of the Bali summit will have important consequences for various regions of the world, including the South Caucasus. This IDD analytical policy brief will examine the foregoing in that context.

On 6 November 2022, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry called on— successfully, as it turns out—the participants of the COP-27 climate summit in Sharm El Sheikh “to discuss the pressing issue of funding arrangements needed to deal with existing gaps, responding to ‘loss and damage.’” In this way, the strategic agenda of COP-27 came into direct conceptual contact with one of the main objectives advanced by the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) from the onset of Azerbaijan’s chairmanship of the Organization.

Welcome everyone and let me introduce our keynote speaker today. For the past two years, we have had a lot of webinars and online sessions. But now people are back to their daily routine, and somehow webinars are again becoming exciting as something we have missed from the pandemic period.

The conflict over Ukraine put Turkey in a very difficult place, since it is known to have built friendly relations with both Moscow and Kyiv. At the same time, against all odds, Ankara turned out to be a key mediator (notwithstanding the fact that it is a NATO member state), if not the only one, in the quest to reduce tensions in the unprecedented confrontation between Russia and the West.

In March 2022, Israel hosted the Negev Summit, an unprecedented diplomatic conference under the aegis of Foreign Minister Yair Lapid. Participants included U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and the foreign ministers of Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Morocco, and Bahrain. This ministerial conference represents the latest step of rapprochement between Israel and the Arab world. Although it has not reached the point of no return, the unfolding process is opening up new prospects for the Middle East and for the many countries beyond the region that hold close ties with that part of the world, including those located in the South Caucasus.

Chairman Mao is reputed to have described his foreign policy posture with a metaphor: “when the tigers fight in the valley, the wise monkey sits on the hill and watches how it ends.” This dictum comes to mind while assessing the strategy of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) towards unfolding developments in the conflict over Ukraine, which is in fact turning out to be European war, given its magnitude and the parties involved, directly or not. Indeed, while the major players in this drama—the United States (which is China’s global competitor), the EU, and Russia—remain overwhelmingly preoccupied by the crisis, the officially neutral Beijing can, and most likely will, try to use this opportunity to bolster its position and advance its interests.