Azerbaijan and Georgia: Strategic Partnership for Stability in a Volatile Region
By Mamuka Tsereteli
Introduction
Azerbaijan and Georgia are two neighboring countries of the South Caucasus and strategic allies in the region. The current de-jure map of the South Caucasus region includes three internationally recognized states: Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. These three countries not only share borders, but also a long history of cohabitation as well as many traditions. At the same time, the unresolved armed conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan is the most serious challenge for stability and prosperity in the region. Azerbaijan is the largest country of the South Caucasus in terms of territory and population, followed by Georgia and Armenia. There are also three other territories that claim independence from Georgia and Azerbaijan. These are Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan, and Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia. These territories are recognized by the United Nations and international community as part of Azerbaijan and Georgia, respectively.
In terms of geopolitical orientation, Azerbaijan and Georgia have a clearly declared Western orientation, with Georgia more aggressively aiming to join NATO and the EU. Azerbaijan has substantial hydrocarbon wealth located in the Caspian Sea, and its major oil and natural gas fields are already connected to Black Sea and Mediterranean markets through pipelines and railroads transiting Georgia and using the latter’s ports. Azerbaijan and Georgia, moreover, both have strategic partnerships with Turkey. While Azerbaijan has no Russian troops on its territory, the Georgian territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia have been occupied by Russian forces since the 2008 war. At the same time, Armenia has willingly allowed Russian troops on its territory and sees them as a security guarantee and deterrent. Armenian forces occupy Nagorno-Karabakh as well as seven surrounding provinces of Azerbaijan. Thus, Western-leaning Georgia and Azerbaijan, like equally Western-leaning Moldova, have territorial issues and regions that are not under control of the central governments, while Russian-leaning Armenia has no such problem.
Georgia and Azerbaijan form a key strategic link between the Black Sea and Caspian Sea that connects Europe and the broader Transatlantic space to Greater Central Asia, the resource-rich and strategically important heartland of the Eurasian continent. This strategic link is actively functioning, allowing the transshipment of commercial and military cargoes in and out of Central Asia via the air corridors, railways, ports, and highways of Georgia and Azerbaijan. In both Azerbaijan and Georgia, this transit role is widely seen as a tool for the two countries’ greater integration into the European economic and security space.
Azerbaijan and Georgia have also shared similar historical paths over the last hundred years. Both had brief experiences of statehood in 1918-1921 (Azerbaijan was conquered by the Bolsheviks in 1920, Georgia lasted as an independent state until February of 1921), both became independent states again in 1991, and both countries faced internal conflicts that ended with the de facto separation of territories that remain ruled by governments lacking international recognition. Both countries, furthermore, experienced internal political turmoil, the hardship of economic transition from central planning to a market economy, military coups, and instability. But since the mid-1990s, the state-building process has advanced, and today, despite unresolved conflicts, both Azerbaijan and Georgia are successful states progressing toward strengthening statehood and economic prosperity.
Notwithstanding, there are also important differences between the two countries. Azerbaijan has significant hydrocarbon resources, and the successful implementation of large multinational exploration projects has allowed the country to become a leading oil exporting country, which will soon also begin exporting natural gas directly to Europe. This has allowed Azerbaijan to become a dominant economic force of the South Caucasus. In fact, according to World Bank data from 2011, Azerbaijan produced more than 72 percent of the GDP of the entire South Caucasus, compared to little over 16 percent for Georgia and 11.6 percent for Armenia.1
At the same time, Georgia has made substantial progress in the areas of economic and governance reforms, including drastic reduction of bribery, petty corruption, and regulatory burdens, easing some registration and licensing procedures that have made Georgia an easy place to visit, to trade with, or a place to acquire property. Georgia is proactively seeking membership in NATO and the EU, which caused a significant deterioration of its relationship with Russia, and ultimately resulted in the military conflict in August 2008. Azerbaijan, for its part, has managed to keep balanced relationships with its neighbors, despite occasionally intense pressure and periodic provocations from its larger neighbors to the south and north. The countries’ strategic partnership and commonality of interests in territorial integrity, prosperity and integration in the global and regional security and economic system, as well as some differences in domestic and external policies, make the Azerbaijani-Georgian relationship a very interesting subject of analysis. There is limited scholarly research available on the topic, and as such, this paper aspires to partly fill this gap in current knowledge.
Click here to continue reading Azerbaijan and Georgia: Strategic Partnership for Stability in a Volatile Region.
World Bank country profiles accessible at: http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/
georgia; http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/azerbaijan; http://www.worldbank.
org/en/country/armenia.