Insight Turkey
Insight Turkey
Challenging ideas
On Turkish politics and International affairs

Author

Shamkhal Abilov

Baku Engineering University, Azerbaijan
Shamkhal Abilov
Contested Waters: Implications of the 2018 Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea and the Future of the Trans-Caspian Pipeline
November 27, 2020
The dispute between Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan over the delimitation of the Caspian Sea has been one of the focal points of relations between the two states and has had negative spillover effects for the region. The conflict prolonged the process of determining a new status for the sea, as the parties failed to build mutually beneficial bilateral relations, and the implementation of regionally important transportation projects such as the Trans-Caspian Pipeline (TCP) have been delayed. However, the signing of a new Convention on the status of the Caspian Sea in 2018 in Aktau, was met with optimism for the delimitation of the seabed and the construction of the TCP. The present research aims to find out whether the new Convention of 2018 on the status of the Caspian Sea resolved the long-standing dispute between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan and to assess the potential of implementing the TCP under the new conditions.
Why the Neutrality of Azerbaijan Is Important for the European Union
September 12, 2019
Fragile stability in the South Caucasus is hugely dependent on the neutrality or so-called balanced foreign policy course of the Republic of Azerbaijan. To substantiate this argument, this paper explores the historical and geopolitical factors in the region that conditioned the neutrality course of Azerbaijan and the stability in the South Caucasus. It further evaluates recent developments around the region and the EU's interests, responses, and shortcomings to deal with them; and eventually concludes that preservation and further consolidation of this foreign policy course of Azerbaijan also serves the best interest of the EU. Not only is it far from clear who is to be made resilient against what where there is no more or less benign government but, where countries are only just coming out of war, their first priority is national survival and their demand is for security guarantees. Would sovereignty and equality not be a better leitmotiv for EU strategy in the neighborhood? Sven Biscop1
OSCE Minsk Group: Proposals and Failure, the View from Azerbaijan
January 1, 2018
The OSCE Minsk Group was created by the Conference on Security and Cooperation for finding a political and peaceful resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Since its creation, the Minsk Group organized several meetings and initiated various proposals. However, despite its “great efforts,” parties to the conflict have not come to an agreement and are still insisting on their position of ‘territorial integrity’ and right of ‘self-determination,’ therefore there has been no progress in the settlement of the conflict. The aim of this research paper is to give a general overview of the OSCE Minsk Group and investigate its mediation efforts, and analyze the question: Why does Azerbaijan accuse the OSCE Minsk Group of being biased in the settlement of the conflict?

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