By Benyamin Poghosyan, PhD, Executive Director, Political Science Association of Armenia

On March 21, 2017 Armenia and the EU initialed a new bilateral Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement. This is an important milestone in bilateral relations, especially taking into account Armenia's last minute withdrawal in 2013 from initialing its Association Agreement negotiated within the framework of the EU Eastern Partnership program. READ MORE

• EGF Editor  |  Опубликовано на EGF: 12.04.2017  |  External Relations
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Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said that Turkey is heading to restore relations with Damascus. "We will expand our circle of friends. We have already begun to do so. We normalized our relations with Israel and Russia, and now, I am sure, we will do the same with Syria. We need it to be done", - said Yildirim, speaking on Turkish television. READ MORE

• EGF Editor  |  Опубликовано на EGF: 07.03.2017  |  External Relations
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by George Vlad Niculescu, Head of Research, the European Geopolitical Forum

How could the EU best deal with a revisionist Russia who challenged the post-Cold War European security order, most notably in Ukraine and in Georgia? We should probably start from considering EU’s current strategic options in its Eastern Neighbourhood.  The key question here is what should be the EU’s objective in this contested region? Is it to find a compromise solution with Moscow on how to fix the broken security order? Or is it to defend its shared values in the Eastern Neighbourhood, and to eventually annihilate the Russian power and influence? READ MORE

• EGF Editor  |  Опубликовано на EGF: 06.03.2017  |  External Relations
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Elkhan Nuriyev,
EGF Affiliated Expert

The mounting tension over Ukraine has introduced numerous dangers to the security situation in the South Caucasus. These negative ramifications are further exacerbated by the fact that Russia holds the key to resolving conflicts in the post-Soviet realm, especially in the absence of greater Western assertiveness. But Moscow and Brussels are caught up in geopolitical competition over the region. READ MORE

• Elkhan Nuriyev  |  Опубликовано на EGF: 16.01.2015  |  External Relations
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George Vlad Niculescu,
Head of Research, the European Geopolitical Forum

Just like other parts of Eurasia, the South Caucasus is facing the challenge of a renewed East-West geopolitical competition underpinned by three evolving challenges: 1) a growing ideological gap between Russia and the West; 2) the chronic persistence of protracted conflicts; 3) the dilemma of post-Soviet states: European vs. Eurasian integration.
More specifically, the South Caucasus geopolitical landscape is shaped by:

• the competition between Russia and the West in the wake of the ongoing Ukrainian crisis, which effectively brought the European cooperative security era to an end;
• growing Russian regional assertiveness, whereby the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) is increasingly used as a vehicle for countering strides towards European integration, while OSCE-led conflict resolution is manipulated to create geopolitical leverage over the regional states;
• a tacit Russian-Turkish partnership of convenience, which is basically motivated by... READ MORE

• George Niculescu  |   |  Security
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By Armen Grigoryan,
EGF Guest Contributor

Armenia’s Russia-imposed self-isolation from the democratic international community continues and threatens to have economic and social consequences for the country. Russia is increasing its pressure in the South Caucasus, raising the specter of regional destabilization. While Russia already controls the most important sectors of Armenia’s economy, it seems set to reinforce its interests in the country so as to ensure that a fully dependent, loyal Armenia can constitute a tool for the projection of Russia’s political and military influence in the region. Russia’s overt attempt to fulfill its expansionist ambitions endangers the sovereignty of its neighbors, as well as regional stability and energy security. READ MORE

* This article was first published by the "Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program Joint Center" which holds the copyright for it.”

• Armen Grigoryan  |  Опубликовано на EGF: 13.05.2014  |  External Relations
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The Black Sea has lost none of its geopolitical significance over time. Historically, the Black Sea has played an important economic and political role in a wider-region. The realignment of geopolitical and security strategies in Eurasia during the last two decades has led to the “re-discovery” of one of the world’s most significant geostrategic areas. Securing access to new energy deposits from the Caspian has heightened the strategic significance of the Wider Black Sea (WBS) in Western external policy thinking. Unfortunately, since the early 1990s, the region has been bogged down in a belt of protracted conflicts that could potentially threaten both European stability and energy supply, while trans-national crime and other asymmetric security threats are thriving. READ MORE

• EGF Editorial  |  Опубликовано на EGF: 21.06.2013  |  External Relations
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By George Niculescu,
Head of Research, The European Geopolitical Forum

In November 2012, the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the Center for a New American Security published a series of papers built upon the "global swing states" concept launched by Daniel Kliman and Richard Fontaine in a report on: "Global Swing States: Brazil, India, Indonesia, Turkey and the Future of International Order". READ MORE

• George Niculescu  |  Опубликовано на EGF: 25.03.2013  |  Security
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Transition in Ukraine: A Critical Assessment and Current Challenges
January 2013

When the communist bloc disintegrated between 1989 and 1991, Western understanding of transition had been largely influenced by authoritarian transitions in Latin America and Southern Europe since the 1960s. Few scholars of post-communist transition have sought to develop a theoretical framework that encapsulates all four aspects of the quadruple transition: political and economic reform, state and nation building. Few scholars have grappled with the added complication of newly independent states, such as Ukraine, not only introducing political and economic reform simultaneously but also building institutions and a state while forging a unified nation-state. READ MORE

• EGF Editorial  |  Опубликовано на EGF: 12.02.2013
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Transition in Turkey: A Critical Assessment and Current Challenges
January 2013

Following the footsteps of Kemal Atatürk, post-WWII Turkish political leaders kept the Western-oriented and secular orientation of the country. The Kemalist leadership was based on six main untouchable principles: “republicanism,” “nationalism,” “populism,” “secularism,” “reformism” and “statism.” READ MORE

• EGF Editorial  |  Опубликовано на EGF: 12.02.2013
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