South Caucasus

What role can Tukey play in the prevention and resolution of the conflicts in the South Caucasus? Examining the rudiments of the Turkish foreign policy towards the post-Soviet space including the South Caucasus should provide some answers to this question. Therefore, in this paper, I will first review the Turkish foreign policy towards the post-Soviet space. Within this review, I will also summarize the ways in which Turkey has reacted to the risk and conflict situations in the South Caucasus in order to draw a general picture of Turkey’s modus operandi in such situations. Finally, upon this review, I will present my projections regarding the role that Turkey may play in the South Caucasus in the post-post-Cold War era.

An archaeological field survey begun in Ardahan in 2013 by a team, mainly consisted of academics from the University of Ardahan. The fieldwork campaign in 2015 was carried out in the central district of Ardahan and its neighbourhood, as in the preceedings seasons of 2013 and 2014. The fieldwork area included Kartalpınar, Yaylacık, Kocaköy, Alagöz, Çamlıçatak and Ölçek villages and their neighbourhood. Surveyed archaeological sites were high plateu site of Tekdoruk in Kartalpı-nar, höyük site of Kartalpınar, watchtower of Kocaköy and two archaeological sites in Alagöz and Çamlıçatak villages. A second millennium B.C. site and cemetery in Kartalpınar, that were discovered last year, were also examined. The fieldwork in Ardahan offers us indications of seminomadic/no-madic animal hoarders. The number of archaeological sites examined in lower plains is lower than the highland ones. Some common features of these sites can be assessed. They are located in high grounds between the altitudes of 2000-2500 m. and placed on top of hill peaks which are terraced. All of these high plateau sites have boundary walls except the one in Alagöz. Two of these fortified high plateau sites have a large portion of Early Transcaucasian pottery samples, but not enough small finds were found in other sites to date them more precisely.

This study analyses the social and symbolic value of the material culture, in particular the pottery production and the architecture, and the social structure of the local communities of a broad area encompassing Eastern Anatolia, the South Caucasus and North-western Iran during the last phase of the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age. This broad area is known from the Assyrian texts as ‘Nairi lands’. The second part of the study, furnishes a reassessment of pottery production characteristics and theories, as well as of the socio-economic structure and issues, tied to the sedentary and mobile local communities of the Nairi lands. The study brings into focus the characteristics, the extension and the distribution of Grooved pottery, along with other pottery typologies, by providing an accompanying online catalogue with detailed descriptions and high-resolution images of the pots and sherds obtained from public and private institutions in Turkey and Armenia. Moreover, the socio-political organisation and subsistence economy issues are addressed in order to advance a possible reconstruction of the social structure of the Nairi lands communities. Particular attention is devoted to the pastoral nomad component and the role played within the Nairi phenomenon. The study includes a very large corpus of text images and high-resolution color images of the pottery of the area under examination, gathered by the author in order to offer a reliable tool and compendium.

https://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/nairi-lands.html

In the context of a broad security analysis it is necessary to bring into focus the regional geopolitical environment. It critically – and increasingly – influences developments in and around every regional state. Meanwhile, a fragile regional security per se can greatly contribute to the escalation of existing local conflicts and even transform some of them into regional ones. The global security deficit is increasing.
Armenia's geopolitical location is very challenging. . To survive "a battle" between the global and regional actors it needs to demonstrate and to implement maximum flexibility and maneuverability. Armenia's strategic location contains, alongside serious limitations, also some advantages. Therefore, geopolitics matters …again.

Öz Çok kutupluluk ekseninde bir uluslararası sistem oluşumunu arzulayan Rusya, böyle bir yapı içerisinde "küresel" bir güç olarak yer almak ve sistemin gidişatına yön veren temel aktörlerden biri olmayı istemektedir. Moskova, bunun gerçekleşebilmesi için, özelde eski Sovyet coğrafyası; genelde ise Avrasya'daki siyasal gelişmelere yön vermesi ve bu bölgede etkinliğini arttırması gerektiğinin farkındadır. Ne var ki, uzun süre SSCB'nin bir parçası olmuş ya da Doğu Bloğu içerisinde yer almış ve yeni bağımsız olmuş bölge ülkelerini bu kez Rusya adı altında kendi siyasal ve sistemsel çıkarlarına entegre etmek oldukça güçtür. Zira Rusya ekonomik, sosyal ve siyasal nedenlerle bölge halklarını/devletlerini rahatlıkla kendisine çekebilecek bir görünüme haiz değildir. Bu nedenle, Rusya'nın realist bir eksende hareket ederek, güvenlik ve enerji bağımlılığı odaklı hususları bölge ülkeleri nezdinde kullanmaya çalıştığını görüyoruz. Ne var ki, Rusya'nın özellikle son dönemde dış politikasına eklemlediği önemli bir husus daha bulunmaktadır. Moskova, yakın çevresinde yer alan ülkelerde etnik/dinsel kimlik bağlamında ortaya çıkan ve oluşumunda SSCB döneminde çizilen sınırların önemli rol oynadığı donmuş çatışma bölgelerini, bu ülkelerin dış politika yönelimlerini kendi çıkarları doğrultusunda manipüle edebilmek için kullanmaktadır. Hatta bu stratejinin, Kafkasya, Ukrayna ve Moldova özelinde "kendisi adına" olumlu sonuçlar doğurduğu da ortadadır.

ÖZ Azerbaycan gibi enerji zengini, ekonomik potansiyeli çok daha yük-sek ve coğrafi konumu da daha önemli olan bir ülke dururken, Mos-kova neden Erivan'a yakın durmaktadır sorusu, Güney Kafkasya'da-ki siyasal dengelerin şekillenmesi bağlamında en fazla üzerinde du-rulan hususlardan birini oluşturmaktadır. Hatta bu ilişkinin gelece-ğinin nasıl şekilleneceği, özellikle de Rusya ile Türkiye arasındaki siyasal/stratejik yakınlaşmanın Rusya-Ermenistan-Azerbaycan iliş-kilerine nasıl yansıyacağı merak uyandıran bir bağlama sahiptir. Ermenistan'ın, Rusya'nın verdiği askeri, ekonomik ve diploma-tik/siyasal destek olmadan Dağlık Karabağ'daki işgalini sürdürme imkanı bulamayacağı bir sır değildir. Ne var ki, aynı Rusya'nın son dönemde Azerbaycan ile de yakınlaşma girişimlerinde bulunduğu bilinmektedir. Bakü'nün Batılı aktörler ile gerilen ilişkileri, tıpkı stratejik ortağı Türkiye gibi, Azerbaycan'ı da Rusya ile yakın temas kurmaya yönlendirebilir. ABSTRACT Why Moscow stands close to Yerevan, while Azerbaijan is a country with a rich energy resources, a much higher economic potential and a more important geographical position is one of the most emphasized points in the context of shaping the political balance at the South Caucasus. How the political rapprochement between Russia and Turkey will reflect to the relations between Russia and Azerbai-jan is an intriguing question. It is no secret that Armenia will not able to maintain the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh without the military, economic and diplomatic/political support provided by Russia. However, it is known that the same Russia is in recent attempts to get closer to Azerbaijan. Baku's strained relations with Western actors, like her strategic partner, Turkey, can direct Azer-baijan to establish close relations with Russia.

Of the Middle Bronze Age (MBA, 2400-1500 BCE) burials excavated in the Qızqala cemetery of Naxçıvan, Azerbaijan, the remains found in kurgan CR8 provide an exceptional representation of the mortuary identity of the adult male interred within. The Dərələyəz Mountains surrounding the Şərur Valley were a culturally charged landscape on which both the living resident mobile pastoralists and the mortuary monuments to their ancestors coexisted and negotiated their shared community identity. Through detailed examination of the location and contents of kurgan CR8, this paper demonstrates how the mortuary setting and dress of a single elite member of the Qızqala community were fashioned by funerary participants to represent the identity of the interred. Such constructed mortuary identity may be crafted to perpetuate or alter how the deceased is remembered by the surviving community. The fashioning of mortuary identities thus serves as a means of negotiating the larger community identity and social organization. By integrating perspectives drawn from the funerary structure, goods, and human remains of kurgan CR8, this paper balances the fashioned identity of the interred with the current understanding of the broader MBA society in the South Caucasus.