Abstract
The Defense Dimension of Turkey-Georgia-Azerbaijan Trilateral Relations
The South Caucasus has a critical importance from the aspect of Eurasian geopolitics. Besides the risks posed by armed conflicts and political disputes, this region also includes opportunities and chances arising from hydrocarbon richness of the Caspian basin. Turkey is a state of the region which has north east parts of its territories in South Caucasus. The energy and security dimensions of Turkey’s policy towards Eurasia are principal determinants. This is also true for Azerbaijan. For Georgia on the other hand, security and economy issues are prominent. Since the beginning of the 1990’s, these three states have developed solid and multidimensional bilateral relations with each other. However, a tripartite format has been added to these relations since 2000’s. Trilateral cooperation between Turkey-Georgia-Azerbaijan did not left only at energy transport routes, transportation and commerce but had reflections on defense and security dimensions.
Within this work, the dimensions of the defense/security cooperation of those three states are being researched and the risks and threats to this cooperation is revealed. Within this context, questions such as the attitude of Armenia as another South Caucasian state and the view of the Russian Federation, which has the northern part of the region, are discussed.
Keywords
South Caucasus, Defense Cooperation, Turkey-Georgia relations, Turkey-Azerbaijan relations