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Today's Zaman, Turkey
Nov 20 2011
The South Caucasus: a tricky challenge
by Amanda Paul
Last week EU foreign policy chief Baroness Catherine Ashton travelled
to Baku, Tbilisi and Yerevan as a part of a three-day visit to the
South Caucasus.
A beautiful part of the world, and of increasing geostrategic
importance being a natural transport and energy corridor, the region
unfortunately remains plagued by a number of problems including
territorial, ethnic and identity conflicts, economic underdevelopment,
corruption, inadequate governance and weak rule of law.
While Ashton had already visited Georgia it was her first visit to
Azerbaijan and Armenia. According to a European Commission press
statement, the purpose of the visit was to `reaffirm the strong
commitment of the European Union to the region.' Earlier this year the
EU had dithered on the subject of whether or not to maintain an EU
Special Representative for the South Caucasus. Ashton had originally
suggested that under the Lisbon Treaty the beefed up role of the EU
delegations in each of the countries would suffice. This resulted in
significant concern over the EU's level of commitment. Thankfully,
after serious lobbying efforts the position was maintained and, in
September, French diplomat Philippe Lefort took the reins which had
been dropped in February by his predecessor, Peter Semneby.
The EU has taken a slow approach to deepening its engagement with the
South Caucasus.Perhaps this is not surprising because the region is
located far from Brussels. Secondly, because of the region's important
location -- at the crossroads between Europe, Central Asia, Russia and
the Middle East -- there has historically and still continues to be
today, something of a battle for influence. While Russia still remains
the key actor, Iran also keeps a foot in the door. Tehran cooperates
with Armenia on numerous different projects and with Iran's ethnic
Azerbaijani population of over 20 million, Baku is always aware of the
need to maintain pragmatic ties with Tehran. Sometimes this is
difficult. Tensions arise, not least because of Iranian efforts to
`export' fundamental Islam to Azerbaijan. While the US seems to have
evolved a more backseat position, Turkey is looking to increase its
role. However, with the EU having little or no baggage in the region,
the EU has more credibility than some other actors. Therefore it is
well placed to play a bigger role.
Since the December 2003 European Security Strategy, a document drawn
up under the authority of Javier Solana, the EU has begun to carve out
a larger role. Georgia has been at the heart of this, which is a
direct result of the actions of its president, Mikheil Saakashvili,
who has continually pushed for greater EU integration since the 2003
Rose Revolution. It was Saakashvili who worked to have the three South
Caucasus states included in the EU's European Neighbourhood Policy
(ENP), which subsequently led to them becoming part of the Eastern
Partnership. For the most part, though, Armenia and Azerbaijan just
tagged along. Meanwhile the EU enlargement of 2007 to Bulgaria and
Romania brought the EU closer to the region. Additionally, the EU's
increased realization that it needed to further diversify it energy
resources away from Russia, also gave the region more importance, not
in the least thanks to Azerbaijan's significant gas reserves. The
Russia-Georgia war of August 2008 resulted in the EU taking on, for
the first time, a security role in the region with the deployment of
the the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM).
While none of the three will be joining the EU in the foreseeable
future -- although French President Nicholas Sarkozy put it on the
table for Georgia and Armenian during a recent visit -- nowadays all
three countries are negotiating Association Agreements, which include
visa facilitation and, in the case of Armenia and Georgia, a Deep and
Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement.
For all three countries visa facilitation is crucially important.
Easing visa restrictions will make it easier for certain categories of
people -- students and businessmen for example -- to travel to the EU,
which will greatly enhance people to people contacts and offer greater
opportunities to engage more effectively. All three countries are
making good progress, but it is a two-way street and the EU should
avoid unnecessary delays.
The EU hopes that by increasing cooperation (known as a more for more
approach) in a maximum of sectors, including related to the economy,
environment, education, human rights dialogue, energy, etc., it will
help bring about democratic change and modernization. Ashton
congratulated all three countries on their efforts so far and
expressed the hope that European values could act as guiding light to
carry out reforms. However, with the exception of Georgia, there has
unfortunately not been too much evidence of this so far.
Beyond bilateral relations, the EU is also keen to progress regional
cooperation. This is proving to be trickier. On the sidelines of the
recent Warsaw Eastern Partnership Summit, Ashton reportedly proposed a
joint meeting between herself and leaderships of Azerbaijan, Armenia
and Georgia. Unfortunately, it seems that Armenia was not in favor. It
is not clear why not. Nevertheless, efforts along these lines should
be persevered.
The South Caucasus is hostage to its troubled past. It is up to all
actors involved to help free the region from these chains. The EU has
a key role to play in this effort.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Nov 20 2011
The South Caucasus: a tricky challenge
by Amanda Paul
Last week EU foreign policy chief Baroness Catherine Ashton travelled
to Baku, Tbilisi and Yerevan as a part of a three-day visit to the
South Caucasus.
A beautiful part of the world, and of increasing geostrategic
importance being a natural transport and energy corridor, the region
unfortunately remains plagued by a number of problems including
territorial, ethnic and identity conflicts, economic underdevelopment,
corruption, inadequate governance and weak rule of law.
While Ashton had already visited Georgia it was her first visit to
Azerbaijan and Armenia. According to a European Commission press
statement, the purpose of the visit was to `reaffirm the strong
commitment of the European Union to the region.' Earlier this year the
EU had dithered on the subject of whether or not to maintain an EU
Special Representative for the South Caucasus. Ashton had originally
suggested that under the Lisbon Treaty the beefed up role of the EU
delegations in each of the countries would suffice. This resulted in
significant concern over the EU's level of commitment. Thankfully,
after serious lobbying efforts the position was maintained and, in
September, French diplomat Philippe Lefort took the reins which had
been dropped in February by his predecessor, Peter Semneby.
The EU has taken a slow approach to deepening its engagement with the
South Caucasus.Perhaps this is not surprising because the region is
located far from Brussels. Secondly, because of the region's important
location -- at the crossroads between Europe, Central Asia, Russia and
the Middle East -- there has historically and still continues to be
today, something of a battle for influence. While Russia still remains
the key actor, Iran also keeps a foot in the door. Tehran cooperates
with Armenia on numerous different projects and with Iran's ethnic
Azerbaijani population of over 20 million, Baku is always aware of the
need to maintain pragmatic ties with Tehran. Sometimes this is
difficult. Tensions arise, not least because of Iranian efforts to
`export' fundamental Islam to Azerbaijan. While the US seems to have
evolved a more backseat position, Turkey is looking to increase its
role. However, with the EU having little or no baggage in the region,
the EU has more credibility than some other actors. Therefore it is
well placed to play a bigger role.
Since the December 2003 European Security Strategy, a document drawn
up under the authority of Javier Solana, the EU has begun to carve out
a larger role. Georgia has been at the heart of this, which is a
direct result of the actions of its president, Mikheil Saakashvili,
who has continually pushed for greater EU integration since the 2003
Rose Revolution. It was Saakashvili who worked to have the three South
Caucasus states included in the EU's European Neighbourhood Policy
(ENP), which subsequently led to them becoming part of the Eastern
Partnership. For the most part, though, Armenia and Azerbaijan just
tagged along. Meanwhile the EU enlargement of 2007 to Bulgaria and
Romania brought the EU closer to the region. Additionally, the EU's
increased realization that it needed to further diversify it energy
resources away from Russia, also gave the region more importance, not
in the least thanks to Azerbaijan's significant gas reserves. The
Russia-Georgia war of August 2008 resulted in the EU taking on, for
the first time, a security role in the region with the deployment of
the the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM).
While none of the three will be joining the EU in the foreseeable
future -- although French President Nicholas Sarkozy put it on the
table for Georgia and Armenian during a recent visit -- nowadays all
three countries are negotiating Association Agreements, which include
visa facilitation and, in the case of Armenia and Georgia, a Deep and
Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement.
For all three countries visa facilitation is crucially important.
Easing visa restrictions will make it easier for certain categories of
people -- students and businessmen for example -- to travel to the EU,
which will greatly enhance people to people contacts and offer greater
opportunities to engage more effectively. All three countries are
making good progress, but it is a two-way street and the EU should
avoid unnecessary delays.
The EU hopes that by increasing cooperation (known as a more for more
approach) in a maximum of sectors, including related to the economy,
environment, education, human rights dialogue, energy, etc., it will
help bring about democratic change and modernization. Ashton
congratulated all three countries on their efforts so far and
expressed the hope that European values could act as guiding light to
carry out reforms. However, with the exception of Georgia, there has
unfortunately not been too much evidence of this so far.
Beyond bilateral relations, the EU is also keen to progress regional
cooperation. This is proving to be trickier. On the sidelines of the
recent Warsaw Eastern Partnership Summit, Ashton reportedly proposed a
joint meeting between herself and leaderships of Azerbaijan, Armenia
and Georgia. Unfortunately, it seems that Armenia was not in favor. It
is not clear why not. Nevertheless, efforts along these lines should
be persevered.
The South Caucasus is hostage to its troubled past. It is up to all
actors involved to help free the region from these chains. The EU has
a key role to play in this effort.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress