Azerbaijan has been committed to broaden its relations with neighboring countries, including the post-Soviet states in Central Asia.  At present, relations between Baku and the governments in that region are developing rapidly.  Not only do four of these five countries share a Turkic background, but all of them have closely related cultures and are important partners of Azerbaijan on energy issues and the Silk Road transportation corridor ...

Baku’s relations with the five post-Soviet states of Central Asia have evolved more radically over the last 20 years than have its ties with any other region of the world.  That is true whether one thinks in terms of the expectations of analysts and governments outside the region, the goals of Azerbaijan and its interlocutors in the region, or the aspirations of all five countries involved.  But these shifts have passed beneath the radar screen because many in the region and beyond continue to use a vocabulary which stresses continuity rather than change and which thus concea...

Ashgabat has officially expressed its intention to strengthen its military position in the Caspian.  At an expanded session of the Turkmenistan Security Council, which took place on the occasion of the opening of the new building of the Police Academy in Ashgabat, President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov said that by 2015, Turkmenistan will build a naval base on the Caspian to defend the sea border of the country.  That border, he noted, always must be ready to combat smugglers and terrorists, the goal of whom is the destabilization of the situation inside the country.  In re...