2 days ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
How Azerbaijan defies Russia and Iran in Eurasia's new order
Once bound by history to
Iran and
Russia
Azerbaijan has been actively reconfiguring relationships with its neighbours in a bid to stake a claim as a major player in Eurasia – even at the cost of ratcheting up diplomatic friction with its former colonial rulers.
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Emboldened by
the decisive seizure of Nagorno-Karabakh from
Armenia in 2023, Baku has drawn on a web of diverse strategic partnerships to assert its autonomy.
No longer content to be a subordinate neighbour, Azerbaijan is pushing back against Moscow and Tehran, drawing strength from a disparate coalition that includes
Israel
Turkey , nuclear-armed
Pakistan and strategic partner
China , as well as a host of former Soviet republics with majority ethnic Turkic populations.
The shifting allegiances have prompted comparisons with the 19th-century 'Great Game' between the British and Russian empires, but analysts see today's contest as even more intricate.
The current geopolitical contest in the southern Caucasus 'involves a more complex and multipolar configuration, with multiple stakeholders', said Rusif Huseynov, director of the Baku-based Topchubashov Centre think tank. Alongside Russia and China, the United States, European Union, India and Pakistan all now jostle for influence.
