| dc.description.abstract | With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the South Caucasus presented several
opportunities and challenges in the political, economic and military domains to the US
as the unique superpower of the world, and to Turkey as a regional power. Though there
occurred several crises in the Turkish-American alliance from its outset, both states
whose interests converged; encouraging the development of democratic pro-Western
regimes and free-market economy, hindering ethnic conflicts, expanding NATO’s
membership, blocking monopolization of oil export routes in the Caucasus, securing
oil reserves in the Caspian, preventing the rebuilding of the Russian Empire and falling
the newly independent states of the South Caucasus from falling into the hegemony of
Russia and Iran, keeping Iran’s fundamentalist regime in check, and pursuing active
politics in the South Caucasus as a duty for the sake of their own global and regional
interests. But, there had been also differences in the allies’ politics as in the NagornoKarabakh
conflict.
However, the South Caucasian states, including Azerbaijan, Armenia and
Georgia faced enormous difficulties in enhancing their national security, implementing
the process of state building and improving their economic situation after the dissolution
of the Soviet Union and therefore, independence for these states did not initially provide
political stability. Internal conflicts, and Russia’s imperialist policies undermined these
states’ efforts in order to be strong and independent states, and they could not cope
with the challenges of the new geopolitical and economic environment due to the lack
of their own military power, and strong economy. Thereupon, these states’ first years
of independence have been fraught with economic, political, and social difficulties. But
the vigorous efforts of the US and Turkey prevented the South Caucasian states from
falling into Russian hegemony and accelerated state-building process of these
countries as examined in this study | en_US |
