‘The Politics Of Caspian Oil’

Its potential as a source of oil and gas for world energy markets increased international political and academic attention on the Caspian-Caucasus region. It is estimated that the Caspian oil will become the second most important source of oil for the world’s industrialised centres in the 21st century. Furthermore the oil and gas have not only nourished hopes for a possible co-operation and the regional wealth, but also caused interstate competition and political tension between Iran, Turkey, Russia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and even Kazakhstan. Apart from the regional powers, the United States and some of the European powers have also shown their interest about the region.
In another word the recent developments related to the energy policies have transformed the regional balance of power, and it is understood that the Caspian oil will be one of the most important factors in the regional politics. In this framework The Politics of Caspian Oil is one of the timely books recently published, incorporating essays aiming to present the result of recent research, and in the words of the editor, “in this way it aims to serve as a reference book for the politics of Caspian oil” (p. 16).

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One of the most interesting and useful studies is Kamer Kasım’s “The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict, Caspian Oil and Regional Powers” as it clearly connects the relations between the competition among the regional powers (Russia, Turkey and Iran) for controlling Caspian resources and regional stability with the case study of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Surprisingly there have been not many studies regarding to the Nagorno-Karabakh problem and the regional powers’ role on it. This study tries to fill this gap and also open the energy related policy dimension.

Andrew Towner’s study in the final chapter shed lights to the reasons of the Chechen conflict emphasising the importance of the regional oil resources in the Russian decision to invade Chechenya. Towner in his informative and short article argues that the Russian security concerns towards the region cannot be examined without referring to its regional energy policies.

Turkish Weekly