Prospects for the Latest Rapprochement Attempt between Turkey and Armenia

Turkey and Armenia have had no diplomatic or commercial ties with each other since the 1990s. The key reasons for this have been disagreements over historic issues, particularly Turkey's refusal to recognise the mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as a genocide, as well as the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, during which Turkey has traditionally been the closest ally of Baku. By the end of 2020, certain signals were sent from Ankara and Yerevan, hinting that the sides were ready to consider the normalisation of relations. Taking into consideration that this is not the first attempt to normalise the relationship and that certain steps in this direction have been taken earlier, although they led to no tangible results, this article explores whether the factors previously blocking the process are still present and the general prospects for this latest attempt at a rapprochement

Towards an “uncivil” society? Informality and civil society in Georgia

Since the early 1990s, the NGO sector in the South Caucasus has faced countless challenges on its road to development. Among these, an endemic “informalisation of society” – to a certain degree inherited from the Soviet Union – posed a seemingly insurmountable number of obstacles for the emergence and establishment of an egalitarian and open civil society in the region. This study explores the uneasy relationship between formal civil society and the informal sphere in the republic of Georgia. We argue that scholars and policy-makers alike need to pay close attention to how informal institutions, regardless of their non-civil nature, often become part of the civil sector in the context of developing countries. Informal patronage networks, radical movements and extremist organizations ̶ some registered and some remaining informal – often pose as civil society organizations, functioning as a “dark” side of NGOisation in post-Communist countries. This “uncivil” society thrives due to the low popular participation in formal civil society in this region and undermines the potential gains to be made by the development of a robust civil sector

Aftermath of the 2020 Karabakh War: New Geopolitical Reality in the South Caucasus

The topic of this issue is “Aftermath of the 2020 Karabakh War: New Geopolitical Reality in the South Caucasus”. Eka Javakhishvili explores the conflicting preferences of South Caucasian states (Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia) and some broader regional actors (Turkey, Russia, Iran) concerning the “3+3” platform, a postwar initiative for regional cooperation. Tatia Chikhladze articulates the prospects for the latest attempt at rapprochement between Turkey and Armenia. Akif Musayev, Khatai Aliyev, Shabnam Maharramova, and Mirvari Gazanfarli describe the resettlement potential of internally displaced people in Azerbaijan’s postwar territories based on data from a survey that was conducted by an independent agency.Das Thema dieser Ausgabe lautet „Nachwirkungen des Karabachkriegs 2020: Neue geopolitische Realität im Südkaukasus“. Eka Javakhishvili untersucht die widersprüchlichen Präferenzen der südkaukasischen Staaten (Armenien, Aserbaidschan und Georgien) und einiger größerer regionaler Akteure (Türkei, Russland, Iran) in Bezug auf die „3+3“-Plattform, eine Nachkriegsinitiative für regionale Zusammenarbeit. Tatia Chikhladze beschreibt die Aussichten für den jüngsten Annäherungsversuch zwischen der Türkei und Armenien. Akif Musayev, Khatai Aliyev, Shabnam Maharramova und Mirvari Gazanfarli analysieren das Umsiedlungspotenzial von Binnenvertriebenen in den Nachkriegsgebieten Aserbaidschans auf der Grundlage von Daten aus einer Umfrage, die von einer unabhängigen Agentur durchgeführt wurde.ISSN:1867-932