Nov 16, 2014

UNPO Participates in Austrian Government Conference on South Caucasus


From 6th to 8th November 2014, UNPO participated in the 10th Workshop of the PfP (Partnership for Peace) Consortium Study Group 'Regional Stability in the South Caucasus', co-hosted by the Austrian Ministry of Defence and National Defence Academy in Reichenau, 85km south-west of Vienna. The study group, which convenes twice a year (alternating between Reichenau and a venue in the region), brings together academics, diplomats, security experts and civil society from the South Caucasus and beyond to discuss the geopolitical challenges affecting Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and offering policy recommendations which emerge from the debate. 

This session featured participants from all three recognized South Caucasus states, as well as the unrecognized territories of Abkhazia and Nagorno-Karabakh, in addition to Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, the United States and a number of western European countries. 

The workshop comes at a time of grave instability in the South Caucasus and throughout the so-called Eastern Neighbourhood, with conflict continuing in eastern Ukraine, and Russia and the EU seemingly on the verge of a new Cold War. The political contest between the two powers in the Eastern Neighbourhood has centred upon the European Union and Eurasian Customs Union, and the apparent struggle to pull countries such as Armenia, Moldova and Ukraine towards one side or the other. 

The conference, entitled 'Towards Europe? Straddling Fault Lines and Choosing Sides in the South Caucasus', thus focused on this apparent battle for geopolitical dominance and affiliation, with panels examining the nature of the Eurasian Union and Customs Union, how it could be reconciled with the EU, and what factors were influencing the distinct strategic directions of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

UNPO's representative participated in the final panel, which addressed the impact of these tensions on the so-called 'breakaway regions', and featured speakers from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Sukhum, Abkhazia, as well as a civil society representative from Nagorno-Karabakh. The UNPO delegate addressed the problems of choosing allegiances in the unrecognized states of the South Caucasus and wider region, and examined some of the challenges and contradictions raised by notions of self-determination, independence and recognition in these spaces.

UNPO stressed in its recommendations to the conference that resolving the conflicts in Abkhazia and Nagorno-Karabakh had to be a priority for the benefit of all parties, with non-violence a necessary pre-requisite for advancing negotiations and establishing durable settlements. Crucially, different sides should use the past, but primarily focus on the future when exploring solutions. We furthermore advised that the concept of identity should be separated from decision-making, given that identity is profoundly complex and cannot be reduced to simple binaries.

UNPO reiterates the hope that the future of the South Caucasus, in both its recognized and currently unrecognized polities, will be defined by peace, cooperation and mutual respect, however distant that prospect currently appears.

The full text of the speech may be found here.