Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Turkey has been a decisive actor in the South Caucasus conflicts at the center of Groong’s coverage. Turkish military support for Azerbaijan — including the supply of Bayraktar drones and facilitation of Syrian fighters — was a significant factor in Azerbaijan’s victory in the 2020 Nagorno Karabakh war. Erdogan publicly celebrated the outcome, framing it as a pan-Turkic triumph and deepening the strategic partnership between Ankara and Baku that has shaped regional dynamics ever since.

Groong’s coverage of Erdogan addresses several interlocking themes. On Armenia-Turkey relations, the normalization process that began in 2021 with the appointment of special envoys has remained stalled over Erdogan’s conditions linking progress to concessions in the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process — a linkage Armenia has resisted. On Pan-Turkism, Erdogan’s rhetoric and the Zangezur Corridor project reflect a vision of unbroken Turkish-Azerbaijani territorial continuity that analysts on Groong have described as strategically threatening to Armenian sovereignty over southern Armenia.

On broader geopolitics, Erdogan occupies a complicated position: a NATO member who has maintained working relations with Putin through the Ukraine war, a mediator in the Russia-Ukraine grain deal, a purchaser of Russian S-400 air defense systems, and a leader whose democratic backsliding and Kurdish policy have put him in frequent tension with Western partners. Groong episodes examine how these contradictions shape Turkey’s room for maneuver in the South Caucasus and what they mean for Armenia’s security calculus.

Episodes covering Erdogan address the Turkey-Azerbaijan-Armenia triangle, Turkey’s NATO role, and the implications of Ankara’s pan-Turkic ambitions for the long-term viability of an Armenian state on its historical territory.

Unblocking The South Caucasus, Facts & 'Alternative Facts' | Ep 83 - Aug 1, 2021 (Recorded 6/14/21) [EP83]

Posted on Monday, Jun 14, 2021 | Category: Armenia, Politics, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Artsakh, Nagorno Karabakh, Georgia, Iran, Russia

Guests:

Topic:

This Conversations on Groong episode is our first Live Show on Clubhouse and hopefully it will be an informative, as well as an enjoyable discussion for all. We will be talking about the politics of opening the paths of communication, lifting blockades, and the rumors, facts, and fallacies around so-called âcorridorsâ through each otherâs countries.

Episode 83 | Recorded: June 14, 2021

Armenia, Superpowers and The New Cold War | (Ep #68) - June 8, 2021 [EP68]

Posted on Tuesday, Jun 8, 2021 | Category: Russia, Armenia, Georgia, Turkey, China, Ukraine, Economy, Azerbaijan, India, Iran, Artsakh, Genocide, Middle East, Syria | Series: COG

Armenia, Superpowers and The New Cold War

A Conversation with:

Guest:

Dr. Pietro Shakarian, who is a Cleveland-based historian of Russia and the Soviet Union, with a focus on Soviet Armenia and the Caucasus during the era of Nikita Khrushchevâs Thaw.

Topics

Democracy-building in the Post Soviet Space
NATO and expansion
Russia in the Caucasus
China and the New Silk Road through Iran and Georgia

Hosts:

Hovik Manucharyan
Asbed Bedrossian

Episode 68 | Recorded: June 4, 2021 Website: https://groong.org/podcasts/CoG-20210608.html

Armenia, Superpowers and The New Cold War | (Ep #68) - June 8, 2021 [EP68]

Posted on Tuesday, Jun 8, 2021 | Category: Russia, Armenia, Georgia, Turkey, China, Ukraine, Economy, Azerbaijan, India, Iran, Artsakh, Genocide, Middle East, Syria

Armenia, Superpowers and The New Cold War

A Conversation with:

Guest:

Dr. Pietro Shakarian, who is a Cleveland-based historian of Russia and the Soviet Union, with a focus on Soviet Armenia and the Caucasus during the era of Nikita Khrushchevâs Thaw.

Topics