Where is caucuses

There are three big neighbors which are all former imperial powers Persia to the south, the Ottoman Empire, and Russia. There are three nation states: Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

And there are three disputed breakaway territories: Nagorny-Karabakh between Armenia and Azerbaijan , and Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which split from Georgia de facto in and were recognized as independent by Russia in It is incredibly diverse, ethnically and linguistically—the three main nations all have different alphabets and the languages belong to different groups. Historically, it has been regarded as a land of conflict, but I like to stress that it is not fated to have conflict, that most people living there manage their differences pretty well most of the time.

Obviously there is one big unresolved conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorny Karabakh. That dates back more than 30 years, pits the two nations against one another in almost perpetual hostility and holds back the forward development of the region. There are two ancient Christian nations, Armenia and Georgia.

Back in the early fourth century, the kingdoms of Armenia and Georgia were the first two nations to convert to Christianity and their people have been Christian ever since.

Armenia and Georgia have an uneasy friendship—they mostly get along but can be competitive. Azerbaijan is the largest of the three countries and also very wealthy, thanks to oil and gas. It has a fascinating history. So they have a mixed Turkic-Iranian-Russian cultural leagacy. Through the bigger historical sweep, all three have managed to trade, intermarry, and largely get along with each other.

It makes sense to think of these three small countries as one region. They have a shared common history—for some years, they were part of the Russian Empire and then the Soviet Union. They share cultural traditions—there are similarities in the way food is served and guests are treated. More importantly, they also have a shared regional economy, although more in potential than in reality.

These countries have been independent for 25 years. They are not just neighbors of Russia. China is there, the EU is there, Turkey is there. For example, in the spring of , there was a peaceful revolution in Armenia. Most of the coverage was focused on Russia. The three traditional states south of the Caucasus — Armenia , Azerbaijan and Georgia — have been united and independent twice in their history.

Tigranes the Great held a large kingdom here in the 1st century BC; and for a few months in , the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic briefly saw the three countries united.

Between these two periods, Romans , Byzantines, Mongols , Persians , Ottomans , Imperial Russians and Soviets have all held sway in different parts and at different times. Nineteenth century imperial Russian expansion laid the foundations for the region's current look.

While for centuries the Ottoman Empire held parts of Armenia and Georgia and the Persians nominally controlled Azerbaijan , neither fully subjugated or integrated the native peoples. The Soviet successors to the Russian Empire briefly lost control of the region in , but by the s the three states had been folded into the USSR. Soviet rule attempted to galvanize a united Soviet identity but the different groups held on to their customs, religions and loyalties. As the Soviet Union disintegrated in the early s, fierce nationalism took the region.

The cosmopolitan mixes of peoples that the Soviets cultivated proved immiscible as people migrated, often forced, to their ethnic homelands. The arbitrary boundaries of the Soviet republics, and hence those of the new independent states, ensured lasting hostility within and between the three states.

With Armenian backing, a new republic was created. However, no established nation - not even Armenia - officially recognizes it. Diplomatic arguments over the region continue to mar relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. In , Georgian efforts to bring to heel its autonomous regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia back-fired when they declared full independence.

The ensuing war was brief and one-sided as Russian troops backed the separatists and overran much of Georgia proper. A ceasefire was agreed and Russia withdrew its troops to the boundaries of the new republics, which it diplomatically recognizes. Hostilities have largely cooled, though South Ossetia remains internally unstable, and the three states are left trying to find a place in the new world.

Georgia has looked west, though its hopes of joining NATO were not realized soon enough to prevent the Russian invasion. Armenia remains loyal to Russia, which supports it economically and in its spats with Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan, perhaps because of its cultural and linguistic ties to Turkey and other Turkic speaking Central Asian countries, has more political links in those directions. The Caucasus is the region where the borders between the Ottoman, Persian and Russian empires, as well as local kingdoms, were drawn and re-drawn several times across the centuries.

It is home to many ethnical groups, who were heavily influenced by their various conquering kingdoms but at the same time, were able to develop unique identities, as well as preserve ancient customs and traditions. Azerbaijan is mostly Shia Muslim but has a strong culture of secularism inherited from Soviet times. While travelling here expect to meet friendly locals, eat food like none other on earth and witness breathtaking mountain vistas.

The arcane, expensive and bureaucratic visa procedures are becoming gradually less of a burden, as are crooked police. However, sufficient blights remain to make this far from the easiest region to navigate. The old ways of the Soviet Union are never far away when dealing with any kind of official, including immigration officers and police. And be very, very careful before you enter an area which is controlled by the Russian-backed local militia or Russian border troops of the separatist regions in Georgia and by the Armenian-backed local militia of the separatist region in Azerbaijan.

The Caucasus region is one of the most complex linguistic regions in the world, containing more than 60 languages from five distinct language families. While this is great for cultural diversity, it can be confusing to travellers.

If you're only going to take one phrasebook for the whole region, make it Russian. The former Soviet states were united through its use as a common second language. English is becoming more prevalent in the main cities but its penetration is insufficient to be relied upon.

However, many people in Georgia are unwilling to speak Russian due to military tensions with Russia, and English has largely supplanted Russian as the foreign language of choice among younger Georgians, so you should try English before trying Russian when in Georgia. Independence has meant massive migration, often forced, and ethno-linguistic segregation has become much more pronounced. There is therefore much less inter-ethnic interaction and so much less incentive for young people to learn a second language.

National languages are becoming ever more important to travellers, but Russian remains very useful. Knowledge of Turkish is also useful in Azerbaijan because Azerbaijani and Turkish are closely enough related to be mutually intelligible to a fair extent. Turkic languages such as Karachay-Balkar and Kumyk are also widely spoken in Russia's North Caucasus , but they are considerably less similar. Although many economies in the region struggled, especially Russia, Belarus, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, in USAID, , the Asian Development Bank reported economic growth over 3 percent in the Central Asian region thanks to the moderately rising oil prices.

This growth came with high inflationary pressures especially in Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan. Remittances from Russia and Kazakhstan are also likely to increase, boosting the economy of remittance-receiving economies like the Kyrgyz Republic and Armenia. The current economic recovery of the region is viewed as a window of opportunity to secure higher and more inclusive growth International Monetary Fund, The region presents a rich mixture of ethnicities, some of them within the same country, such is the case of Azerbaijan, the Kyrgyz Republic, and Russia.

Ethnic tensions are always present in the region such as the clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in the Kyrgyz Republic. In terms of educational levels, the UNESCO Institute for Statistics reports almost percent literacy rates in the region with an estimated mean of years of schooling of However, the educational levels vary from one country to another.

In the gross enrollment ratio in tertiary education was higher in Belarus Politically, all newly created nations in the region have elected presidents several times since , but not all the elections have been considered free and fair.

In several countries, presidents have been re-elected through elections that have been considered means to consolidate dictatorships. Besides, according to CIVICUS several countries in the region—Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Russia—present challenges to human right organizations that face denial of the basic right of association and freedom of expression.