Samtskhe-Javakheti Region: A Neglected Keypoint for European Security of Energy Supply?*

Year 2015, Volume: 14 Issue: 4, 1 - 10, 26.04.2016

Utku Yapıcı

Abstract

It is no doubt that the
rise of new energy actors in post-Soviet geographic space such as Azerbaijan,
Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan was welcomed by Western power centers. Those
emerging actors were assessed as partners in diminishing Europe’s energy
dependence to a single supplier; the Russian Federation. In this context, the
main Western initiatives to challenge Russian energy dominance regarding the
Caspian Basin were the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline, and South
Caucasus gas pipeline. These two strategic pipelines pass through the
territories of Samtskhe-Javakheti region of Georgia - a tiny administrative
unit adjacent to the Turkish city of Ardahan and Armenian city of Gyumri.
Because of that, any political turmoil in that strategic region should easily
turn into a factor endangering both already unsatisfactory regional stability
and European energy security.

In this article,
Samtskhe-Javakheti region’s economic and demographic characteristics that make
it unique and prone to instability are analyzed and European Union’s
Samtskhe-Javakheti policy is evaluated through the lens of security of energy
supply. The conclusion of the paper is that, the European Union failed to
establish influential cooperation mechanisms to avoid political and economic
instabilities in this transit region. The European Union simply lacks a
comprehensive regional plan compatible with the sociological and economic
realities of Samtskhe-Javakheti

Keywords

Samtskhe-Javakheti, Energy Security, Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, South-Caucasus Pipeline, Armenians

References

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