THE CASPIAN-CENTERED COOPERATIONS AND THEINCREASİNG IMPORTANCE OF AZERBAIJAN AFTER THECURRENT CRISIS IN UKRAINE

Abstract

After the current crisis in Ukraine, which started on February 24, 2022, the Northern Corridor was blocked and serious problems were experienced in logistics flows. The energy crisis that occurred after the crisis in Ukraine, on the other hand, had a profound effect on Europe. In this process, Europe turned to the search for alternative suppliers in order to end its dependence on Russian gas. In this context, on July 18, 2022, an agreement was signed between the European Union (EU) and Azerbaijan to increase transportation of 8 billion cubic meters of natural gas carried through the
Southern Gas Corridor to 20 billion cubic meters annually until 2027. However, this figure is below the EU's needs. This is an important opportunity for the official Baku. Because the cooperation to be developed in the Caspian, both in logistics and energy, will allow Azerbaijan to increase its geopolitical and geoeconomic gains. Moreover, the environment of stability in the South Caucasus after the end of the Second Karabakh War made the Caspian-centered projects safe initiatives. Therefore, the interest of the West in the region is increasing. In this context, Azerbaijan is deepening its cooperation with Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. In this article, the increasing geopolitical and geoeconomic importance of Azerbaijan in the context of Caspian-centered cooperation is examined. The limitation of the article is that Russia and Iran, which are under the pressure of sanctions despite being littoral to the Caspian Sea, are not included in the analysis.