The revolutionary rhetoric and practices corresponding to the โsecond stage of the Islamic Revolutionโ proclaimed by IRI leaders two decades ago have in some cases proved unproductive in building Tehranโs bilateral relations with a number of Muslim states.ย This includes post-Soviet Central Asia.
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Iran has been an active player in Central Asia for more than three decades, arguing for its special role in the development of the post-Soviet states of this sub-region โ Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. For Iran, the existence of ties with Central Asian states is a continuation of centuries-old traditions of historical and cultural relations interrupted during the Soviet era.
Israel is perceived as an important part of the Western, American-centric world. Consequently, relations with Israel are seen as a component of an intricate set of strategies in the multi-vector foreign policy of Central Asian governments. This policy aims to maintain a delicate balance, primarily in the triangle of relations among the three key powers in Eurasia: China, Russia and the West.
In February 2024, the materials prepared by the Post-Soviet Conflicts Research Program at BESA covered a wide array of countries and sub-regions, including Ukraine, Russia, Moldova, Armenia, and Central Asian states, focusing on both internal and external aspects of political development.ย
In his interview with Tucker Carlson, President Vladimir Putin provided justification for his policy toward Ukraine. In particular, considerable attention was paid to Putin's interpretation of history. It is quite obvious that Putin's interpretation of the events in Ukraine was enthusiastically supported by the official Russian press. In Ukraine itself it was received extremely negatively. The perception of this interview in other post-Soviet countries is somewhat more complicated.
The countries of Central Asia cooperate closely with Israel, primarily in the economic sphere. Following the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, all Central Asian countries issued statements expressing โconcernโ about the escalation around the Gaza Strip. At the United Nations, the Central Asian countries, albeit cautiously, joined the majority that did not support Israel. On December 12, Central Asian countries (except Turkmenistan yet again) supported a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip for humanitarian purposes. Israel's representative at the UN deemed this resolution hypocritical as it did not mention the Hamas attack on Israel.
Given the high level of ethnic self-consciousness and political organization of the Tatars of Bashkortostan, attempts by the Bashkir national movement to ignore their interests while seeking independence for the republic will inevitably lead to conflict not only with the federal center, but also with the Tatar national movement.
In December 2023, the BESA Post-Soviet Conflicts Research Program published papers on separatist threats and Church-related antisemitism in Russia, French participation in post-Soviet geopolitical dynamics, the perception of Israelโs war against Hamas in Russia and Ukraine, and the geopolitical (re)orientation of Armenia.
The Eurasian Economic Union declared 2024 the year of IT technologies. This sector has long been well-developed in Armenia, with Armenian IT companies maintaining a close cooperation with Silicon Valley. Thus, Iran will have a unique opportunity to develop its IT technologies, which seemed quite impossible not so long ago.ย