The main resources that are being widely used nowadays tend to vanish because of excessive exploitation, mainly for economical but also for practical reasons. Facing this reality, countries such as Azerbaijan - with an exit to the Caspian Sea and rich and largely unexploited natural resources - come to the forefront, having already a certain power in the strategic and energetic field. The geostrategic role of the region around the Caspian Sea for the provision of alternative sources of energy is well visible, both in the short and in the long term. This status quo that has been created is now used by Azerbaijan in order to make crucial deals of geopolitical importance with the EU, Russia and the U.S.A.
To be more specific, recently an agreement between Azerbaijan and Greece has been reached for the construction of a pipeline of natural gas running from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz gas field to Greece and Italy, passing through Turkey. This agreement will provide relevant energy autonomy and an alternative policy as far as energy issues are concerned.
The bilateral Russian-European balance has moved, and it is obvious why Europe seems no longer to be totally dependent on Russia’s resources. However, the South Stream - an initiative of great interest for Russia that will be connecting the country to Europe trough a 99 kilometers-long pipeline and will provide Europe with 10 billions of cubic natural gas per year - is already under construction. Greece will have to pay some transmission fees. Gazprom and the Greek DESFA are involved in the project, each supporting 50% of the future expenses of the company – hopefully, based in Greece – that will be in charge of the creation and implementation of the project. Russia’s reaction mainly consists in pointing out at the fact that the South Stream is going to be materialized sooner and with a higher level of certainty. President Putin stated: “The Greeks have chosen to be provided with gas by those who have it, as they would choose watches from Switzerland and ties from Italy.”
Azerbaijan has proved itself to be a new alternative provider of energy, and at the same time an important emerging actor in the world’s chessboard.
Apart from that, Azerbaijani President Aliyev has a tendency to further reinforce his bilateral relations with European countries. An example is Rumania: according to Nicolae Ouretse, Romanian ambassador in Bakou, Mr. Aliyev has adopted an agenda of bilateral cooperation in the fields of energy and trades. [1]
On the other hand, Mr. Aliyev refuses to clarify the rumors regarding the possibility of selling Azerbaijan’s natural gas to Russia until his demands on the Nagkorno Karabaj will be met, in a clear attempt to follow the strategy of ‘divide and conquer’. This strategy was developed following the recent improvement in the relations between Turkey and Armenia (with the support of the EU and the US [2]), a very worrying factor for Azerbaijan. Turkish-Armenian boarders, in fact, are of great importance for the trading paths leading to the West. [3]
As a result, the Azeri-Atlantic relations were also influenced, and we can easily realize that fragility had occurred. Bakou followed an increasingly non-flexible policy towards the construction of Nabucco - a stream of American interests that, considering the fact that the Iranian-Western relations seem to be currently rather problematic - has no efficient alternatives for its construction. [4] Despite this situation, on 13 July 2009 Azerbaijan signed an intergovernmental agreement in Ankara with Turkey, Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary and Rumania for the construction of the pipeline, in an attempt to promote mutual advantageous relations.
To summarize, Azerbaijan has proved itself to be a new alternative provider of energy, and at the same time an important emerging actor in the world’s chessboard: not exclusively because of energy issues, but also because it has the power to promote its decisions at international round tables, as well as beneath them. [5] It is crucial, therefore, for Greece and Europe in general to establish and maintain cooperation with this new emerging power.
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