Geopolitics The South Caucasus at the Crossroads: Great Powers and Regional Conflict Thursday, April 1, 2021 The South Caucasus, straddling Asia and Europe, is a complex area of ethnic, nationalist and great-power rivalries. The post-Soviet Union era has been marked by flareups of military conflict and economic, social and political confrontation. Taking a regional perspective, AsiaGlobal Fellow 2020/21 Mher D Sahakyan analyzes the major issues at play and offers ways to resolve the tensions and differences among the countries involved. Who is pulling the levers?: Heads of government of, from left to right, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Uzbekistan at the 2017 inauguration of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project (Credit: Government of Georgia) The South Caucasus – roughly 200,000 square kilometers of rugged terrain encompassing Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan – is a strategically important crossroads with its vast sources of oil, gas, metals and fresh water. Through this region, Russia seeks to gain a presence in the Middle East and Persian Gulf, while Turkey aims to