117 MUSTAFA AYDIN Regional Security Issues and Conflicts in the Caucasus and the Caspian Regions Introduction The emergence of the Central Asian and Caucasian states after the collapse of the Soviet system as independent international actors has changed the geopolitics of the region immensely. When the Soviet Union collapsed, what were, a short time earlier, internal affairs of the USSR suddenly became transformed into foreign policy questions for Soviet successor states. These countries, “some of which, in modern times, have never enjoyed the status of independent actors in inter- national politics,” 1 have started to define their geopolitical orientation. The outcome will fundamentally alter political and military equations throughout Eurasia. 2 The boundaries of these newly independent states, drawn originally during the Stalin era to ensure Soviet domination in the region, are arbitrary and rarely coincide with any historic boundaries or with the linguistic and cultural affinities of the different groups within each of them. Moreover, the conquest and long-rule of the region by Russia created a relationship of strong dependency between the peoples of this region and the Russian State/Soviet Union that has changed only slightly since the collapse of Soviet rule. 1 Taras, Ray. “Making Sense of Matrioshka Nationalism.” In Nations and Politics in the Soviet Successor States, ed. Ian Bremmer and Ray Taras, 532. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993. 2 Rumer, Boris Z. “The Potential for Political Instability and Regional Conflicts.” In The New Geopolitics of Central Asia and Its Borderlands, ed. Ali Banuazizi and Myron Weiner, 88. London: Tauris, 1994.