“The geopolitics of the peace process between Armenia and Azerbaijan” by Dr. Agha Bayramov and Dr. Mustafa Ali Sezal

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been clashing about the Nagoro-Karabakh region since 1988, when both states were getting ready to leave the Soviet Union. Since the initial 6-year war, border clashes have been constant but notably, the conflict has intensified since May 2021. In September of this year the Armenian and Azerbaijani militaries fought, resulting in at least about 50 deaths on each side.

In this lecture, Dr. Agha Bayramov and Dr. Mustafa Ali Sezal will discuss the current peace process between Armenia and Azerbaijan. More specifically, they will discuss the geopolitics of the three mediated peace talks: the EU- mediated, the US-mediated and Russia-mediated peace talks. 

Agha Bayramov is an Assistant Professor at the Department of International Relations and International Organization of the University of Groningen.  He teaches seminars on Energy Security and Climate Change, Political Science, the History of International Relations, and International Organization. Besides teaching and research, he was one of the co-organizers of the Groningen Energy Summer School (GESS) in 2015 and 2016. His research interests are energy security, geopolitics, the Caspian Sea region, Nagorno-Karabakh, Eurasia, infrastructure, and climate change. 

Mustafa Ali Sezal is a Lecturer at the Department of International Relations and International Organization of the University of Groningen. He currently teaches seminars on Critical Approaches to Security, Policy and Governance, Methodology and Research Practice. His current research focuses on critical and traditional security studies, European defence industry and policy, and technology, security, and conflict nexus. Previously he worked extensively on Turkey’s foreign policy and politics of Turkey in a regional context.

This lecture was organized in collaboration with Globalization Studies Groningen (GSG). You can find more information about GSG on their website.