The national security strategy adopted in 2007 provided a detailed definition of security and identified its threats. The key threat to the Armenian state was considered to be the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The document indicated the Collective Security Treaty Organisation main guarantor of security, with Russia being Armenia’s main partner in bilateral relations. The second position in the strategy was assigned to cooperation with the NATO and the OSCE. One of the priorities identified was to intensify the economic and trade connections with the European Union and participation in the European Neighbourhood Policy as a step towards integration with European structures. As to bilateral relations, the most significant were Armenia’s contacts with Georgia and Iran. If we compare the assumptions of the strategy with the policy pursued by Armenia after 2007, it is clear that the measures taken are in line with the provisions of the document. By the end of 2016, the most serious threat to Armenia – the Nagorno-Karabakh issue – remained unresolved. Russia reinforced its position as Armenia’s strategic ally. The talks conducted between Armenia and the NATO are of little significance in view of the obligations assumed by Armenia. The same goes for the talks with the European Union after Armenia’s withdrawal from signing the association agreement, accession to the Eurasian Economic Union on 01 January 2015 and signing bilateral agreements with the Russian Federation. 

This article seeks to study the consequences of the Nagorno–Karabakh war for Azerbaijan: thus analyzes findings on occupied territories, casualties, and damages of the war from economic, political, and social perspectives. The utmost brutality and atrocity of the overall conflict is memorized with Khojaly Massacre committed against Azerbaijani civilians on 26 February 1992. Hence, the article unveils evidences through the scrutiny of secondary data from academic sources, publications, and news materials published by international media. The particular focus of the study is concentrated on to what extend special plan was prepared deliberately for ethnic cleansing in Khojaly during the Nagorno–Karabakh war. 

The opinion report considers relations between international norms, Azerbaijan’s national legal system and political understandings of the Nagorno–Karabakh conflict. It discusses classification of Armenian actions in a context of the international law’s development and an impact of international regulations on national criminal codes. Therefore, it presents the Azerbaijani perspective on major political aspects of the Nagorno–Karabakh War and international response to Armenian occupation of Azerbaijan’s territories. Moreover, it evaluates Armenian actions in the region with reference to the definition of genocide and international policy of its prevention. In general, the opinion report shows how the Azerbaijani society understands the conflict and how it may be classified on the basis of the Soviet law (as acts of terror has started in the late 1980s), the international law and the contemporary Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan. As a result, it is not only a report that introduces the Azerbaijan’s perspective on the issue, but it can also be recognised as an interesting source to understand how the Azerbaijani people label actions of their neighbouring nation. 

The paper explores the development of trade and investment relations between Poland and Armenia in conditions of EU membership and in the first year of Armenia presence within the Eurasian Economic Union. The aim of the study is to determine the changes in the size and structure of trade and foreign investment both partners, as well as the identification of key factors influencing the evolution of the Polish-Armenian cooperation in this regard. Armenia both economically and politically is the relatively minor significant Poland’s partner. In the analyzed period, one can observe an increase in bilateral trade, but the growth of value and dynamics of Polish exports was more stable than imports. Small foreign investment, both Polish in Armenia and Armenian in Poland, is the area with untapped potential of bilateral cooperation. Poland’s membership in the EU was one of the factors that positively influenced on the intensification of bilateral trade and investment relations. In turn, Armenia’s entry to Eurasian Economic Union leads to the prediction that it will be a determinant which would have negative impact on Polish-Armenian cooperation in the long-term. There are a serious risk that the new agreement between the EU and Armenia will not be able to significantly reduce the impact of that factor.

The course of economic cooperation between Poland and the Eastern Partnership countries after 1992

The article presents the current state of conditions for the development of economic ties between Poland and the Eastern Partnership countries after 1992. Over the next few years, relations between Poland and the former USSR states gradually evolved as a result of the introduced economic reforms, the opening of economies and changes in the international environment. From the formal and legal point of view, the development of trade and the broader economic ties between Poland and the Eastern Partnership countries began in 1991, and we have had adequate, relatively comparable statistical data since 1995. The most important changes took place when Poland joined the European Union. An important platform for intensifying cooperation with the former USSR states was created by the launch of the EU Eastern Partnership initiative, which covers Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. Therefore, the study covered the state of economic ties between Poland and the Eastern Partnership countries. The study attempts to show the place of Poland in the foreign trade of the EaP countries and vice versa, outlining the trend of the dynamics of trade between the above-mentioned partners and determining the degree of complementarity of the trade structure.

In 2018, Armenia’s velvet revolution brought about a peaceful transition when it looked like open conflict would result. The revolution was welcomed by the majority of the Armenian people but its nature and its legacy have been disputed. This has occurred during the period of misinformation and disinformation. This papers uses analytical tools derived from the neo-Gramscian approach to analyse the events of the revolution and its aftermath with a view to understanding its impact and how to rebuild society from the divisions that have beset it beyond ideology.

In recent years, Armenia and Georgia have carried out constitutional reforms bringing about a radical change in their respective political systems with a shift to a parliamentary model of government. To permanently democratize both countries, the role of presidents in political systems was weakened and their election was introduced indirectly. The paper discusses the main elements of presidential electoral law in both countries with their main similarities and differences. In Armenia, the president is elected by the parliament, while in Georgia by a special electoral body. The following paper argues that the constitutional reforms in both countries are intended to prevent crises of power caused by an excessive concentration of power in the hands of presidents, although the reforms do not provide a guarantee of genuine democratisation and authoritarstability of governments. The possible outcomes of the reforms can be different: in Armenia – the increase of the dependence of the president on the main political parties, in Georgia – strengthening his independence.

Pride of those who suffered innocently. The genocide of Armenians in Turkey

In the article shown genocide of Armenians in Turkey in 1915 and and the picture of pogroms of Armenians who is found in the composition „Choucas: an international novel” by Zofia Nałkowska (1884–1954). She is regarded as a pioneer of the psychological novel in Poland. Set in the Swiss Alps, her novel „Choucas” (1927) reflects the author’s experience of a sanatoria village in the mountains above Lake Geneva, where she stayed from February to April 1925, and the international community she encountered there, including Armenian survivors of the genocide placed there by the Swiss Red Cross. In this text c read fragments of Genocide placed in the creation of the Zofia Nałkowska. Elements of the tragedy of the Armenians and the genocide perpetrated by the Turks in 1915 can be found in the logs of the author and her work „Choucas: an international novel” based on the meeting with Armenian refugees from Turkish pogroms who stay on treatment in a sanatorium in Switzerland.

German contacts with the Caucasus in the 18th and 19th centuries

The paper presents the initial period of German-Caucasian contacts, which includes the activity of German travelers, scientists and settlers in the 18th and 19th centuries. These activities were carried out during the period of Russian rule over Caucasus. The influence of the unification of Germany in 1871 on the intensification of German-Caucasian relations and a change in their character was noted. From then on, they were an element of the foreign policy of the Second Reich, which increased German-Caucasian economic exchange and led to political cooperation in the 20th century.