Alliance and discord in the Nagorno-Karabakh War: An evaluation of the relations between Azerbaijan, Iran and Armenia in the framework of Huntington's thesis

New conceptual and theoretical approaches emerged in International Relations following the end of the bipolar system in 1991. Among these, Samuel Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations" thesis contends that the new poles into which the world would split up would be civilization-based. It is assumed that the states would define friends and foes on such basis. Iran's approach towards Nagorno-Karabakh, a well-known post-1991 protracted conflict case, fairly constitutes an anti-thesis against Huntington's thesis. In this context, the present thesis scrutinizes Iran's strategic partnership with Armenia as well as problematic relations with Azerbaijan, by way of investigating Iran's foreign policy formulations and practices. In such a framework, the main argument of the thesis is that Iran's foreign policy, its relations with Armenia and Azerbaijan, and its approach towards the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict constitute a thesis against the clash of civilizations thesis in the South Caucasus region, which is likely to remain unchanged in the short- and medium-terms. Upon such background, the thesis first provides a descriptive and explanatory narration on Huntington's thesis. Then, it explores the background conditions of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Following this, it investigates Iranian foreign policy formulations and practices as well as its bilateral relations with Armenia and Azerbaijan, in two separate parts. It then epitomizes to what extent Iran's Nagorno-Karabakh approaches and foreign policy actions correspond to Huntington's arguments mentioned in the clash of civilizations thesis. In the final analysis, it concludes that the aforementioned Huntington's thesis does not apply universally, that the Nagorno-Karabakh issue as a protracted regional conflict affecting Iran – Armenia – Azerbaijan is enough proof of this, and that the present dynamics are highly likely to remain in at least the short- and medium-terms.