When the president of any country makes this kind of statements, he must have something for an object. Saakashvili’s objectives can be various – from normalization of Georgian-Russian relations and regulation of the Armenian question in Javakhk to the Georgia’s joining the EU and NATO. Actually Ilham Aliyev will not help him with the latter, just on the contrary. But most likely he will lend a hand when it comes to Georgian-Russian relations. However, if Aliyev starts to share the “secrets” of conflict settlement with Saakashvili, together with South Ossetia and Abkhazia the Georgian president will get just another trouble in the form of Javakhk. Aliyev treated his Georgian colleague’s suggestion quite reservedly, as he needs Georgia as a transit route. Unreliable, suggestible, but still providing the transit of Baku oil to Turkey. On the whole, Azerbaijan and Georgia had better form a confederation with Turkey, both of them disappearing in this pot and their presidents becoming governors of provinces. Armenia doesn’t like this scenario at all, but, nevertheless, she must be ready for it, too.

But let us not jump the gun, especially because Turkey has her own problems despite Premier Erdogan’s enthusiastic assurances that “the country has taken the right and democratic route, and serves as a bridge between the East and the West.” We have already discussed the foreign policy of “zero problems with the neighbours”. By the way, Turkey used to be a bridge between the East and the West, but it fell to pieces when the Islamists took power.

But let us revert to the Georgian President’s statement. Most likely it was just another non-binding declaration, called to put up a show of brotherhood with Azerbaijan. It would be wrong to say that Georgia is in need of a neighbor, simply Baku is doing its best to instill that feeling in her. Aliyev’s intentions are obvious: if things go wrong (i.e. in case there breaks out a war in Karabakh), Georgia will help him. But hardly will his calculations prove to be accurate. Saakashvili will never challenge the world community, all the more so the USA and France, which are against any military action on the part of Azerbaijan.

In conclusion, let us recall the history. On 12 March 1922, the conference of CEC representatives of the Azerbaijan SSR, Armenian SSR and Georgian SSR approved in Tbilisi the Treaty on Establishing the Federal Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of Transcaucasia (FUSSRT). On 13 December 1922, the 1st Transcaucasia Congress of Soviets reformed the FUSSRT into the Transcaucasian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic (TSFSR), meanwhile maintaining independence of the republics that formed part of it. The Congress approved the Constitution of TSFSR, formed the Transcaucasian CEC and Government - the Council of People’s Commissars of TSFSR. On 30 December 1922, TSFSR joined up the RSFSR, USSR and BSSR into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Consistent with the USSR Constitution of 1936, the Azerbaijan SSR, Armenian SSR and the Georgian SSR joined the USSR as independent Soviet republics. TSFSR was abolished.