What Territory Does the Caucasus Encompass?

Abstract

The boundaries of the Caucasus used to be, as they still are today, defined according to a number of different criteria. It is known that the southern border of the Caucasus was taken to coincide politically with that of the Soviet state. In the author’s view, the Caucasus region encompasses a wider area. He examines a new perspective on the structuring of the Caucasus that has been offered by Ismailov and Papava. Instead of the North Caucasus and Zakavkaz’ie region, they mark out the North, Central, and South Caucasus regions. In their scheme, the Central Caucasus takes place of the former Zakavkaz’ie, whereas the adjacent parts of Turkey and Iran are spoken of as the South Caucasus. While agreeing generally with the latter argument, the author still argues against the threefold structure concept and suggests the idea of the integrity of the South Caucasus that would embrace Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan as well as parts of Turkey’s and Iran’s territories.