ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the context of the formulation of Azerbaijani foreign policy, the main vectors of its foreign policy in detail. As a small state located in a strategic position among great powers and with complicated relations to its neighbours, Azerbaijan's foreign relations have become crucial not only to the country's security but indeed to its survival. By its geography as well as by its politics, the South Caucasus is a clearly delimited region. Armenia's threat perception has been based mainly upon its historical fear of Turkish aggression, going back to the massacres of Armenians in the final decades of the Ottoman Empire though this has gradually softened as Turkey and Armenia have sought to improve ties. As Azerbaijan has little influence over these relationships but stands to be affected by them, the risk of being drawn into confrontations that it would prefer to avoid is ever present and will come to require continued statesmanship of successive Azerbaijani governments.
