Zaur Shiriyev

Analyst, South Caucasus

Baku, Azerbaijan

Please submit all media inquiries to zshiriyev@crisisgroup.org or call +32 (0) 2 536 00 71

Crisis Group Role

Zaur Shiriyev is Crisis Group’s Analyst for South Caucasus. Based in Baku, he produces analyses and reports on security and foreign policy issues, including the protracted conflicts in the South Caucasus region. He focuses in particular on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, as well as Azerbaijan’s relations with regional actors, including Türkiye, Russia and Iran.

Areas of Expertise

Foreign and national security policies of the South Caucasus states
Security, conflict resolution and energy issues in the post-Soviet space
Azerbaijan and Turkish foreign policy

Professional Background

Zaur Shiriyev has more than ten years of experience in academia and think-tanks, with expertise in security, conflict resolution and foreign policy issues pertaining to the broader South Caucasus region.

Prior to joining Crisis Group in February 2018, he was an Academy Associate with the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House, from 2015. He has been active in expert level Track 2 meetings on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict since 2008, and most recently, served as coordinator of the PeaCE programme, aimed at strengthening and re-engaging Azerbaijani civil society and youth from geographic areas affected by the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in peacebuilding activities.

He was a senior research fellow at ADA University, Baku, from May 2014 to March 2017. Previously, he worked as leading research fellow at the Center for Strategic Studies (SAM) from 2009 to 2014 in Baku, Azerbaijan, the Turkish Asian Center for Strategic Studies in Istanbul and International Strategic Research Organisation in Ankara. 

He is a frequent contributor to several journals and magazines, including EurasiaNet, CACI Analyst, Eurasia Daily Monitor and has previous editorial and journalistic experience in Azerbaijan and Türkiye. Zaur has published numerous articles and commentaries and co-edited The Geopolitical Scene of the Caucasus: A Decade of Perspectives (Istanbul; 2013) and Energy Security and Geopolitics in Southeast Europe and Azerbaijan (Washington, DC; 2015).