The complications that have surrounded building a railway to link Baku, the oil-rich capital of Azerbaijan, with Eastern Turkey -- and thereby, in effect, linking China and Europe -- reflect the political tensions between the countries of the South Caucasus.

While a railroad line currently exists linking Turkey to Armenia to Georgia and from there to Azerbaijan, because of the Nagorno Karabakh War, the border between Armenia and Turkey has remained closed since the early 1990's.

Recently, despite the historical enmity between the two countries, conciliatory overtures have been made, however...