Sultans and Tsars

In the past,

Ottoman Sultans and Russian Tsars

carved out their rival empires

in the South Caucasus.

The local peoples

had little or no say.

They were mere subject nations

in the great imperial chess game.

But what of today?

Are the pawns still being sacrificed?

Are the new Sultans and Tsars

once again carving up the South Caucasus?

Alan Whitehorn

November 8, 2020

Alan Whitehorn is an Armenian Canadian poet and professor emeritus of political science.