The ICRI is an independent non-profit organization, which has as its principal objectives:
the scientific study of the Caucasus as a distinct cultural region;
The diffusion of the results of Caucasological research in scholarly and popular media.
The ICRI is not attached to any government agency, and will not involve itself in nationalistic or sectarian polemics. The scholarly disciplines in which ICRI members conduct research include: history, ethnology, archaeology, folklore studies, comparative religious studies, sociology, cultural studies, conflict resolution, linguistics, etc.

Ancient Greeks, although in sporadic contact with the peoples on the eastern shores of the Black Sea since Homeric times, used the Caucasus as a setting for an imaginary world radically different from the one they knew at first hand. Their Caucasus was a wonderland of savagery and wealth, alluring princesses with magical powers, nymphs, Amazons, and primitive "Lice-eaters" (Phtheirophagoi).

Der zentrale Teil des Südkaukasus grenzt unmittelbar an Nordwest-Iran und Ostanatolien — an die Regionen, die die Heimat der ältesten Zivilisationen der Welt sind. Daher ist es selbstverständlich, daß die ganze alte Kultur des Südkaukasus mit der Geschichte des Alten Orientes verbunden ist. Im Laufe der Jahrtausende waren Aufschwünge und Rückschläge in der Entwicklung der materiellen Kultur des Südkaukasus eng mit Innovationen im System der altorientalischen Zivilisation verbunden. Oft muß man sogar die Erscheinung der einheimischen materiellen Kulturen als Ergebnis eines komplizierten Prozesses der Verschmelzung der einheimischen und fremden Elementen betrachten.

"What Nature have done," writes Vazha-Pshavela, "What mastery is it used to say, "Let's give to the beautiful Pshavian woman, because beauty is short-lived - for a while, a bit of time to spend it with a loving, platonic love The heart of the courageous man..."