Farhad Mammadov: The test of the Azerbaijan-Turkey alliance

Author: Farhad Mammadov, Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Center for Analysis of International Relations and Multiculturalism

Source: F. Mammadov's Telegram channel

Relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey are going through an emotional crisis of mutual perception.

It can be said that the alliance between the countries has reached the ceiling of integration possibilities, when in the traditional formula "one nation — two states," the second part of the formula, namely "two states," creates a natural limiter.

The content of the crisis

Outwardly, the topics about which much has been said and written are visible. Let us simply identify them:

- in Turkey, the topic of relations between Azerbaijan and Israel is raised

- in Turkey, the topic of school uniform rules in Azerbaijan is raised

- in Azerbaijan, the topic of relations between Turkey and Armenia is raised

It seems that only these three topics are in the socio-political discourse, where the specific names of countries are openly mentioned…

Economic relations, trade turnover, infrastructure and energy projects, military-technical cooperation, foreign policy priorities in the South Caucasus, in Central Asia, within the framework of the OTS, in the Middle East, in the European direction, relations with Russia, China, the United States, in the Balkans, Africa and much more are outside these contradictions.

Let us simply record the range of issues that have generated negative information over the past couple of months.

Let us note that foreign policy is the sovereign right of every state. How to implement foreign policy is determined by each country in accordance with its national interests. This is about the formula "one nation — two states."

Many in Turkey have asked why Turkey synchronizes its policy toward Armenia with Azerbaijan, while Azerbaijan does not synchronize its policy toward Israel with Turkey. It is all very simple, because Armenia occupied the territories of Azerbaijan, while Israel has not occupied anything belonging to Turkey. Azerbaijan plays a role in the process of normalizing relations between Turkey and Israel. And trade between Turkey and Israel continues as usual.

So, let us note that the topics of relations with Israel and of school uniform rules relate to the sovereignty of Azerbaijan, and the positions voiced in Turkey relate to Turkey's expectations of Azerbaijan, which Azerbaijan does not accept.

During the presidency of R.T. Erdogan, Turkey has developed an ideological foreign policy; this is no news for Baku. All this time, Azerbaijan has been trying to bring relations into the framework of pragmatism, without diminishing the emotional component. The alliance with Azerbaijan is Turkey's success story in the region, since Azerbaijan supports this alliance organizationally, financially, in energy terms and with all available resources in the region and far beyond it.

Yes, we had crises in relations in 2009, and practice has shown that Azerbaijan turned out to be on the right side of history.

There are many external parties interested in the complication of relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey. Here, circles in power in Iran and Israel act as like-minded parties.

Thus, we state that the obsessive expectations voiced by officials, politicians and public figures close to the Turkish authorities with regard to Azerbaijan constitute direct pressure on the sovereignty of Azerbaijan. From Azerbaijan, responses followed from the ruling party and the inter-parliamentary friendship group. After all, we do not say what we dislike in the state structures of Turkey, where representatives of various sects have settled in…

What will happen?

Before the end of the year, an OTS summit is expected in Turkey, where the chairmanship is to pass to Azerbaijan. Until then, statements by Turkish politicians may provoke a response from Azerbaijani ones. This will only increase the tension. The main thing is to remain within the limits of rhetorical confrontation, without moving to the level of decision-making. No one can change the natural essence of the alliance between Azerbaijan and Turkey, either at the state level or at the level of relations between the peoples. It is important to identify the bottom of the crisis and ensure a rebound. The crisis will create new frameworks of relations, the crossing of which will be regarded as an encroachment on sovereignty.