Yekaterina Tesemnikova exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza
The President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev is currently on an official visit to Ankara. He has already met the Prime Minister of Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu and President Recep Erdogan, who invited his Azerbaijani colleague to the G20 summit in November in Antalya. Turkey as the host has the right to invite one country at its own decision to the G20 summit. It is obvious why Ankara has chosen Azerbaijan.
One of the main political issues of the current Azerbaijani-Turkish summit was the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Ilham Aliyev reminded that the Azerbaijani territories which were recognized by the international community had been occupied for many years, despite the fact that the UN Security Council adopted four resolutions on the withdrawal of Armenian occupational forces from the territories. “The non-fulfillment of the resolutions shows that Armenia doesn’t want peace,” Aliyev thinks. Meanwhile, according to him, the OSCE Minsk Group hasn’t achieved any success during these years: “The work is going on, but, unfortunately, there is no result. Last year some progress could be seen in the negotiating progress. However, provocative steps by Armenia, especially conducting wide-scale war games on occupied territories, on the territory of the Agdam Region last November and an attack on the Azerbaijani positions received an appropriate answer from the Azerbaijani side; the enemy was kept at a distance. Of course, this didn’t influence the negotiating process positively.”
Aliyev stated that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict could be resolved only within the principle of territorial integrity. “To achieve it, we need to be even stronger. Today Turkish-Azerbaijani unity and cooperation are the main factor of a world scale. Nobody can deny the factor,” the Azerbaijani President said.
The marking of the 100th anniversary of the victory in the Çanakkale battle on April 24th will be confirmation of the unity. During World War I the armies of the Entente conducted a major landing operation in the Dardanelles, intending to divide the Ottoman Empire. The Azerbaijanis joined the Turkish army to resist the division of Turkey, collected money and humanitarian aid. According to Erdogan, on April 25th heads of several states will be invited to Turkey. It is interesting that on the day Armenia and the Armenian Diaspora plan to mark the 100th anniversary of “the Armenian genocide” Baku and Ankara think that as an answer to the Armenian myth Turkic states should honor the memory of Turkish soldiers who sacrificed their lives in favor of the country’s integrity.
Moreover, the presidents discussed contemporary Azerbaijani-Turkish military exercises, which would be held regularly. Ankara and Baku also plan joint production of defense weapons and equipments.
However, economic issues dominated the summit. It turned out that by 2023 Turkey and Azerbaijan intend to increase their trade turnover to $15 billion. The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, which will be built this year, will encourage growth.
In recent years the volume of mutual investments has been growing steadily. By 2020 the volume of Azerbaijani investment in the Turkish economy should reach $20 billion. Turkish companies are also successfully working in Azerbaijan. They have already fulfilled projects worth $10 billion.
According to Erdogan, in relations with Azerbaijan Turkey pays special attention to energy projects, including the construction of TANAP, which will lead to the promotion of Azerbaijan's and Turkey’s roles in the world. TANAP is thought to be a pillar of the more global project of the South Gas Corridor. An agreement on TANAP was signed in Istanbul three years ago. And now the SGC intends to deepen cooperation between all the participants of the project. Certain recommendations on its fulfillment will be made at the first Advisory Board of the South Gas Corridor, which will take place in Baku in February. The SGC and exploration of Shakh Deniz gas field are the biggest infrastructural projects, in which $45 billion will be invested.
It is notable that ahead of the visit to Ankara by Ilham Aliyev, Vladimir Putin visited the country. And observers began to talk about the formation of a triangle Moscow-Ankara-Baku. The Russian President stated about rejection of the South Stream and establishment of the Turkish Stream. Experts said that Gazprom should use TANAP for delivery of its gas to European markets, as it will be a powerful connecting link. Today the head of Gazprom, Alexei Miller, confirmed that the South Stream project has been completely shut down and transit of gas through Ukraine will be stopped. Thus, the Turkish Stream remains the only option for providing Europe with gas.
