Azerbaijan has made a major contribution to the restoration of friendly relations between Russia and Turkey, and the key role in this process belongs to President Ilham Aliyev. The distinctive characteristic of the President of Azerbaijan is that his actions are not driven by his personal ambitions, he is above that. He is a far-sighted politician, a wise, brave person and a true friend of Russia and Turkey.
Azerbaijan had two options in the current tense situation in the Russian-Turkish relations – to take a neutral stance, letting the conflict progress naturally, or stand side by side with Russia in order to help it overcome the differences with the Turkish side.
As you know, on April 29th, 2015, Ilham Aliyev gave an interview to Russia-24, saying that it is no secret that Baku's position has always been unambiguous: Azerbaijan is against anti-Russian sanctions. The President also reminded that when the situation was discussed in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe the Azerbaijani delegation unanimously was against anti-Russian sanctions.
The United States and the European Union did not like that decision. Moreover, many in the West were happy that Russia and Turkey were no longer friends. But Ilham Aliyev knew that friendly relations between Moscow and Ankara are in the interests of all the parties involved: the countries of the region and above all Russia and Turkey.
CEO at ‘MIA Russia today’ Dmitry Kiselyov noted this in an interview with a ‘Vestnik Kavkaza’ correspondent, saying: ‘‘He [Aliyev] has a quality to keep his word. Nowadays it is a rare quality even among the leaders of the major powers. I think that it also determines the nature of friendship and trust between Vladimir Putin and Ilham Aliyev. They both know that they can always rely on each other, as well as on understanding and fulfillment of mutual commitments."
Ilham Aliyev and the whole country [Azerbaijan] have another distinguishing characteristic: they know the high price of independence and they will not dance to anybody’s tune. An independent foreign policy of Azerbaijan is the driving force behind the development of the country – the progress of the country under the leadership of its President. "I understand that it was predetermined by an independent policy of Baku that does not intend to join NATO or other Western institutions," Dmitry Kiselyov noted.
Ilham Aliyev has his own position. If he said that relations between Russia and Turkey should be restored, it was not said just for the sake of saying, he did everything to make it happen. He was supported by his colleagues – President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev and President of Belarus Aleksander Lukashenko who also have a habit of keeping words. And they proved that it was the only right thing to do.
