Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's recent visit to Azerbaijan undertaken right after the municipal elections, which were a major challenge for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), is a remarkable event in the history of the two countries' bilateral relations, Professor at the Western University Fikret Sadykhov and Associate Professor at the University of Economics and Technology Togrul Ismail believe.
Before the meeting media reported that some kind of military cooperation agreement may be signed by the two leaders, however no such document was signed or even discussed, Togrul Ismail says.
According to him, both Turkey and Azerbaijan are deeply concerned about the situation in Crimea and totally support the territorial integrity of Ukraine, but the two states are not ready to confront Russia openly. That is why this issue could have been discussed behind closed doors, but no statement was made anyway, the expert says.
Fikret Sadykhov believes that it would be quite natural to enhance military ties, taking into consideration the situation in Ukraine, but stresses that Azerbaijan is not going to join Nato. "Azerbaijan is not seeking membership in Nato and never has done," he said.
