Azerbaijan–Turkey relations have been strong between the only two predominantly Turkic countries located west of the Caspian Sea and east of the Mediterranean Sea. Former Azerbaijani president Heydar Aliyev often described the two as being "one nation, two states."
Turkey was one of the first countries to recognize Azerbaijan's independence on 4 June 1918 (Treaty of Batum) and the first to recognize Azerbaijan's restoration of independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Since then, Turkey has been a staunch supporter of Azerbaijan in its efforts to consolidate its independence, preserve its territorial integrity over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, and realize its economic potential arising from the rich natural resources of the Caspian Sea. The two countries share a long international borderline, with the Aras River separating Turkey from the Nakhchivan exclave of Azerbaijan.
History
Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic period After the signing of the Treaty of Kars, a diplomatic mission of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic was sent to Turkey. From 1921 to 1922, the diplomatic representative of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic and the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic to Turkey was Ibrahim Abilov.
Since 1991
First Nagorno-Karabakh War
When the First Nagorno-Karabakh War began, Turkey fully supported Azerbaijan, particularly during the presidency of Azerbaijani President Abulfaz Elchibey. After the Kalbajar District came under the control of the Armenian Armed Forces, Turkey expressed its support for Azerbaijan at an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council held on April 6, 1993. However, the Security Council did not accept Turkey’s proposed wording describing the situation as “Armenian aggression against the sovereign Republic of Azerbaijan.” Instead, the adopted resolution merely expressed serious concern over the escalation of hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and did not mention Armenian aggression.
In May 1992, Armenian armed forces attacked the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, raising the possibility of Turkish intervention in the war. In 1993, Turkey unilaterally closed the Armenia–Turkey border in response to the occupation of Azerbaijani territories by Armenian forces. The Turkish government stated that the border could be reopened if Armenia ceased pursuing international recognition of the Armenian genocide and withdrew from the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone.
However, Turkey’s support largely remained at the diplomatic level. According to researcher Svante Cornell, this was because Turkey feared worsening relations with Russia, another influential actor in the Caucasus region. In April 1993, after Armenian forces captured Kalbajar District, Turkish President Turgut Özal accused Russia of supporting Armenia. He also announced that Turkey would expand military cooperation with Azerbaijan and begin supplying weapons. In response, Russian Defense Minister Pavel Grachev, during a visit to Ankara, reportedly warned Turkey to “keep its hands off the Azerbaijani issue.”
Second Nagorno-Karabakh War
Turkey also supported Azerbaijan during the 2020 Second Nagorno-Karabakh War. Following the ceasefire declaration, Turkey continued providing assistance to Azerbaijan in clearing mines and improvised explosive devices left behind by Armenian forces in the recovered territories.
On November 11, 2020, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar signed a memorandum of understanding on the establishment of a joint center to monitor the ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Political relations
State visits İlham Aliyev visited Turkey in 2003 shortly after first entering the Azerbaijani political scene at the behest of his ailing father Heydar Aliyev in a move that was interpreted at the time as an indication of political support from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
On 13 May 2009, Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan visited Baku with a delegation to strengthen ties between Turkey and Azerbaijan. In a joint press conference with President Aliyev, Erdoğan emphasized that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was the cause of the closed border and that Turkey would not normalize relations with Armenia until the occupation ended. He also reaffirmed Turkey's support for Azerbaijan's territorial integrity. The visit was positively received by Turkish opposition parties, and Erdoğan later met with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to discuss regional issues, including Nagorno-Karabakh.
OSCE Minsk Group Turkey supports the OSCE Minsk Group, as a mechanism for resolving the territorial dispute and views it from the principle of Azerbaijani integrity. Turkey did not recognize the previously de facto independent republic of Nagorno-Karabakh that emerged, otherwise known as Artsakh. Turkey has supported various indirect bilateral talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia and initiated trilateral dialogue in Reykjavík in 2002 and the Istanbul Summit, 2004 among the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia in an attempt to resolve the ongoing conflict, but its diplomatic efforts are hampered by its own tensions with Armenia over the claim of Armenian genocide and its ongoing border blockade against Armenia, which has resulted in subsequent infrastructure projects bypassing Armenian territory.
Shusha Declaration
After Azerbaijan won the Second Karabakh War, The Victory Parade was held in Baku with the participation of Turkey and Turkish President Erdoğan. During this parade, President Erdoğan read the lyrics of a famous anonymous folk song Aras Türküsü also known as Ay Laçin (wrongly attributed to Bakhtiyar Vahabzadeh), which led to a controversy between Turkey and Iran regarding Iranian Azerbaijan since Iran has a very large Turk and Azerbaijani population. Months after this ceremony, the Shusha Declaration was signed in Shusha, Karabakh, between Turkish President Erdoğan and Azerbaijani President Aliyev, which deepened the relations between the two countries. After this declaration, political, economic and military cooperation between Azerbaijan and Turkey reached a higher level. The Azerbaijani Armed Forces abandoned the Soviet model by taking the Turkish military as an example. The Azerbaijani defense industry decided to cooperate with Turkish defense companies. Turkey stated that it would support Azerbaijan's Zangezur corridor project. The two countries also formed a defense pact.
Armenian–Turkish diplomatic progress in the 2000s
On the eve of the April 2009 official visit to Turkey by US President Barack Obama, sources in Ankara and Yerevan announced that a deal may soon be struck to reopen the border between the two states and exchange diplomatic personnel. That prompted concerns from both Baku and Turkish nationalists that the ongoing negotiations over the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute would be adversely affected by the lifting of the longstanding blockade. Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry spokesman Elkhan Polukhov initially stated that it was "too early" to discuss what steps his country might take in retaliation." Azerbaijani President İlham Aliyev failed to take part in the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) meeting in Istanbul on 6–7 April, which was claimed to be a protest. There was a speculation in the Turkish press that Azerbaijan had received distorted information on the content of the Armenian-Turkish talks through Russian channels. Further developments proved those claims to be groundless.
There was also heated debate in the Turkish Parliament with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader, Devlet Bahçeli, who shared the Azerbaijanis' "rightful concerns" in warning the government: "Your approach to Armenia harms our dignity". The Republican People's Party (CHP) leader, Deniz Baykal, asked, "How can we ignore the ongoing occupation of Azerbaijan?" Both parties were dispatching delegations to Baku and hosting Azerbaijani politicians in Ankara.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attempted to ease those concerns by announcing, "Unless Azerbaijan and Armenia sign a protocol on Nagorno-Karabakh, we will not sign any final agreement with Armenia on ties. We are doing preliminary work but this definitely depends on resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem". Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan clarified that "we want a solution in which everybody is a winner" in a statement prior to the 15 April Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) Foreign Ministers Council in Yerevan: "We don't say, 'Let's first solve one problem and solve the other later.' We want a similar process to start between Azerbaijan and Armenia. We are closely watching the talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia". Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Mahmud Mammad Guliev responded that the solution to both countries' problems should be tied to the solution of the dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia and that Azerbaijanis believe that Turkey will protect their interests.
The International Crisis Group (ICG) issued a report on the normalisation: "The politicized debate whether to recognize as genocide the destruction of much of the Ottoman Armenian population and the stalemated Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh should not halt momentum. ... The unresolved Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh still risks undermining full adoption and implementation of the potential package deal between Turkey and Armenia. ... Bilateral détente with Armenia ultimately could help Baku recover territory better than the current stalemate".
Failure and cancellation of proposed Azerbaijan–Turkey visa-free regime
Azerbaijan agreed to a visa-free regime with Turkey while Iran also demanded the same visa-free regime with Azerbaijan. Iran had threatened to cut off the critical supply line between Azerbaijan and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic if Azerbaijan lifted visa requirements for Turkish citizens but not extend the same privilege to Iranian citizens. According to Azerbaijani diplomats, a visa-free travel regime proposed by Turkey in 2009 had fallen victim to Iranian pressure on Azerbaijan, prompting the last-minute cancellation of the deal between Baku and Ankara. Azerbaijani diplomats also said the national interests of Azerbaijan did not allow for an open-border policy with Iran since political instability in Iran may trigger a huge influx of Iranian ethnic Azeris refugees to Azerbaijan and did not want the proposed Turkey-Azerbaijan Visa-Free Regime to be reciprocal with Iran as well. Azerbaijan lifted visa requirements for Turkish citizens from 1 September 2019.
Strategic partnership In June 2010, Azerbaijan and Turkey have signed key agreement on a package of Shah Deniz gas issues in Istanbul. The agreement also will open the way for securing supplies to the EU's flagship Nabucco gas pipeline project. On 16 September 2010, countries signed a treaty to establish Strategic Cooperation Council in Istanbul. In December 2010, National Assembly of Azerbaijan ratified on strategic partnership and mutual assistance between Azerbaijan and Turkey. The agreement consists of 23 articles and five chapters: Military-political and security issues, military and military-technical cooperation, humanitarian issues, economic cooperation, and common and final provisions.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in a written statement that the 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria will serve to eliminate the terror risks, return of the refugees to their homes, solution of the humanitarian problems, and providing peace and stability within the territorial integrity of Syria.