"Turkic world is a priority of Azerbaijan's foreign policy". View from Baku
Azerbaijan and the Turkic world
Relations with member countries of the Organization of Turkic States have been named a new vector of Azerbaijan‘s foreign policy. “This is the main international organization for us, because it is our family. We have no other family. Our family is the Turkic world,” president Ilham Aliyev said.
According to Azerbaijani experts, if Azerbaijan wants to get the maximum from geopolitical processes through Central Asia, it “should give way to Western investments, but at the same time it has to maintain a balance in relations with Russia.”
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“President Ilham Aliyev has announced that in the new period the main direction of Azerbaijan’s foreign policy will be relations with the Turkic world,” says an article by a group of Azerbaijani analysts in the “View to the East” think tank.
In their opinion, getting the dynamics of Azerbaijan’s relations with the Turkic world has its geopolitical backstage.
“Thus, the growing attention of the main world powers to the Caspian basin and the Central Asian region creates a new plane for the growth of Azerbaijan’s strategic importance, and the country’s leadership wants to build the foreign policy of the new period on this importance. The Organization of Turkic States (OTS) is expected to play a particularly big role in this,” the experts stressed.
In his speech at the official inauguration ceremony on February 14, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said:
We will continue to take our steps related to international organizations, we will continue our efforts, first of all, within the framework of the Organization of Turkic States. This is a priority for us, and I want to state it openly. Probably, the current policy makes it clear to everyone. This is the main international organization for us, because it is our family. We have no other family. Our family is the Turkic world.
If someone thinks that we should look for a family elsewhere, I can say that we are not welcome anywhere and they are not hiding it. If in previous years, particularly during the occupation, they tried to lure us with certain promises to mislead us, i.e. to throw dust in our eyes, then today these masks have been torn off and the dividing lines are clearly visible. We did not draw these dividing lines, we are against them.
Today we can clearly see these dividing lines even in the South Caucasus, where there are only three countries. In this case – should we bow down to those who do not want to accept us? Not at all, it will not happen!
Our family is the Turkic world. It feels great. We have brotherly relations with all member countries of the Organization of Turkic States, and our policy is to strengthen the Organization of Turkic States. It is a big geography, big territory, big military force, big economy, natural resources, transportation routes, young population, growing population, and we are peoples of the same kind, of the same roots. Can there be a unity stronger than that? Of course not.
We must work together to make the Organization of Turkic States become an important actor and a center of power in the global arena. We can only achieve this together.
“Just as Azerbaijan has expectations from Central Asia, Central Asia has its own expectations from Azerbaijan. Central Asian countries need investment on a huge scale to balance China’s influence and development. Azerbaijan does not have such investment opportunities, but the country can take advantage of its geographical position to serve as a bridge between Central Asia and Turkey, as well as the West.
Naturally, it is important not to spoil relations with Russia. Because the states located east of the Caspian Sea have too limited room for maneuver in front of Russia. Until they receive real security guarantees, the Central Asian states will behave cautiously in their relations with Russia, and it is desirable for them that Azerbaijan should also be on this line.
The Organization of Turkic States has five full members (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey and Uzbekistan) and three observer countries (Hungary, Turkmenistan and the unrecognized Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus).
In other words, if Azerbaijan wants to get the most out of geopolitical processes through Central Asia and increase its strategic importance, it must give way to Western investments, but at the same time, it has to maintain a balance in its relations with Russia. In today’s realities, playing by these rules does not seem realistic.
Certainly, the commonality of history, culture, language, ethnicity and religion gives a powerful impetus to Azerbaijan’s relations with Central Asia, and this commonality has allowed Azerbaijan to acquire such an important ally as Uzbekistan.
But the limits of maneuverability are determined by investment, in other words, money. If Azerbaijan fails to attract investment in Central Asian countries, the Turkic line in these states will remain at the level of a moral prism and will not be positioned as a real power center. Things are more complicated on the eastern shores of the Caspian Sea than it may seem,” Azerbaijani analysts say.
