![Opportunities for Ankara and Baku in new geopolitics Opportunities for Ankara and Baku in new geopolitics](/en/assets/uploads/2022/10/237109.jpg)
Opportunities for Ankara and Baku in new geopolitics
Türkiye, which made a critical contribution to Karabakh’s liberation, also plays an important role in the region’s reconstruction.
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President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited Azerbaijan on Thursday with a delegation that included yours truly. To be honest, the Turkish president’s visit to the country was met with such excitement that one couldn't help but feel like they were actually visiting any province in Türkiye.
The opening ceremonies, which featured the recitation of the Surah Al-Fath, also reminded participants of Karabakh’s return to Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijani victory. The region, which was liberated from Armenian occupation and, subsequently, land mines, currently witnesses a rapid development drive. As part of Azerbaijan’s “Great Return” project, the government has been building infrastructure including highways, railways, airports and smart cities.
Türkiye, which made a critical contribution to Karabakh’s liberation, also plays an important role in the region’s reconstruction. As such, Erdoğan’s visit covered the opening ceremony of the Zangilan International Airport, the second airport to have been built in Karabakh, as well as the opening ceremony of the first part of Dost Agropark smart agricultural village and the groundbreaking ceremonies for the Kumlak Train Station and the Jabrayil Forestry Training Center.
The friendship between Erdoğan, who heavily relies on leader-to-leader diplomacy, and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, is on a completely different level. It is possible to reach that conclusion by looking at the frequency of their meetings as well as their behavior at opening ceremonies. Aliyev pledging to go to Shusha, a recently liberated city of great symbolic significance, “with my brother Erdoğan” attested to that emotional bond. Let us also recall that Erdoğan attended the opening ceremony of Fuzuli Airport in Karabakh and Aliyev reciprocated by attending the opening ceremony of the Rize-Artvin Airport. On Thursday, the two leaders experienced the joy of rebuilding Karabakh together.
Obviously, taking back Karabakh after three decades represented a victory that strengthened Aliyev’s leadership and consolidated Azerbaijan’s national identity. That victory also bolstered the Turkish-Azerbaijani friendship and fraternity, which gained a strong foundation through the Shusha Declaration. The cooperation between the two states in many areas, from energy to defense, gradually evolves into multidimensional integration. Moreover, the new geopolitical situation, which emerged out of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, encourages Türkiye and Azerbaijan to take bolder steps together.
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