Turkey: with an upcoming visit to Azerbaijan, Erdogan wants to establish his influence in the Caucasus
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in Ankara on April 12, 2021. AFP - ADEM ALTAN
Text by: Anne Andlauer
4 min
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has confirmed that he will visit Azerbaijan early next week.
A three-day visit that the Turkish president described as “
official
” and “
family
”, with a symbolic stopover in Choucha.
This city was taken over by Baku during the conflict last fall against Armenian forces in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
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From our correspondent in Istanbul,
Azerbaijan's victory in Nagorno-Karabakh owes a lot to Turkey's support.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
will not fail to recall this. Ankara saw it as an opportunity to demonstrate the effectiveness of its armed drones. This is because they played a decisive role in the advance of Baku's forces on the ground of Nagorno-Karabakh. At the height of the conflict, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev thanked Ankara, saying that these drones showed "
Turkey's potential
".
This is exactly what Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants to hear.
The Turkish president is particularly proud to have propelled his country among the world leaders in this technology.
The war in Nagorno-Karabakh was therefore seen in Ankara as a promotional campaign for its defense industry, as the conflict in Libya had been a few months earlier.
It is no coincidence that Turkey, which already supplies Ukraine with its Bayraktar TB2-type drones, announced last month that it had sold 24 of them to Poland, specifying that it was a first order for a NATO and EU country.
This week, Latvia has shown great interest.
In both cases, these European states highlighted the effectiveness of Turkish drones in Nagorno-Karabakh.
►
See also: Recep Tayyip Erdogan celebrates victory in Azerbaijan
Reconstruction of Nagorno-Karabakh
Beyond the defense industry, Turkey expects wider economic benefits from its support for Azerbaijan.
Again, this is not said in half words.
Turkish Trade Minister Mehmet Mus recently praised the "
benevolence
" with which the government in Baku has treated Turkish companies so far, saying he is confident that this attitude will extend to areas recaptured during the conflict.
“
Our companies want to play a key role in the reconstruction of Nagorno-Karabakh.
This is what the Turkish minister announced to his Azerbaijani interlocutors during an economic forum at the end of May.
The volume of trade between the two countries exceeded $ 4.6 billion last year - up 5% despite the pandemic - with the goal of increasing it to $ 15 billion.
Russo-Turkish understanding
For Ankara, it is also, from the beginning, a question of consolidating its influence in the Caucasus.
But Turkey also knows that its place in the regional equation will depend on the balance that can be found with Russia, which considers this region as its area of influence.
As in Syria and Libya, Turkey has shown itself in Nagorno-Karabakh as a country that can stand up to Moscow, with the ambition - not always reciprocal - to link negotiations on all of these issues.
The Russo-Turkish understanding, mixing rivalry and cooperation, raises many questions within the Atlantic Alliance.
Just before his visit to Azerbaijan, Recep Tayyip Erdogan will also participate on Monday June 14 in a meeting of heads of state and government of NATO countries in Brussels.
He is due in particular to meet with US President Joe Biden.
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See also: Europe worried about Turkey's offensive policy
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