[ Eurasianet ] In Karabakh, Turkish and Azerbaijani leaders cement alliance

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan paid his first official visit to Karabakh eight months after Azerbaijan’s victory in the war against Armenia. He and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev on June 15 signed a new agreement aimed at boosting cooperation between the two countries on defense and economic issues.

Erdogan was the first foreign leader to visit Karabakh following last year’s 44-day war, in which Turkish support proved critical to Azerbaijan’s victory.

En route, Aliyev briefed Erdogan on the reconstruction work that has taken place in the region so far, and the involvement of Turkish companies in the rebuilding.
In Shusha, the two met one on one and then emerged to sign a “Shusha Declaration on Allied Relations” between the two states.

“The name of the declaration says it all,” Aliyev told press. “Today, we have established a qualitatively new relationship, and all provisions of this declaration are a guarantee of our future cooperation.” Aliyev said the agreement was the most significant treaty since the 1921 Treaty of Kars, which established the borders between Turkey and the three Caucasus Soviet republics.

In their comments about the declaration, Aliyev and Erdogan emphasized the defense and economic elements.“Every issue has a great importance. I would especially like to note two of them. Firstly, cooperation, collaboration in the defense field, defense industry field, and mutual military assistance issues.” Aliyev said at a joint press event in Shusha. The second, he said, was the “Zangezur corridor,” the term Azerbaijan uses for a planned transportation link connecting Azerbaijan’s mainland to the exclave of Nakhchivan and onward to Turkey.