Turkey and Azerbaijan contained a crisis that almost destroyed their strong historical relationship against the backdrop of tension over a decision issued by Baku last September regarding school uniform rules that led to a ban on the hijab in some schools amid sharp criticism from Ankara.
During a visit he initiated to Azerbaijan, on Sunday, to attend the “Victory Day” celebrations, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a message in which he stressed that the relations between his country and Azerbaijan, which are described as a relationship of “one people in two countries,” cannot weaken.
Erdogan said, in a press conference with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, held in the city of Fuzuli in Nagorno-Karabakh, that attempts to weaken fraternal relations between Turkey and Azerbaijan, which were strengthened by the “Shusha Declaration” in 2021, did not succeed in the past, and will not succeed in the future, stressing that the unity between the two countries will last forever, and that the brotherhood between Turkey and Azerbaijan goes far beyond just a common language, history, and culture.
He added, "Those who seek to weaken this brotherhood that we strengthened with the declaration that we signed in the city of Shusha, Azerbaijan, on June 15, 2021, will not achieve their goals, just as they did not achieve them in the past, and will not achieve them in the future." Erdogan continued that the advanced level that the “Organization of Turkish States” has reached today is the best evidence of our will and joint efforts.
Erdogan touched on the victory achieved by Azerbaijan in Karabakh and the liberation of the historic city of Shusha in 2020. Which ended the war with Armenia, saying that Azerbaijan’s liberation of its lands from occupation during the 44-day “war of independence” had opened a new era in the South Caucasus.
He added: “Our mission today is to crown the victory achieved on the battlefields with lasting peace and stability,” stressing that Türkiye will continue to support Azerbaijan’s sincere efforts to establish lasting peace in our region.
In turn, Aliyev expressed his “deep gratitude for the presence of President Erdogan by their side on Victory Day, pointing out that Erdogan and the brotherly Turkish people stood by Azerbaijan during the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020, saying: “The statement that Erdogan made in the first hours of the war, and the phone call he made with him, showed the whole world that sisterly Türkiye stands with Azerbaijan. His statement gave us more strength and higher morale.”
Through his visit to Azerbaijan and attending Victory Day celebrations, Erdogan aimed to defuse tension between the two countries against the backdrop of the school uniform decision that imposed restrictions on wearing the hijab in schools, and to prevent its impact on close political, military, economic and cultural relations.
The dispute between the two countries intensified when Erdogan's chief advisor, Oktay Saral, criticized the new rules in Azerbaijan, which Azerbaijan considered interference in its internal affairs. On October 21, Baku declared 31 Turkish citizens “persona non grata.”
The stalemate in the “Peace and Democratic Society Process,” or what Ankara calls the “Terrorism-Free Turkey Process,” based on the dissolution and disarmament of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), for nearly 3 months, raises questions and concerns about the possibility of its continuation amid assurances from the government and parliament that it has not and will not stop.
The co-chair of the People's Democracy and Equality Party, Tuncer Bakirhan, called on the government to take concrete steps that reassure society and increase confidence and support for this process, and not deal with it from a security perspective.
Bakirhan said: “The government and the state should not deal with this issue from a purely security perspective. The Kurdish issue is not a security issue, and the issue of democracy should not be viewed in this way.”
In turn, the Speaker of the Turkish Parliament, Numan Kurtulmus, confirmed that the process that began to solve the most important problem facing Turkey in the first century of the Republic’s history, which is the problem of terrorism, will continue as a project for the Republic in the second century of its history, and not as a project for a single political party or group of parties.
In the same context, the prominent Kurdish politician, Selahattin Demirtas, confirmed that one of the main reasons for the stagnation of the process is the lack of trust between its two parties, considering that the most urgent step is to create the appropriate conditions for Ocalan’s status, work, and communication in a manner commensurate with his role in the process.
