New development at the summit that Erdoğan did not attend: Aliyev accepted Hakan Fidan

Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan attended the 7th Heads of State and Government Summit of the Conference on Cooperation and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) held in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.

Fidan, who was at the summit representing AKP President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, was accepted by Azerbaijani President İlham Aliyev.

In the statement made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it was stated that the reception was held within the scope of the summit. No details were shared regarding the content of the meeting.

ERDOĞAN'S NOT ATTENDING THE SUMMIT DRAWED ATTENTION

At a time when discussions between Türkiye and Azerbaijan over the headscarf practice in schools continued, President Erdoğan's absence from the summit in Baku drew attention.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's party, the New Azerbaijan Party (YAP), reacted to the criticism of the President's Chief Advisor Oktay Saral and some AKP MPs regarding the headscarf practice in the country.

While YAP evaluated the statements from Türkiye as interference in Azerbaijan's internal affairs, similar messages were given by Azerbaijan State Television.

ERDOĞAN ATTENDED PREVIOUS SUMMITS

Erdoğan attended the 5th CICA Summit held in Tajikistan in 2019 and the 6th CICA Summit held in Kazakhstan in 2022.

At the 4th CICA Summit held in China in 2014, Türkiye was represented by the then Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmet Davutoğlu.