Azerbaijan is expanding its diplomatic role across Asian, Central Asian, Turkic, Islamic, post-Soviet and European forums, giving Baku a presence in several overlapping geopolitical groupings.
Political analyst Farhad Mammadov said the country’s upcoming summits and leadership roles reflect a “multilayered geopolitical identity,” according to a Telegram post reported by Vesti Baku.
Mammadov argued that parallel participation in different regional formats allows Azerbaijan to maintain relationships with distinct groups of states and serve as a venue connecting them.
CICA and Central Asia
Azerbaijan has chaired the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia, or CICA, since December 2024. Baku is scheduled to host the organization’s seventh summit on Oct. 15, 2026.
Azerbaijan became a full participant in the consultative format linking it with the five Central Asian states in 2025. Leaders at their Oct. 8 meeting in Turkmenbashi agreed that Azerbaijan would host the next consultative meeting in 2027.
Turkic and Islamic Formats
The Organization of Turkic States timeline requires clarification. Azerbaijan already holds the organization’s rotating chairmanship, which it received from Kyrgyzstan at the October 2025 Gabala summit. Türkiye is scheduled to host the next OTS summit in Ankara on Oct. 29–30, 2026, when the chairmanship is expected to pass to Ankara.
In 2027, Azerbaijan will host the 16th Islamic Summit Conference and assume the chairmanship of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. The summit is scheduled for June 23–24 in Baku.
CIS and European Political Community
President Ilham Aliyev said on Oct. 9 that Azerbaijan will co-chair the Commonwealth of Independent States in 2027 and is ready to take the full chairmanship in 2028. Baku also offered to host that year’s meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of State.
Azerbaijan is separately scheduled to host a European Political Community summit in May 2028. European Council planning lists Azerbaijan and Latvia as the forum’s hosts during that year.
Mammadov said the combination of these platforms demonstrates Azerbaijan’s simultaneous ties to several geopolitical spaces and described the schedule as diplomacy in action.