Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he intends to visit Baku on Nov. 8, Azerbaijan’s Victory Day, for talks aimed at taking “necessary steps” in relations between the two countries.
Erdogan disclosed the plan to reporters while returning from South Korea and said the visit would proceed unless an emergency arose, Vesti Baku reported.
The Turkish leader said ties between Ankara and Baku went beyond ordinary diplomacy and were based on shared history, culture and a common future. He said there was no obstacle the two countries’ brotherhood could not overcome.
Visit Follows Period of Strain
The announcement came after several weeks of tension. Criticism in Turkey of Azerbaijan’s new school-uniform requirements, which restrict clothing deemed incompatible with the secular character of public education, prompted Baku to reject what it considered interference in domestic affairs.
Questions also followed President Ilham Aliyev’s absence from an Organization of Turkic States summit in Ankara, which Erdogan had personally invited him to attend.
Erdogan said he had spoken with Aliyev by phone during the period and had also sent Turkey’s intelligence chief and foreign minister to Azerbaijan. Contacts between the two governments have continued.
The expected Nov. 8 visit would be the leaders’ first face-to-face meeting since the public dispute. A detailed agenda has not been announced.