AZE.US
Azerbaijan and Turkey may disagree on some regional and foreign policy issues, but they act almost as a single political force when it comes to Armenia, according to Armenian political analyst Alexander Iskandaryan.
Iskandaryan, director of the Caucasus Institute, made the remarks during an interview with the Trigger program on Armenia’s 168.am channel.
He said the slogan “one nation, two states” does not fully reflect the relationship between Baku and Ankara, since even the closest allies have conflicting interests.
One of the most visible differences, he said, is their approach toward Israel. Azerbaijan maintains close political, economic and security ties with Israel, while relations between Turkey and Israel have sharply deteriorated.
Iskandaryan also pointed to differences over the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and what he described as concerns inside Azerbaijan over expanding Turkish cultural and religious influence.
However, he argued that these disagreements have little practical significance when viewed from Yerevan.
“When it comes to Armenia, their policy is almost 100 percent unified,” Iskandaryan said.
He argued that Turkey largely supports Azerbaijan’s position on the full range of issues involving Armenia.
“When looking from Yerevan, the situation is not that Baku is on our right and Ankara is on our left. We have two Bakus,” he said.
According to Iskandaryan, the demands communicated to Armenia from Ankara largely reflect Azerbaijan’s position rather than an independent Turkish agenda.
“The demands presented to us from Ankara are Baku’s demands, not Ankara’s,” he said.
Iskandaryan acknowledged that disagreements between Azerbaijan and Turkey have occasionally surfaced publicly.
He referred to statements made after the 2020 Second Karabakh War, when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke about a shared victory, while Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stressed that the victory had been achieved by Azerbaijan and its people.
Still, Iskandaryan said such differences do not change the broader picture.
“In matters related to Armenia, they currently act as a single political body,” he said.
The Armenian analyst also discussed Israel’s move toward recognizing the Armenian genocide. He argued that the decision was driven primarily by the deterioration of Israeli-Turkish relations rather than by developments involving Armenia.
Iskandaryan said recognition of historical atrocities by governments and parliaments is almost always a political act shaped by domestic considerations, relations with Turkey and lobbying efforts.
He added that Israel’s previous reluctance to recognize the Armenian genocide had also been political, reflecting Turkey’s strategic importance to the Israeli government at the time.
AZE.US