ISTANBUL

Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday arrived in Azerbaijan to attend a ceremony in Baku marking the fifth anniversary of Azerbaijan's Victory Day.

During his visit, Erdogan is accompanied by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, National Defense Minister Yasar Guler, intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin, Communications Director Burhanettin Duran, Defense Industries Secretary Haluk Gorgun, and Akif Cagatay Kilic, chief presidential advisor on foreign policy and security.

As part of the visit, the Turkish president is expected to hold meetings with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on bilateral, regional, and global developments.

Most of the Karabakh region, which had been under Armenian occupation for nearly three decades, was liberated by Azerbaijan during a 44-day war in the fall of 2020, which ended after a Russian-brokered peace agreement and also opened the door to normalization with Yerevan.

On Nov. 8, the Azerbaijani army liberated the city of Shusha, which was later declared as Victory Day by a presidential decree.

Initially, Victory Day was to be celebrated on Nov. 10, the day of the end of the Second Karabakh War, but this was later changed due to coinciding with the anniversary of the passing of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Republic of Türkiye.