Baku says Azerbaijan, Türkiye cooperation key pillar of regional peace, security

Bilateral cooperation between Azerbaijan and Türkiye is a key pillar of regional peace and security, said Hikmet Hajiyev, Azerbaijan's president's assistant and head of the Presidential Administration's Foreign Policy Affairs Department.

Speaking on a panel titled "The Role of Protecting Regional Interests in a Changing World" at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Türkiye's southern coastal city on Friday, Hajiyev said Turkish-Azerbaijani cooperation has reached the "level of an alliance" with the signing of the Shusha Declaration by their leaders.

“We did not stop there. We transformed bilateral cooperation into a trilateral model, thereby fully supporting regional interests,” he said.

He outlined that cooperation frameworks include Türkiye-Azerbaijan-Georgia and Türkiye-Azerbaijan-Iran, adding that outreach has also extended to Central Asia.

According to Hajiyev, one of Azerbaijan's core principles for protecting regional interests is to address regional challenges in collaboration with like-minded regional partners.

He stressed that Azerbaijan-initiated energy projects contribute not only to global energy security but also serve the interests of countries in the region.

He added that regional connectivity projects also play a crucial role.

“Together, we are building Trans-Caspian connectivity. The first step in this direction was cooperation between Türkiye, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, including the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project. We are now expanding this direction and believe the Zangezur corridor model will provide additional connectivity both for us and for our partners in Central Asia,” he said.

Highlighting the importance of resolving the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, he said Azerbaijan demonstrated leadership in the process and that the conflict is now in the past.