Menu
Latest
Menu
Latest
Commentary

Turkey's dance with the neighbours. President Aliev of Azerbaijan is today in Turkey on an official visit as senior Turkish officials continue to perform a complicated dance with the country's neighbours.

12 November 2013

President Ilham Aliev of Azerbaijan travelled to Ankara on Monday at the start of an official visit during which he will participate in a meeting of the High Azerbaijani-Turkish Intergovernmental Commission which is chaired by the leaders of the two countries, and which oversees relations between them.

The meeting comes in a week when senior Turkish officials are engaged in meetings with neighbouring countries.

Foreign Minister Ahmit Davutoğlu was in Iraq where he met senior officials including Prime Minister Maliki.  Davutoğlu also travelled to the religious centre of Najab where he met the senior Shia cleric of Iraq, Ayattolah Sistani. Turkish media report that Sistani and Davitoglu spoke about issues related to water."Al-Sistani complained about Turkey's cutting of the flow of water into Iraq and Turkey's construction of dams on these rivers," a source familiar with the talks told the Hürriyet Daily News.

The rivers in question, the Euphrates and Tigris, both begin in Turkey and pass through Syria and Iraq before emptying into the Persian Gulf in Basra. Al-Sistani said Iraqis were suffering from water shortages and that the issue should be resolved through bilateral mechanisms and, if subsequently necessary, through U.N. arbitration.

Davutoğlu explained Turkey's position with regard to water allowance to neighboring countries, but al-Sistani was unconvinced, according to the source. Davutoğlu earlier said he would not discuss political issues with al-Sistani but most of their conversation reportedly focused on political issues. The two men also discussed ways to avoid a sectarian clash between Sunnis and Shiites in the Middle East.

In the meantime Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is set to meet with Massoud Barzani, the leader of northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdish government, in the southeastern city of Diyarbakır on Saturday. Sources from the Prime Minister's office said Erdoğan will meet with the leader of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on Saturday on the sidelines of his program in the southeastern Turkish city. Erdoğan, who will be in Diyarbakır on Saturday and Sunday, is expected to hold a rally there.

There are also reports that Turkey has requested support from Switzerland to help overcome conflicts between Armenia and Azerbaijan to open the way for Ankara to repair ties with Yerevan. During a visit to Switzerland in mid-October, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu told Swiss officials that Turkey is ready to normalise its relations with Armenia, but he made it clear that Yerevan should first leave the Azerbaijani territories it has occupied, Turkish sources told Today's Zaman. The foreign minister said once Switzerland convinces Armenia to leave the occupied territories, Ankara will open its borders with Armenia.  

Switzerland takes over the Chairmanship of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) at the end of this year and is actively preparing a number of new initiatives aimed at promoting peace in the Caucasus region. Swiss officials were in Moscow last week for discussions with Russian officials.

Commonspace.eu political editor said in a comment:

"Turkey is back on a diplomatic offensive after having been caught on the wrong foot as a result of events in Syria. For a moment Turkey's declared foreign policy objective of zero problems with neighbours looked in tatters. Recent developments indicate a new approach which is likely to include re-engaging with the strong Shia neighbours, Iran and Iraq. The Caucasus is one of the arenas of Turkish foreign policy in its immediate neighbourhood. Turkey has been seeking a breakthrough in the current impasse in the negotiations on Nagorno-Karabakh which it sees as a pre-requisite to normalising relations with Armenia. According to one source Turkey has been asking Armenia to release at least one of the six districts around Nagorno-Karabakh that it seized from Azerbaijan twenty years ago. The same source suggests that Armenia is considering doing this, but only in part, namely by vacating the district but not allowing Azerbaijan to re-occupy it. It is not clear if this gesture will be enough for either Azerbaijan or Turkey. The issue is likely to be one of the items under discussion between Aliev and Turkish leaders meeting in Ankara this week. Aliev is also expected to meet the Armenian leader Serzh Sargsyan in Austria later this month.

It is clear that diplomacy is on the move again and that Turkey continues to play an important , if not crucial role both in the Caucasus region and in the wider Middle East. For Turkey however it is a complicated dance. The Gul-Erdogan-Davitoglu trio that perform on the Turkish side are sometimes not always exactly in-step. Clearly now is the time when they have to perform best."

source: commonspace.eu with Turkish media.

Photo: The Turkish Foreign Minister in Baghdad on 10 November 2013 (picture courtesy of the Turksih Foreign Ministry).

 

Latest

Editor's choice
Monday Commentary
Monday Commentary: PEACE IN OUR TIME?
Trending

Monday Commentary: PEACE IN OUR TIME?

19 October 2026
Making peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan was never going to be simple, nor easy, nor quick. It is taking time, writes Dennis Sammut in this Monday Commentary. “There is a sense of realism coming from the leaders of the two countries – President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and prime minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia, that frankly, is necessary and welcome”, he writes. At a time when conflicts are raging all over the world – from Ukraine to the Gulf, from Africa to South Asia, the prospect that Armenia and Azerbaijan had finally, after decades of conflict that left thousands of dead and many more displaced, decided on embarking on a journey of peace was welcomed. Peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan can be top-down up to a point. Both leaders have spent political capital preparing for a peace deal. But both are aware that their people are not ready for peace yet. In fact, in Armenia, most of the elite are negative toward a peace deal with Azerbaijan. Pashinyan needs time to persuade his countryfolk. That is why 2031 is realistic. Ilham Aliyev runs a tighter shop, but he is also not immune to public opinion. Every time someone hits a landmine in Karabakh, which unfortunately happens often, peace comes into question. Which is why Aliyev chooses to sound hardline, more often than not. In pursuing the peace agenda, both Aliyev and Pashinyan need to proceed cautiously. But they are right in making peace the central issue in their agenda. It is the main issue, and the one that will define them in history. So forward, cautiously but resolutely! In pursuing the peace agenda, Aliyev and Pashinyan need to be supported clearly and unambiguously. There are too many people in Baku and Yerevan who are sitting on the sides, waiting. The international community is not doing enough. It is time to be counted. Otherwise, the spoilers will win, and the region will go back to its bad habits. (Click the image to read the full commentary).
Dennis Sammut

Popular

Editor's choice
Monday Commentary
Monday Commentary: European-Azerbaijan relations need an intensive and multifaceted dialogue that is frank and honest
Trending

Monday Commentary: European-Azerbaijan relations need an intensive and multifaceted dialogue that is frank and honest

7 September 2026
Last week I visited Baku, Azerbaijan. My visit was relatively short, but very intensive, and had many meetings with stakeholders and colleagues. When I arrived in Baku first time in 1996,  Azerbaijan was a different country: weak, poor, and shaken by defeat in war. For thirty year the Karabakh issue dominated the agenda: the political agenda but also the popular mindset. Now, thirty years later, Azerbaijan has returned to Karabakh, and peace with Armenia is on the horizon. It is a new era for Armenia-Azerbaijan relations, for the South Caucasus, but also for Europe.  But we cannot be complacent: the Peace agreement has been initialed but not signed; borders remain closed; TRIPP is ambitious but remains an idea; and there are spoilers who want to turn the clock back. We must not allow them, and in this Europe and Azerbaijan must work together. Europe’ vanguard organization is the European Union – it is a free union of 27 member states; it is a strong global economic force, and increasingly a diplomatic and military force too. But it remains “work in progress” and can often appear dysfunctional. It often lacks collective and institutional memory. In its dealings with Azerbaijan the EU has made many mistakes – not least opening the delegation here late – in 2008. It sometimes appears condescending. Some utterances from the European Parliament and from some quarters in some member states are not understandable even for me. They irritate the Azerbaijanis, but serve no other purpose But Azerbaijan has also not handled relations with the EU well. It has failed to respond when the hand of friendship reached out; and it confused irritating actions, sometimes by well-meaning people; sometimes by outright spoilers, with strategic action. In short, EU-Azerbaijan relations have suffered from a lack of proper dialogue. This dialogue must be frank, honest and multi-faceted involving different segments of society on both sides.   Is Azerbaijan Europe? When Azerbaijan applied to join the Council of Europe in the 1990s, there were some who opposed, saying this was not Europe. I was one of the people who argued that Armenia and Azerbaijan may be on the periphery of the continent geographically, but were European in essence. Certainly their elites. During the discussion on 4 September in Baku, my friend Farhad Mammedov, mentioned that Azerbaijan is not interested in joining the EU, and was now close to the Central Asian countries in the 5 plus 1 format. Neither things mean that Azerbaijan is not Europe. There are several European countries that are not in the EU, and do not want to be, for example Norway and Switzerland. Iceland has recently voted to stay out of the EU. The UK was a member and left. Europe is bigger than the EU, and the holding of the European Political Community summit in Baku in 2027 proves that. Despite all the rhetoric, I never heard the president of Azerbaijan  saying that Azerbaijan is not Europe, nor have I heard any European president say it either. Not wanting to join the EU and forging close relations with neighbouring regions does not make Azerbaijan any less European. It is only logical that when Europeans talk to Azerbaijan they talk like family. The conversation is often frank. It must also be honest, and Europeans need always to remember this too. A frank, honest and multi-faceted dialogue A frank, honest and multifaceted dialogue will contribute to relations between Azerbaijan and the rest of Europe: it will avoid misperception, which unfortunately is very common on both sides; it will provide a forum where problems can be discussed and resolved, and it will increase mutual trust, so that together common problems can be addressed. (click image to read the full Monday Commentary)
Dennis Sammut
Editor's choice
Monday Commentary
Monday Commentary: “The barren rocks of Aden” and “These lands of Yemen are so ruthless”
Trending

Monday Commentary: “The barren rocks of Aden” and “These lands of Yemen are so ruthless”

21 September 2026
There are two early 20th-century tunes that mark foreign attempts to occupy and “pacify” Yemen. The Scottish tune “The barren rocks of Aden” marks the mobilisation of Highland soldiers, enlisted to be deployed to the Yemeni port of Aden, that in 1837 became the last colony to be incorporated into the British Empire. The tune talks of the harshness of the terrain, but is celebratory, It was even played as a farewell tune to Sir William Luce at the parade in Sharjah celebrating his end as “British Viceroy” in the Middle East in 1966. The second tune is an Anatolian lament. As Ilker Sezer reminded us this weekend, in his weekly feature on “Turkiye Today”, it “mourns the tragic fate of Ottoman soldiers dispatched to the harsh, remote deserts of Yemen during the fall of the empire, young men who marched away from their villages and never returned home. Most of their names, and numbers, were never recorded. Yet, their fate left a mark on the Turkish psyche.” Subsequent invaders have discovered that Yemen is a grave that cannot be overcome by the strength of modern technology, and that whilst Yemeni society is splintered and divided, building a reliable alliance with Yemeni factions is difficult. These are the harsh lessons facing Saudi Arabia, as the Kingdom faces its biggest challenge in its modern history. The leadership of the Kingdom now has to respond decisively. At stake is their very credibility. This is likely to be a long and messy conflict. Saudi military objectives need to be focused: to box in the Houthis rather than destroy them. This is likely to include: (a) regaining territory lost on the Red Sea coast; (b) control over Bab el Mandeb Strait; (c) some kind of cordon sanitaire on the Saudi-Yemeni border; and if things go well (d) the capture of Sanaa. All this would not eliminate the Houthi problem, but it will contain it. In the end the Saudis will have to continue managing Yemen with a mixture of carrot and stick. For the moment, the stick is likely, but the carrot cannot be forgotten either. (click the image to read the Monday Commentary in full)
Dennis Sammut