World

Erdogan and Aliyev Reaffirm Alliance Amid Ongoing Tensions

By AFP

On Sunday, November 8, 2026, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev pledged that their countries’ alliance would remain solid, a statement made during a visit to Azerbaijan’s Fuzuli district as the nation marked Victory Day for its 2020 war with Armenia. The visit followed a period of strain that began in September when Baku revised school uniform regulations to ban clothing deemed incompatible with secular education, effectively prohibiting Islamic headscarves in classrooms. The change sparked protests in Azerbaijan and drew criticism from Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP). President Erdogan’s adviser Oktay Saral called for Azerbaijan to reverse the restrictions, a demand that the ruling party Yeni Azerbaijan denounced as interference in internal affairs. Baku also declared 31 Turkish nationals, including opposition lawmakers and party leaders, persona non grata over critical social media posts. Erdogan dismissed Saral, but Aliyev did not attend an October 30 summit of Turkic leaders in Ankara, sending Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov instead. During the joint press conference, Erdogan said, “With the permission of Almighty God, our unity will endure forever,” adding that the “One Nation, Two States” motto is an everlasting torch. Aliyev echoed that the alliance remains unshaken and that the visit demonstrates their unity to the world. Analysts note that the dispute reflects deeper unease over Azerbaijan’s diplomatic independence and its close ties to Israel, which supplied weapons during the 2020 war. Turkey has grown hostile toward Israel amid the Gaza war and is seeking to normalise relations with Armenia, a country it closed its border with in the 1990s. Despite friction, the two Turkic-speaking allies maintain close military and energy ties, with Turkey serving as a key transit route for Azerbaijani oil and gas exports to Western markets. Azerbaijan, a mainly Shiite Muslim country that emerged as one of the most secular states in the Muslim world after Soviet rule, celebrated the capture of Shusha in Karabakh during its war with Armenia, a victory achieved with Turkish backing.