Turkey’s alliance with Azerbaijan and Pakistan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held a trilateral assembly on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Astana on July 3. On this assembly, Erdogan’s intentions of shaping the Caucasus and Central Asia in a Turkish-led order turned much more obvious.

This was the primary assembly between leaders of the three nations in a trilateral format and had “historic significance,” in accordance with Azertaj, with guarantees that such conferences can be held frequently. Earlier trilateral conferences have been solely held on the stage of overseas ministers, parliamentary audio system, and defence personnel.

In line with the Azerbaijani outlet, “concern was expressed over the coverage of militarisation within the South Caucasus by extra-regional states,” particularly the supply of French and Indian weapons to Armenia.

Solely weeks earlier, Armenia ordered Caesar self-propelled howitzers from France, which French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu described as a “new necessary milestone” in his nation’s “defence relationship” with Yerevan however which Baku blasted as “additional proof of France’s provocative actions” within the area.

“The Macron regime, pursuing a coverage of militarisation and geopolitical intrigue within the South Caucasus area, is an impediment to normalisation of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan and making certain lasting peace within the area,” Azerbaijan’s Defence Ministry added within the assertion.

That is hypocritical by Azerbaijan, contemplating that its army spending in 2022 was roughly 3.8 occasions that of Armenia. On the identical time, Azerbaijan obtained weapons from Israel as just lately as July 2, 2024.

Azertaj, in reference to the Second Nagorno-Karabakh Battle in 2020, reported: “The political and ethical help by fraternal Turkey and Pakistan to Azerbaijan through the 44-day Patriotic Battle was emphasised” within the trilateral assembly.

The Turkey-Azerbaijan-Pakistan alliance, referred to as “Three Brothers,” has been manifesting for years because the brainchild of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to develop his nation’s affect within the Caucasus and Central Asia and was cemented through the Second Nagorno-Karabakh Battle.

Turkey assisted Azerbaijan’s seize of the traditionally Armenian area by offering weapons and intelligence and deploying drone operators, particular forces troopers and Syrian jihadists. Pakistan, the one nation on the earth to not acknowledge Armenia, supplied important quantities of ammunition, mercenaries and Afghani and Pakistani terrorists.

Following the ethnic cleaning of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh in 2023, Turkey’s expanded affect since 2020 was evident because it now has everlasting bases in Azerbaijan it didn’t have earlier than the battle, while all Russian troops left the nation in June this 12 months. That is a part of Erdogan’s imaginative and prescient for Turkey to turn out to be the dominant energy not solely within the Caucasus but additionally in Central Asia – each of that are historically Russia’s zone of affect – by interesting to Islamic and Turkic sentimentality.

For his half, Erdogan stated through the trilateral assembly that the “area is affected by wars, conflicts, and tensions” and particularly talked about Gaza, Cyprus and Kashmir.” Erdogan didn’t clarify why the area was “affected by wars” and as a substitute claimed that trilateral cooperation “wouldn’t solely contribute to the prosperity of the peoples of the three nations but additionally serve to advertise regional and world peace and stability.”

Nonetheless, it was Turkish-backed Azerbaijan that instigated the battle in Nagorno-Karabakh and continues to threaten to invade the Republic of Armenia, while Pakistan has began each battle with India because the two nations have been established in 1947, along with coaching, funding and arming jihadists teams in Kashmir and Afghanistan.

Though Turkey is making inroads within the Turkic-speaking nations of Central Asia by mushy energy means, it is just by battle and instability that Turkish affect can unfold and strengthen exterior of this cultural zone, equivalent to supporting jihadist forces in Syria after which occupying massive areas within the north of the nation, Azerbaijan’s seize of Nagorno-Karabakh, and Pakistan’s place on Kashmir – India’s full give up of the area.

Turkey seeks to turn out to be the epicentre of a Turkic-centric order, which naturally challenges Russia’s pursuits within the Caucasus and Central Asia and even its sovereignty because the Turkish imaginative and prescient imagines the North Caucasus unbiased of Moscow.

Rising rivalry within the Caucasus and Central Asia, the place China can be making inroads, creates frequent floor between Ankara and Washington, one thing which the latter will undoubtedly exploit.

However to realize this imaginative and prescient, Erdogan is cooperating straight with the leaders of Azerbaijan and Pakistan to realize their particular person targets, particularly Azerbaijan’s territorial growth on the expense of Armenia, Pakistan’s conquest of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir and North India, which for hundreds of years was dominated by Islamic Turkic Empires, and the institution of a pan-Turkic Union led by Turkey.

Though Turkey is way from its aim, it’s evident that steps are being taken to succeed in this. This may eventuate in issues with Moscow, a lot worse than these instigated by variations over Syria, and can inevitably result in Ankara receiving way more help from the US.

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