How Russia and Turkey have each other, not only in Azerbaijan
Tense relations with the West have prompted Moscow and Ankara to forge close cooperation. Giuseppe Gagliano's analysis
According to the Russian website Izvestia, both Turkey and Russia have put in place a joint military infrastructure in Azerbaijan with the official purpose of checking that the truce with Armenia is effectively respected through the use of drones (the Russians use drones Orlan-10 and Forpost while the Turks use the Bayraktars).
This military infrastructure was opened on January 30 in the Aghdam region and is made up of 60 Turkish soldiers and 60 Russian soldiers, a presence that demonstrates Turkish and Russian synergy in this geopolitical context as well as in Syria.
From a geopolitical point of view, the strengthening of this cooperation demonstrates the will of both nations to create a real zone of influence.
Tense relations with the West have prompted Moscow and Ankara to forge close cooperation. After competing with Russia in the first half of the 90s in Eurasia, Turkey decided to collaborate with it after the second half of the 90s, developing a multidimensional relationship, just think that the volume of bilateral trade reached 26 , 3 billion dollars in 2019.
While there are some differences on geostrategic issues such as in Syria, Libya and the Eastern Mediterranean, both benefit from this partnership which encompasses trade, energy, investment, pipeline policies, tourism, arms supply and regional issues.
When the conflict broke out in September, Turkey was a partner of Russia rather than a rival. This is why Russia remained silent in the face of Turkey's strong support for Azerbaijan in the conflict, unlike the first Karabakh War in the early 1990s.
Furthermore, Turkey's unconditional support for Azerbaijan, especially its military support including the provision of drones, was instrumental in the conflict. They concluded a strategic partnership and mutual assistance agreement in 2010 which provided for mutual aid in the event of a third party attack.
Turkey's growing support for Azerbaijan mainly stems not only from its growing integration with Azerbaijan. Particularly in the energy field including the launch of the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (Tanap) in 2019, the shipment of more Azerbaijani gas to Turkey and the massive investment of the Azerbaijani state-owned energy giant SOCAR in Turkey, but also its growing assertiveness in its neighborhood In fact, its support for Baku in the conflict is at the same time a corollary of its foreign policy employed in Syria, Libya and the eastern Mediterranean.
Thanks to steady growth of its economy after 2000, as a result of economic policies turning it into a "trading state" and a concomitant increase in its military capabilities, Turkey has developed into a major player in the region.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/come-russia-e-turchia-si-spalleggiano-non-solo-in-azerbaigian/ on Fri, 05 Feb 2021 07:18:22 +0000.