N. А. MINASYAN, PhD in History, Associate Professor, Researcher, Department, Strategic Studies of Armenia’s Neighboring and Near Abroad States, Institute for Armenian Studies, YSU
SUMMARY
Turkey established relations with Azerbaijan immediately after the collapse of the USSR and built cooperation in various spheres. Turkish-Azerbaijani relations evolved into pragmatic cooperation under the administration of Heydar Aliyev, who described them by the concept statement of “one nation, two states”. Further, the strengthening of those relations rested on common strategic interests of both states in geopolitical, geo-economic, security, military and military-technical, cultural and educational, and other spheres, while the concept of “One nation, two states” provided ideological and value base for the development of those relations.
The “one nation, two states” concept itself was being built on the ethnic, historical, political and cultural foundation, established in the period of the early 20th century communication of the Young Turks and Kemalists with the semi-nomadic tribes in the eastern regions of the South Caucasus, newly forming into a nation. From the political viewpoint, a significant role was played by the common perception of mutual interests. In case of Azerbaijan, this took place due to Turkey’s provision of diplomatic and then also of military support to Azerbaijan in the Karabakh Conflict, while Azerbaijan had to play a key role in Turkey’s strive to spread its influence in the South Caucasus.
The mutual concern in the supply of Azerbaijani hydrocarbon and the provision of Central Asian energy carriers’ transit into Europe has played an important role in the evolution of pragmatic cooperation into close allied relations.
Along with this, Turkey initiated the idea of Turkic integration. In this context, an attempt is made to ideologically localize the “One nation, two states” concept in the Turkic integration process with the involvement of Turkic-speaking states of Central Asia. Integration covers three main areas: military-technical, economic and cultural-educational.
Nevertheless, it deems rather unlikely that this very concept will be successfully realized in the nearest perspective.