It has been underlined numerous times that after the Second Karabakh War, a new era has been ushered in Türkiye-Azerbaijan relations. This was not an unfounded theory. The fact that Armenians have been banished from the lands they invaded shows that proxy powers regressed. Their logistic support for imperialism was quite critical. U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan should be considered within the context of losing proxy powers. Once the Fethullah Terrorist Organization (FETÖ) started to face defeat in Türkiye and the region on July 15, 2016, imperialism’s proxy powers started to lose in our region. The launch of an intervention that would end Daesh's presence in northern Syria on the morning of the night it became clear that FETÖ faced defeat in Türkiye is quite important. Both proxy powers were terrorist organizations, in addition to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), were in the category of client organizations. These organizations were driving both Türkiye and our near region to instability. Far from producing solutions to problems, they were rather building new ideas through false agendas in accordance with the needs of imperial centers. A system had emerged, it was impossible to have great expectations for it to change. It was very easy to label as ungrounded any statements to the contrary. However, the dizzying events we experienced post-July 15, radically shook such oppositions that dominate our thoughts and broke taboos.
Surely, the U.S.’s withdrawal from Afghanistan will have permanent effects. It’s difficult to describe in detail how the convergence between Türkiye, Azerbaijan, and Pakistan reflects on the ground, yet we can consider especially the development of military relations as a sign of determination. The development of military relations is beyond an ordinary event. Prior to Karabakh War II, such steps would not be considered realistic. Nobody would have expectations of such steps being taken. Hence, an analysis of the language still used to declare opinions today regarding the past centuries will show that the major changes in our region have not been internalized. However, when we link the events of the last two centuries as the rings in the chain of continuity, we can immediately see the breaking point in a positive sense. The Türkiye-Azerbaijan axis corresponds to a new state of determination that may impact the entire neighboring region.
It is seen that the developing military relations will have a deep impact on other grounds as well. Contrary to the accusations made by the West and its proxy powers, we need to underline as a distinguishing quality President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev’s efforts with respect to spreading through the base the change that is inclined to spread across the whole region. There is no doubt that as a system imposed on Türkiye, and in general on the region, was being collapsed, we had to build a system specific to us. It can be said that Uzbekistan will also contribute greatly to a new administration's understanding of this process, which has the capacity to impact the whole region. The convergence between Türkiye and Uzbekistan was already at a noteworthy scale. We now see the same convergence happening between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan. President Aliyev’s visit to Uzbekistan on June 21-22 showed that there was more critical progress on other grounds besides military relations. The speech Aliyev made within the scope of the visit made an overwhelming impression on social media. In this speech, Aliyev almost voiced İsmail Gaspıralı’s ideas.
Uzbekistan’s National Intelligence Agency almost repeated what Aliyev said: “There are many nations and people whose languages, traditions, culture, and even appearances are very similar. We can include the Uzbek and Azerbaijan people among these. The representatives of both countries can understand each other without an interpreter. There are numerous common points in our lifestyle, customs and traditions, folklore, and literature.”
Uzbekistan’s National Intelligence Agency emphasizes that “Deals have been made on certain regulations in relation to using the existing transportation and communication system, including the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, and boosting the efficiency of operations in this area.”
The agency further reports a deal has been made regarding the formation of new corridors. It is impossible to consider these developments independent of the Türkiye-Azerbaijan axis.
