By  Trend

Few people in Turkey are unaware of the economic, political and military might of Azerbaijan in the region. The surveys carried out in Turkey also testify to this.

Today, the Azerbaijan-Turkey relations are at a high level due to the policy of the presidents of the two countries. However, this does not meet the interests of some countries.

And there are some countries which think that the Azerbaijan-Turkey relations pose a threat. But there is no reason to think so, as Baku and Ankara are the guarantors of security and stability in the region.

Baku and Ankara prove to the world that the common energy and political potential of Turkey and Azerbaijan is aimed at developing the region.

It is worth noting that while some Western allies refused to invest in the Turkish economy, Azerbaijan was one of the countries to invest in it.

To date, Azerbaijan has invested $8 billion in the Turkish economy, of which $6.7 billion account for such projects as Petkim petrochemical complex, Star refinery and the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP), while the remaining $1.3 billion have been directed to other spheres.

The total volume of Azerbaijani investments in Turkey is planned to be brought to $18-20 billion by 2020.

Thus, thanks to Azerbaijan, Turkey is bringing to life its long-standing desire to become an energy hub in the region.

At a time when almost all the energy projects in Turkey are not progressing so far, Azerbaijan’s TANAP project is not losing its importance and has become uncontested.

TANAP is not only an indicator of Azerbaijan’s successful energy policy, but it also aims to meet Europe’s gas needs.

One can talk for a long time about the prospects of energy and transport projects initiated by Azerbaijan, but not only these projects make Azerbaijan an important ally of Turkey.

Undoubtedly, cooperation is currently one of the region’s needs, and here, of course, one cannot do without a major player, Azerbaijan.

There is a number of trilateral cooperation formats in the region, for example, Turkey-Azerbaijan-Georgia, Turkey-Azerbaijan-Iran, Turkey-Azerbaijan-Turkmenistan.

Thanks to the policy of President Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan is a strong and important link in all these formats of cooperation.

Azerbaijan also played an important role in mending the relations between Turkey and Russia, after which Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim expressed his gratitude to Azerbaijan.

Currently, the creation of another trilateral format of cooperation with the participation of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Russia is under discussion. Some political experts don’t rule out that the establishment of this format will have a positive impact on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Turkey, considering the important role of Azerbaijan in the region, also works to create Azerbaijan-Turkey-Kazakhstan trilateral format.

Development of this format proves once again the political power and the importance of Azerbaijan, which strengthens with each passing year.