Middle East & North Africa
Erdoğan to Trump: Turkey will continue efforts for US–Iran peace – In Karabakh for Azerbaijan’s Victory Day
After a phone call with Trump, Erdoğan said the US–Iran tension must end through diplomacy. On Sunday he visits Karabakh at Aliyev’s invitation for Azerbaijan’s Victory Day.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke by phone with Donald Trump on Saturday, November 7, on the eve of his trip to Karabakh for Azerbaijan’s Victory Day. According to the Turkish Presidency’s Communications Directorate, the two presidents discussed bilateral relations, as well as regional and international developments.
The weight of the Turkish announcement falls on Iran. The Turkish president told his US counterpart that tension between Tehran and Washington must end and that problems must be solved through diplomacy, stressing that Turkey will keep making efforts for peace. Trump, for his part, has said recently that the war with Iran “cost the elections,” but that he would do it again.
On Ukraine, Erdoğan expressed hope that intensifying diplomatic efforts will bear fruit. He added that Ankara will continue to contribute and that it matters to increase contacts with both Kyiv and Moscow. The war was also at the centre of the recent meeting between Erdoğan and Zelensky in Istanbul. The Turkish president also said he believes cooperation with the US will keep growing, and thanked Trump for his support at the summit of the Organization of Turkic States.
A visit to Karabakh on the 2020 anniversary
On Sunday, November 8, Erdoğan visits Karabakh at the invitation of Ilham Aliyev. The head of the Communications Directorate, Burhanettin Duran, said the two presidents will hold a bilateral meeting, review aspects of Turkey–Azerbaijan cooperation and exchange views on regional and international issues.
November 8 is for Baku the anniversary of the recapture of Shusha in 2020, which decided the 44-day war with Armenia. In the congratulatory letter published by Azerbaijan’s Presidency, Erdoğan writes that the country’s “just struggle” became a “source of pride for the entire Turkic world.” He also notes that, thanks to coordinated efforts for lasting peace, the South Caucasus is no longer seen as a conflict zone but as a region of cooperation and development.
In the same letter the Turkish president invokes the principle “one nation, two states” and the Shusha Declaration, the alliance pact the two countries signed in June 2021. In October of that year he inaugurated, together with Aliyev, Fuzuli airport, the first to operate on the territory Azerbaijan recovered. The close relationship does not rule out disagreements, as the recent quarrel over the headscarf in schools and Israel showed.