The SCO stands at a crossroads. Türkiye and Azerbaijan’s participation in the Tianjin summit, and their aspirations for full membership, highlight the organization’s growing global appeal.
Opinion11- Page
A pivotal challenge lies in Armenia’s constitutional reform process. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has explicitly linked the peace treaty’s signing to changes in Armenia’s constitution — specifically, removing references to Armenia’s 1990 independence declaration and the 1989 Nagorno-Karabakh unification act.
Our country is interested in developing its multifaceted foreign diplomacy by strengthening relations with friendly and partner countries, as well as with international and regional organizations.
While the Armenian government has openly affirmed its commitment to peace with Azerbaijan, a fact enshrined in the Washington agreements, the perennial opponents of Prime Minister Pashinyan’s policy continue their vile attempts to torpedo this process.
India vetoed Azerbaijan’s accession to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). By doing so, New Delhi blocked China’s efforts to expand the organization.
In recent years, trade between China and Azerbaijan has demonstrated steady growth. From about $1.3 billion in 2018, turnover reached $3.2 billion by 2023—an increase of more than 2.4 times.
In the context of the Trans-Caspian Corridor, Ilham Aliyev placed special emphasis on the importance of its key component, the Zangezur Corridor.
For Beijing, Azerbaijan is a vital link in logistics corridors and an attractive investment field. Aliyev’s series of meetings with Chinese company heads leave no doubt about this.
Russian official propaganda is, frankly, a strange phenomenon. Strange above all in its, pardon the expression, crude primitiveness. Just recently, the Azerbaijani — and not only Azerbaijani — audience had another chance to be convinced of this.
After President Ilham Aliyev stated in an interview with Al Arabiya that in 1920 the 11th Red Army of Russia occupied Azerbaijan, a heated debate broke out in the Russian media space.
For decades, Russia has stood at the centre of the South Caucasus’ security order. No peace deal, no war settlement, no major infrastructure project could be imagined without Moscow’s involvement.
Russian drones attacked an oil depot in Odesa in Ukraine on August 17. That’s not unusual, but that night’s target was notable in one important sense — the Kremlin struck high-profile infrastructure owned by SOCAR, Azerbaijan’s state oil company.
One of the manifestations of wisdom is the ability to stop in time when current events cause concern and anxiety. In Russian-Azerbaijani relations, a critical period has come when everything is sliding downhill.
On 8 August, the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a joint declaration in Washington, committing to end more than three decades of conflict with US backing.
Relations between Azerbaijan and Ukraine have in recent months taken on a distinctly dynamic character, moving beyond traditional diplomatic formalities.
When people say that Russia cannot be understood with reason, they apparently mean its foreign policy. The story of the South Caucasus is a vivid confirmation of this sad axiom.
On August 20–21, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva toured the western regions of the country — the Ganja-Dashkasan, East Zangezur, and Karabakh economic zones.
Protection from external threats is a sovereign right of nations and peoples. Usually, dangerous challenges come from neighbors who integrate into various bloc schemes, or from hostile states.
The South Caucasus, a geopolitically significant but narrow passway between Europe and Asia, has recently become the center of global focus once again.
For decades, establishing lasting peace in the South Caucasus has been one of the most persistent challenges for regional states and international actors alike.
It would be fitting if the US President was awarded the Nobel. The prize is partly endowed by funds the founding brothers made in Baku.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan addressed the nation to explain the provisions of the peace treaty with Azerbaijan, which was ratified by the foreign ministers of both countries during their Washington meeting on August 8.
"At the press conference following the talks between the leaders of Russia and the United States, no sensational statements were made. Nevertheless, the speeches of both presidents reflected a constructive dialogue and a certain degree of mutual understanding."
An important instrument of adaptation for both Moscow and Tehran is the regional 3+3 format, which, notably, was also proposed by President Ilham Aliyev.