When the materials published recently in certain left-liberal and opposition wings of the Turkish media (especially on platforms such as "T24" and "Evrensel", which are actually enemies of Turkey under the guise of radical Islamists) are deeply investigated, they reveal that they serve a completely different and dangerous scenario.
It is a systematic smear campaign against the Aliyev-Erdogan friendship and the Ankara-Baku strategic alliance, which has directly become a regional power center, to portray Nikol Pashinyan as a "peacekeeper" on the eve of the elections in Armenia and to blacken the international energy projects of Azerbaijani state companies.
It would be extremely naive to consider such writings as journalistic investigations. They are trolls of regional proxies acting at the dictation of foreign forces who cannot digest the new realities forming in the South Caucasus and the Near East as a whole.
The claims put forward in the context of the Armenian elections on some Turkish media platforms aim to sow discord between the two brotherly countries and to form the opinion in Turkish society that "Azerbaijan has taken our foreign policy hostage".
Those who dress Pashinyan in the guise of a "peace dove" over the badge he wears on his jacket, which reflects the current official borders of Armenia, cover up or ignore the fact that Yerevan still maintains territorial claims against Azerbaijan and Turkey in its Constitution. These unfortunates know well that no one in this world can more accurately identify the existence of revanchist forces in the region than Aliyev and Erdogan.
In such articles, rich in commissioned narratives, presenting Azerbaijan's diplomatic statements in the context of opening the border with Armenia as "dictating terms to Turkey" is more than political illiteracy; it is a deliberate media provocation. It is an attempt to play with the emotions of Turkish society.
These unfortunates should understand that the foreign policy formalized by the Shusha Declaration and based on the Aliyev-Erdogan unity is not a "dictate" but a fully coordinated strategic partnership.
Turkey and Azerbaijan act as a single power center in the region. The thesis that "Azerbaijan keeps Turkey under pressure not to open the border with Armenia" is an absurd and hateful approach, going so far as to claim that Baku uses Ankara as a tool to make Armenia completely dependent. In reality, both Ankara and Baku understand very well that any hasty step taken without changing the revanchist clauses in the Armenian Constitution and without signing a final peace agreement could be powerless tomorrow and drag the region into a new war in the future.
The other ugly side of the campaign is conducted through platforms like "Evrensel" over the "Palestine issue", which is the most sensitive point of Turkish society. Deliberately distorting SOCAR's, Azerbaijan's national state company, acquisition of a 10% stake in Israel's "Tamar" gas field, and presenting it as "partnership in the Gaza genocide" and "economic support for imperialist plans" is the peak of immorality and moral manipulation.
Azerbaijan has always defended the rights of the Palestinian people in the international arena and has not withheld its humanitarian support. At the same time, the foreign policy and global energy strategies of states are regulated by national interests, far from emotions. SOCAR's ownership of a stake in the Eastern Mediterranean, in the "green energy corridors" supported by the European Union, and in trans-national projects is an indicator of Azerbaijan's transformation into a major global player.
The real aim of the circles that portray this as "cooperation of authoritarian regimes" is to use Azerbaijan as a tool in the internal political struggle against the Erdogan government within Turkey. At the same time, it means striking a sensitive blow to Azerbaijan's global reputation, supposedly in their own world. They understand well that the joint will of Erdogan and Aliyev overturns the plans of the West and some regional imperialist powers not only in the Caucasus but also in a vast geography extending from the Mediterranean to Central Asia. Those behind this smear campaign actually reveal themselves very openly. Anti-Turkish centers, who see the liberation of Karabakh, the Zangezur corridor project, and the transformation of the Middle Corridor into a global logistics center as a threat to their existence, try to weaken the Turkey-Azerbaijan unity, which they could not shake directly by military or diplomatic means, by turning the media into a disgusting tool from within. These extensions in the Turkish media want to sow subjective seeds of doubt in the consciousness of the two brotherly peoples, and to drag the philosophy of "One nation, two states" into the plane of economic interests and artificial competition.
But they forget that the Aliyev-Erdogan friendship is a manifestation of common history and an unbreakable popular will. The attempts of those who want to cast a shadow on this friendship and serve the vile scenarios of foreign forces are once again doomed to failure.
The Baku-Ankara line, the sole guarantor of regional stability, peace, and development, is stronger, more determined, and more vigilant today than ever before.
