Head of the Azerbaijani presidential administration Ramiz Mekhtiyev, who is on an official visit to Turkey, held a meeting Apr. 1 with Turkish Premier Recep Erdogan.

The Turan news agency reported that the aim of Mekhtiyev’s visit remains unclear. Baku is likely to make an attempt to come to terms with official Ankara on the threshold of the Turkish Premier’s visit to the United States.

Despite a recent cool-down in Baku’s relations with both Ankara and Washington, the situation makes President Ilham Aliyev to improve relations with Turkey as soon as possible so as not to find itself all alone in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process.

The recent geopolitical developments have shattered Baku’s positions in the region. “This happened after the Armenian-Turkish protocols were signed. The West actively supported the process and, despite Baku’s expectations and demands, refused to link the reopening of the Armenian-Turkish border to the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process,” the source reports.

One more negative factor was Turkey’s actually blocking the Nabucco project.

Ankara set a precondition – importing Azerbaijani gas and re-exporting it to Europe. The Baku-Washington relations were worsening amid this process, as Washington clearly shows its discontent with violations of human rights in Azerbaijan and demands concrete steps from the country.

“Under the circumstances, Ilham Aliyev has nothing to do but make peace with Ankara and coordinate his actions or oppose the common enemy. The question is what is the cost,” Turan writes.

T.P.