Meeting of Azerbaijani, Pakistan and Turkish FMs lays foundation of a new block - COMMENT

Baku. 30 November. REPORT.AZ/ One of the few states that support Azerbaijan in all spheres, including in liberation of its lands, is Turkey and another one is Pakistan. These countries also differ from other allies of official Baku because they have nothing to do with Armenia and recognize it as invader. In general, Pakistan does not officially recognize Armenia as a state. From this point of view, the creation of a new format of cooperation with the participation of Azerbaijan, which has such a principled attitude to the aggressor Armenia and that has been occupied by countries that have not changed in 25 years, is both logical and useful.

Today, Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Pakistan Elmar Mammadyarov, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and Khawaja Muhammad Asif have met in tripartite format for the first time on November 30 in Baku. The ministers discussed the expansion of ties between the three countries in trilateral format, as well as international and regional issues. During the meeting, the sides underlined the importance of such cooperation, especially in energy, transport and other areas. The Baku Declaration was adopted at the end of the meeting.

The Declaration emphasized the important and strategic role of Azerbaijan, Pakistan and Turkey in relevant regions.

The document states that the principles of independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of internationally recognized borders will be respected and supported and their territories will not be used against each other. The declaration states that conflicts are a barrier to peace, stability and economic development, and that they demand a political settlement based on the principles of international law and the relevant UN Security Council resolutions. The foreign ministers stressed the importance of energy cooperation, stressing that large-scale transport projects of strategic significance would be profitable in terms of economic development of the three states, facilitating the transport of competitive goods between Asia and Europe.

The importance of the defense and security areas was emphasized in the document. E. Mammadyarov, M. Çavuşoğlu and Kh.M. Asif agreed on trilateral meetings on a regular basis in alphabetical order in member states and holding the next trilateral meeting in 2018 on mutually agreed terms in Islamabad.

By the way, before this meeting, the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev received a delegation headed by M. Çavuşoğlu and Kh.M. Asif. The Head of State assessed the Azerbaijani-Turkish-Pakistan tripartite meeting as a good occasion.

In addition, within the trilateral meeting of Azerbaijani, Pakistani and Turkish Foreign Ministers, E. Mammadyarov met with his Turkish counterpart M. Çavuşoğlu. The sides expressed satisfaction with the high level of development of cooperation between the two countries in all spheres and in various formats, as well as the strategic alliance of political relations.

Meanwhile, Mevlut Çavuşoğlu met with OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs Igor Popov (Russia), Stefan Visconti (France), Andre Schofer (US) and Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk. M. Cavusoglu wrote on his Twitter page: "I met with the co-chairs in Ankara and once again noted Turkey's support to Minsk Group".

The prospect of cooperation between Pakistan, Azerbaijan and Turkey may be important for all three countries. All these three countries have many things in common. Azerbaijan, Pakistan and Turkey prefers cooperation with West and form of government based on the democratic values. Like with Turkey, Azerbaijan is committed to the development of cooperation with Pakistan in the economic, military, cultural and social spheres. Pakistan has repeatedly stated that they are interested in this issue. Visits of Pakistani officials to Azerbaijan on different level prove this. It is necessary to mention that on the March of 2015 president of Pakistan Mamnoon Hussain paid three-day visit to Azerbaijan. Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif paid an official visit to Baku last October.

Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, General Zubair Mahmood Hayat has paid an official visit to Azerbaijan on November 23, 2017. This can be indicator of bilateral relations level. Expanding the military cooperation between Azerbaijan and Pakistan may also be in the West’s interest. Because Azerbaijan cooperates with Pakistan in the ongoing processes in Afghanistan. The rules introduced in the Armed Forces of Pakistan, rapprochement of weapons and military equipment used in the army with NATO standards makes this country attractive for Azerbaijan. In addition, there are official thoughts in Azerbaijan and Pakistan regarding military alliance between Turkey-Azerbaijan and Pakistan. Currently military cooperation between Azerbaijan and Pakistan tends to develop in military, military-technical and military educational directions. One of the key issues in bilateral relations which is interesting for Pakistan is solution of Kashmir conflict. In accordance with UN resolution Azerbaijan supports Pakistan on solution of Kashmir problem. Azerbaijan is also a member of Organization of Islamic Cooperation's (OIC) Contact Group on Kashmir.

In general, format of Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Turkey can be effective for Eurasia in all terms. Because in this direction there is no country that may confront with them. This situation corresponds to the interests of West, North and the South. In other words, US, Europe, Russia and other Muslim countries may benefit from development of these relations. Considering that Pakistan is nuclear weapon state, the essence of this issue becomes more attractive. The practice shows that trilateral meetings with participation of Azerbaijan in recent years were useful. As a result of such blocks Baku-Tbilisi-Jeyhan pipeline, Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway projects become reality. There is a high probability that axis created by Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia and will benefit realization of North-South Transport Corridor project. Thus, the ground of another trilateral cooperation is founded in Azerbaijan. A few other countries may join this axis in the future. The creation of such block may help to reduce the tension in this format, ensure the security and help to solve the conflict.