Ilham Aliyev, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, unexpectedly came to Dushanbe on September 14 and spoke with President Emomali Rahmon.
This visit coincided with the time when the leaders of five Central Asian countries gathered in the capital of Tajikistan. Their fifth consultation session will take place on September 14-15 in Dushanbe and was announced a few months ago.
The website of the President of Tajikistan Ilham Aliyev was named “guest of honor” at the meeting of the heads of states of Central Asia. At the same time, according to the source, Emomali Rahmon and Ilham Aliyev discussed “Tajikistan-Azerbaijan cooperation” in a separate meeting.
Government-facing websites in Azerbaijan wrote that the meeting took place behind closed doors. Details have not been released.
Analysts who talked to Radio Ozodi linked the visit of the leader of one of the South Caucasus countries to Baku’s need to get the support of its allies from Central Asia.
Arkady Dubnov, an analyst of political issues, told Radio Ozodi that in the context of the deepening conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, “Aliev needs the help of his co-cultural countries in the region.”
According to Dubnov, “the recent elections in the unrecognized region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which was condemned by many capitals of the world as an illegal campaign, caused a new crisis in the South Caucasus. The elections were not recognized by Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. We should not forget that Azerbaijan It unites with many Central Asian countries its membership in the Organization of Turkic-speaking countries, and it traditionally supports Azerbaijan in its conflicts with Armenia.
“It can be said with confidence that in Dushanbe, Aliyev will have a platform to express the conditions for creating a peace agreement with Yerevan, as well as today’s pressing issue – preventing a human tragedy in Nagorno-Karabakh,” he added.
Tajik analyst Parviz Mullojonov also considered the recent crisis with Armenia as the main reason for the visit of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan to Dushanbe. In one of his comments to Radio Ozodi, he wrote: “There may be a conflict with Armenia, where the situation is close to the beginning of the war. He may be looking for diplomatic help from the members of the SPAD.”
Mullojonov added, “Armenia is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, and if there is a big war, this organization should show some reaction.”
Ilham Aliyev came to Tajikistan only five months ago.
Tajikistan, with oil-rich Azerbaijan and a country with an estimated $80 billion Gross Domestic Product in 2022, has only traded more than $6 million. Dozens of cooperation documents have been signed between the two countries, where energy, mining and agriculture are among the most important sectors.
Source : Радио Озоди