Ankara: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, on Saturday approved the Shusha Declaration on allied relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey, entailing two-way collective security.
The treaty was ratified by the countries’ parliaments last week and was pending the presidents’ approval. Aliyev approved the document on Saturday, the Azerbaijani Presidency said.
Erdogan approved it during a meeting with the Council of Elders (Aksakals) of the Organization of Turkic States the day before, Turkish state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
The declaration was signed on June 15, 2021, and one of the items reads that in the event of aggression by a third party against Turkey or Azerbaijan, the countries will jointly counter the threat. The parties will also continue to jointly modernize the armed forces in compliance with modern requirements, according to the document.
Azerbaijan and Turkey have strong ties due to shared religious and cultural background as well as extensive military cooperation, with Ankara providing military assistance to the Azerbaijani government during hostilities with Armenia in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
