Turkiye, Azerbaijan with full force to move ahead on One Belt, One Road project - expert

Today the Turkic world is experiencing the greatest joy. This is the day when another Turk entered history in golden letters. This is a historic day when Recep Tayyip Erdogan, pursuing a thoughtful, decisive and far-sighted policy, showing high confidence in friendly countries and always standing next to his brotherly country - Azerbaijan, was elected president once again.

For now, Turkiye owes President Erdogan the fact that it has the same voice as the major countries, and also maintains the reputation of a Muslim country. Because if you look at history, Turkiye has never had a powerful head of state with a lot of influence.

“This event is more of a defeat for the opposition than a victory for Erdogan. Kemal K?l?çdaro?lu, who took wrong steps in the economic sphere, was not considered a successful candidate for Turkiye. He made incorrect economic and political statements about both Russia and Azerbaijan. This is his eighth defeat.”

This was told by a Turkish political analyst, leading expert of Ankara-Moscow Expert and Analytical Network, Engin Ozer in a commented on the issue for Azernews. He thinks that after the resignation of K?l?çdaro?lu, the chairman of the Molu Municipality Tancu Özcan and the chairman of the Istanbul Municipality Ekrem Imamo?lu can replace him. The new era of opposition will include more nationwide demonstrations that resulted in Erdogan's victory. In other words, the era of Kemal K?l?çdaroglu has already ended.

Commenting on the provocations carried out against Erdogan prior to the elections, the expert said that no any further stirring are expected in future. Kemal Kiliçdaroglu personally congratulated Recep Tayyip Erdogan on his victory in the election. Despite the provocations committed to date, it was almost clear that Erdogan would be re-elected president.

"The presidential election processes in Turkiye were very transparent, without any provocations. I would like to thank and congratulate everyone who took part," the expert noted.

Referring to relations with the fraternal country of Azerbaijan, Engin Ozer stated that after the signing of the Shusha Declaration, relations between the two countries rose to the level of a political, economic and military union. Political integration will continue in the next 5 years. Turkiye will increase trade by simplifying customs issues with Azerbaijan through Nakhchivan.

In addition, Turkiye ensures energy security between Azerbaijan and Europe.

The Turkish expert stressed the importance of signing a peace treaty between Azerbaijan and Armenia to establish everlasting stability in the South Caucasus.

“Of course, Armenia must accept the conditions set by Azerbaijan. If this happens, Turkiye will normalize political relations with Armenia and open the borders within 1 year. The establishment and development of trade relations between Turkiye and Armenia will ensure the security of Azerbaijan. I think that all these plans will be implemented in the first half of 2024,” the expert emphasized.

Further, the expert touched on the Chinese project "One Belt, One Road"(OBOR), designed to connect Asia with Europe, which is a big priority for Erdogan.

"Erdogan fully supports Azerbaijan's participation in this project. However, the US is categorically against the implementation of this project. Since the participation of Russia, which is at war with Ukraine, is not considered relevant in this project, the main responsibility will fall on Turkiye," the expert said.

Engin Ozer also underlined that Azerbaijan will play a major role for the implementation of project "One Belt, One Road"(OBOR) as vital segment of the middle corridor, and noted that this will have a positive impact on the country's economy.

"I meant this year will be considered both very difficult and successful for President Erdogan. Because big steps will be taken both for his country and for Azerbaijan," the expert added.

In conclusion, Turkish political analyst touched on some problems facing Turkiye.

"Turkiye is currently facing two big problems. Firstly, it is the inflation in the economy of the country. There was a sudden increase in the prices of all food and rent. This caused discontent among the population. In this regard, Erdogan will carry out new reforms. This will put pressure on monopoly companies to lower their prices. The second case is about 5-10 million Syrian immigrants living here. Economically, their presence here is a heavy burden for Turkiye, and soon Recep Tayyip Erdogan will solve this issue in the bud and send them back to their country," he said.