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Using the situation created in Azerbaijan as a result of Karabakh war, Iran intervened into Azerbaijan’s internal affairs and spent huge resources to remove the regime: from the one hand, the residents of oil-rich regions started to make demands, and from the other hand, it conducted a policy similar to that of Russia. Russia, Turkmenistan and Iran took a new stance regarding the status of the Caspian, according to the book “From Freedom to Tyranny” by Turgut Er, a Turkish diplomat who served press attaché for the Turkish embassy in Azerbaijan during Heydar Aliyev’s rule.

Azerbaijan’s foreign policy definitely targeted Russia, Er writes. The Azerbaijani TVs showed how enthusiastically Heydar Aliyev received the opera singer, the musician, the painter, the composer and the political figures from Russia. He talked with them for hours, made jokes and laughed at his own jokes. Meanwhile, he was cold with the visitors from Turkey, and kept his distance from them.

“Today, Azerbaijan’s inclusion in some international organizations is the result of the Turkish diplomacy,” Er writes bringing the example of the OSCE Summit in Lisbon where the Armenia-Azerbaijan issue was discussed. The adoption of a pro-Azerbaijan resolution at the summit was the result of the efforts initiated by the Turkish president. However, Heydar Aliyev introduced this as a result of his “diplomatic genius.” “For years, looking into our eyes, he was explaining how he could conceive that,” Er writes.
During the whole period of his rule, Aliyev did not cut the close ties with Russia while getting a support from Turkey. According to the author, Russia, Iran and Armenia, they all were against Azerbaijan and Turkey’s friendship, while “Turkey helped with love and without expecting anything in return.”

Turgut Er highlights that Azerbaijan’s foreign policy was not regulated either by diplomats or by mature statesmen; Heydar Aliyev conducted it in accord with the KGB and Politburo strategy of the Soviet times. “He confused the KGB methods with diplomacy. He believed the power of Politburo still backed him,” Er writes. Despite Azerbaijan already being an independent state and despite the necessity to conduct its own national and foreign policy, Aliyev was not able to get rid of the policy of the times of Primakov of “Jewish origin.” Due to the age and the fact that “Politburo, KGB and communism had captured Heydar Aliyev,” he was not able to change, and the Turkish leadership either was not aware of that, or did not want to see “that truth” or did not realize that.
To be continued.

After the publication of the book “From Freedom to Tyranny: As if Stalin and Beria revived,” the authorities in Azerbaijan accused Er of libel and anti-Azerbaijani activities as he unmasks Heydar Aliyev’s two-faced government and proves that Aliyev’s actions were often conditioned by personal interests rather than the benefit of the state and people. In response, Turgut Er said that everything he wrote in the book is based on well-known and published documents, and the accusations of libel are yet another proof of the Azerbaijani authorities’ stupidity and meanness.

Related:
Turgut Er: Heydar Aliyev is known worldwide as atheist, communist and KGB general 
Turgut Er: It was Ramiz Mehdiyev who Azerbaijanis feared and despised more than Heydar Aliyev 
Turgut Er: Heydar Aliyev regime humiliated and racketeered Turkish investors in Azerbaijan