Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived on Saturday in Baku on a TC-TUR flight to attend ceremonies marking November 8th Victory Day of Azerbaijan.

Most of the Karabakh region, which had been under Armenian occupation for nearly three decades, was liberated by Azerbaijan during a 44-day war in the fall of 2020, which ended after a Russian-brokered peace agreement and also opened the door to normalisation with Yerevan.

On November 8, the Azerbaijani army liberated the city of Shusha, which was later declared as Victory Day by a presidential decree.

Initially, Victory Day was to be celebrated on November 10, the day of the end of the Second Karabakh War, but this was later changed due to coinciding with the anniversary of the passing of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Türkiye.

President Erdogan was welcomed at Heydar Aliyev International Airport by Azerbaijani First Deputy Prime Minister Yagub Eyyubov, Deputy Foreign Minister Samir Sharifov, and Defence Minister Yasar Guler.

Azerbaijani Ambassador to Ankara Reshad Mammadov and Türkiye’s Ambassador to Baku Birol Akgun were also in welcoming protocol.

The Turkish delegation included Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, MIT Director Ibrahim Kalin, Communications Director Burhanettin Duran, and Defence Industries Director Haluk Gorgun.

Chief Presidential Advisor on Foreign Policy and Security Akif Cagatay Kilic accompanied Erdogan, underscoring the visit’s strategic significance.

During his visit, Erdogan is expected to meet Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to discuss bilateral relations, regional security, and economic cooperation.

He is also expected to hold talks with Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif on shared strategic and global concerns.