Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has joined Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Karabakh for Azerbaijan's Victory Day, in a display of unity between the two allies after weeks of visible friction.

Erdoğan travelled to the region on Sunday at Aliyev's invitation, accompanied by his wife Emine Erdoğan, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and intelligence chief İbrahim Kalın. The Turkish leader was welcomed at Fuzuli International Airport by Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva before talks in Shusha and a joint press conference.

Azerbaijan marked Victory Day on Sunday, the sixth anniversary of the end of the 2020 Karabakh war. Aliyev led the commemorations by laying a wreath at the Victory Monument in Khankendi, paying tribute to those killed in the 44-day conflict with Armenia.

He described the liberation of Shusha on 8 November 2020 as the decisive moment of the war. A Russian-brokered ceasefire followed two days later, and the anniversary of Shusha's capture is now observed every year as Victory Day.

A message of unity after weeks of friction

The visit came nine days after Aliyev stayed away from a summit of the Organization of Turkic States in Ankara on 30 October, despite a personal invitation from Erdoğan during a telephone call on 21 October. Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov represented Azerbaijan instead, while Aliyev attended a youth football ceremony in Baku the same day.

The absence followed a public dispute between political figures in the two countries over comments about Azerbaijani school rules and religious expression, and about Baku's relations with Israel. Oktay Saral, then an adviser to Erdoğan, announced on 26 October that he had resigned from the advisory team.

Neither government publicly linked the dispute to Aliyev's decision to miss the Ankara summit. Asked on 5 November about reports of a crisis in relations, Erdoğan said he had spoken with Aliyev and had sent Fidan and Kalın to Azerbaijan, without disclosing the purpose of those visits or announcing any agreement.

In Shusha, both leaders spoke as though the episode were behind them. Aliyev described Erdoğan's presence at the commemorations as a demonstration of the alliance's strength.

"This unity will last forever," Aliyev said. "Your presence with us on Victory Day brings joy to the entire Azerbaijani people."

Erdoğan said that "those seeking to weaken the Azerbaijan-Turkey brotherhood will never achieve their goals," and added that ties between the two countries could overcome all obstacles. Aliyev echoed him, saying there were no two countries in the world as attached to each other as Azerbaijan and Turkey.

Turkey's role in the 2020 war

Aliyev also used the occasion to acknowledge Turkey's support during the 2020 war, telling Erdoğan directly that "during 44 days, my dear brother, and the brotherly Turkish people were by our side." Turkey provided political and military backing to Baku during the conflict.

The alliance was formalised by the Shusha Declaration on Allied Relations, signed on 15 June 2021. Erdoğan invoked it again in Shusha and thanked Azerbaijan for its outgoing chairmanship of the Organization of Turkic States. No new agreement addressing the October dispute or Aliyev's absence from Ankara was announced.

Reconstruction and the return of residents

Earlier in the day in Khankendi, Aliyev highlighted Azerbaijan's post-war reconstruction and the return of displaced communities to the territories it regained in 2020.

"Today we are building and creating a free Karabakh," he said. According to Aliyev, 97,000 people now live, study and work in the regained territories under the government's "Great Return" programme, and more than 40,000 residents have resettled in newly built communities including Fuzuli, Zangilan, Lachin and Shusha.

Official figures put state infrastructure spending across the areas at more than 10 billion euros since 2020, with airports completed in Fuzuli, Zangilan and Lachin, 3,000 kilometres of highways built, and green energy projects targeting 2,000 megawatts of renewable capacity by 2030.

Erdoğan said Turkey highly appreciated the reconstruction efforts and would continue contributing its experience, including a joint forestry training and nursery centre in Jabrayil and a 40-classroom school under construction in Aghdam.

The two presidents also visited the Khojaly Genocide Memorial and the Khankendi Victory Monument together before attending an official banquet in Khankendi in the evening.

Peace process with Armenia

Aliyev said Azerbaijan's focus since the war had shifted towards a peace process with Armenia, with direct bilateral negotiations between government commissions replacing multi-party international mediation.

Joint border teams have completed the formal demarcation of a 12.7-kilometre northern border section, and negotiating teams have finalised most articles of a draft comprehensive peace treaty covering mutual recognition of sovereignty and territorial integrity and the opening of regional transport connections. Speaking alongside Erdoğan, Aliyev said the partnership had implications beyond the two countries' borders. "Turkey-Azerbaijan unity is an important factor across a vast geographical area, contributing to stability, cooperation, and security," he said.