“Long live the Turkish-Azerbaijani brotherhood” A Study of Turkish-Azerbaijani Relations Julia Aybeniz Ensrud Abedi Master’s Thesis in Political Science Department of Political Science UNIVERSITY OF OSLO Spring 2019 Word count: 39.024 II “Long live the Turkish-Azerbaijani brotherhood” A Study of Turkish-Azerbaijani Relations © Julia Aybeniz Ensrud Abedi 2019 “Long live the Turkish-Azerbaijani brotherhood” - A Study of Turkish-Azerbaijani Relations Julia Aybeniz Ensrud Abedi http://www.duo.uio.no Print: Grafiske Senter, Oslo III Abstract The bilateral relations between Turkey and Azerbaijan are often described as brotherly and friendly in everyday life as well as by foreign policy elites as their societies share several close cultural and linguistic ties. The influence of kinship and friendship on states is becoming a field within International Relations, and these concepts can be fruitful to better understand relations between states by providing a perspective that is often taken for granted or not studied systematically. Theoretically, the thesis draws on discourse analysis to uncover how foreign policy elites categorise the world, their interpretation of meaning, and how they perceive and describe kinship and friendship. The objective of this study has been to explain how and to what extent Turkish and Azerbaijani elites are using claims of historical and metaphorical kinship to legitimise their bilateral relationship and conduct foreign policy. This is more specifically analysed by looking at the frozen conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh in the South Caucasus because it underlines the special character of the bilateral relations between Turkey and Azerbaijan, as Ankara has been supporting Baku’s position against Armenia. The temporal focus of the thesis spans primarily from 1991 until 2016, and a genealogical approach is adopted to attempt uncovering how Turkish and Azerbaijani foreign policy elites began to speak about each other in terms of kinship, and to which extent such discursive representations have become naturalised and dominant. The data material constitutes both written and oral texts, and includes official foreign policy texts, such as speeches, press releases and statements in addition to semi-structured interviews conducted in Turkey and Azerbaijan with academics and experts. The empirical analysis shows that Turkish and Azerbaijani elites started representing one another as kin after the Cold War, and that today, the concept seem to be naturalised in the foreign policy discourse, also in the context of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. The analysis thus demonstrates how these discursive representations of kinship and friendship for the most part persists, and has become a significant part of their shared narrative or common story enforcing the affective character of inter-state relations. Furthermore, cultural and linguistic ties are important in facilitating the bilateral cooperation, and this partnership has mutual benefits for Turkey and Azerbaijan. IV Acknowledgements Turkey has fascinated me for many years, but it was not until I started university that this interest manifested itself in a more academic and professional way. After visiting Azerbaijan in my childhood, the memories from the trips were never forgotten. When I was starting the process of finding a topic for my thesis, Turkish and Azerbaijani relations felt like a natural choice. Many people deserve my gratitude for their support and assistance throughout this thesis project. First and foremost, the guidance and support I have received from my thesis supervisor Einar Wigen has been invaluable and precious. Having a supervisor who is an expert on Turkey has made this journey truly exciting. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with me. I would also like to thank the Department of Political Science at the University of Oslo for granting me a scholarship to do fieldwork, which has made this an unforgettable experience. I also want to express my deepest gratitude to my informants in Ankara, Istanbul and Baku for participating in the project. Without you and your valuable insights, this project would be impossible. I would also like to thank the Norwegian embassies in Ankara and Baku for sharing with me their contacts. I truly appreciate the help of Oktay Tanrısever at METU in Ankara in recommending useful literature. Further, I am also truly grateful for the help of Kristin M. Haugevik at NUPI who read through my draft and gave me useful comments. Family and friends in Baku, Ankara and Istanbul deserves to be mentioned for sharing their experiences with me and making me feel like home. Finally, without my family in Oslo – my parents May-Kristin and Ibrahim, and Hakan - and their always unconditional support, this project would never have been finalised. A special thanks to Adam for always believing in me. All errors, mistakes and misperceptions are fully my own. Julia Aybeniz Ensrud Abedi Geneva, May 2019 V Abbreviations ADR Azerbaijan Democratic Republic AKP Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi) APF Azerbaijan Popular Front (Azerbaycan Khalq Cephesi) BTC Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline CIS Commonwealth of Independent States CUP Committee of Union and Progress (İttihad ve Terakki Cemiyeti) EU European Union MHP Nationalist Action Party (Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi) NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organisation OSCE Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe PKK Kurdistan Workers’ Party (Partiya Karkerên Kurdistanê) SCP South-Caucasus Project SOCAR State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic TANAP Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline TAP Trans Adriatic Pipeline TBMM Turkish parliament (Türkiye Büyük Meclisi) TIKA Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (Türk İşbirliği ve Koordinasyon Ajansı Başkanlığı) UN United Nations USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics VI Table of Contents 1. Introduction .................................................................................................. 1 1.1. Research Question ................................................................................... 3 1.2. Overview of theory and method .............................................................. 5 1.3. Empirical material: The thesis and the field ........................................... 7 1.4. Structure of the thesis .............................................................................. 8 2. Theoretical framework ................................................................................ 9 2.1. Discourses, representations and practices ............................................... 9 2.1.1. The production of knowledge and power .......................................... 10 2.1.2. Identity and foreign policy ................................................................. 11 2.2. Kinship in International Relations ........................................................ 13 2.3. Friendship in International Relations ....................................................... 15 2.3.1. Indicators of international friendship ................................................. 16 2.4. Emotions and affect in international friendships ...................................... 18 2.5. Chapter summary ...................................................................................... 20 3. Research design and methods ...................................................................... 21 3.1. Case study as research design ................................................................... 22 3.2. Discourse analysis: Method and research Design .................................... 23 3.2.1 Data and delimitations ........................................................................ 23 3.3. Selection and reading of texts ................................................................... 27 3.3.1. Original versions and translations ...................................................... 28 3.4. Integrating semi-structured interviews ..................................................... 29 3.4.1. Selection of informants ...................................................................... 31 3.4.2. Interviewing informants ..................................................................... 32 3.5. Advantages and challenges ....................................................................... 33 4. Empirical analysis ...................................................................................... 35 4.1. Ottoman-Safavid relations .................................................................... 35 4.2. The late Ottoman Empire and Azerbaijan under Russian rule .............. 37 VII 4.2.1. Kemalist Turkey and the Others ..................................................... 39 4.3. Conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh - “the black garden” ............................ 40 4.3.1. Black January – Azerbaijan as a less familiar Other ...................... 41 4.4. Blossoming of relations post-Cold War ................................................ 43 4.4.1. Bridging opportunities .................................................................... 45 4.4.2. Khojaly as a foundational moment ................................................. 46 4.4.3. Turkish vital interests & friendship with Azerbaijan ..................... 49 4.4.4. The Elçibey period in Azerbaijan – a move towards Turkey ......... 51 4.5. 1993 Closure of the Turkish-Armenian border ..................................... 53 4.5.1. The beginning of the Aliyev era ..................................................... 55 4.5.2. Energy cooperation: Sacrifices