Azerbaijan in the Turkic world

Regional, international cooperation among the Turkic nations started rather late compared to other international organisations on cultural and ethnic grounds, the main reason being that Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia and Azerbaijan in the South Caucasus were republics of the Soviet Union until 1991, when they gained independence. The five Member States of the Organisation of Turkic States (OTS) had a population of almost 160 million at the beginning of 2024, covering an area of 4.196 million km2, stretching from China to the Balkans. Hungary has had observer status in the OTS since 2018 and Turkmenistan since 2021. The European continent accounts for the largest share of Azerbaijan's export turnover (2021: 69.64%). Between 2010 and 2021, Azerbaijan's exports to Europe increased by 10.5%. The external trade balances of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan remained positive with the other full-fledged OTS member states throughout the period 2010-2021. Looking at the regional structure of Azerbaijan's import purchases, it can be seen that, Europe and the Asian continent played an almost equal role in Azerbaijan's import structure (45.9% - 46%) in 2021. Looking at the period from 2010 to 2021, it is clear that Azerbaijan's foreign trade turnover with OTS countries has increased very significantly. The value of foreign trade has more than tripled in 11 years. The most significant increase in Azerbaijan's foreign trade was with Turkey making up 494% over 11 years. Mineral resources, especially oil and natural gas, accounted for 88.7% of Azerbaijan's export turnover in 2021. Azerbaijan faces a big political and economic challenge, namely to integrate the former occupied Karabakh region, to develop its infrastructure and undertake the necessary demining actions.