Abstract:

Azerbaijan is located in a geo-politically and geo-strategically important geography. According to Mackinder's Heartland Dominance Theory, the Third World War will be fought either in the Baltic or the Caucasus. Therefore, Azerbaijan is a country in the center of attention of other countries due to its energy resources. Today, while Azerbaijan is writing a success story in foreign policy, it is experiencing some difficulties due to the lack of democratic institutionalization in domestic politics. Azerbaijan, which pursues a pro-active foreign policy, multilateralism and a policy of balance with countries other than Armenia, consolidates its power through political and commercial agreements. However, it can be said that the Aliyev administration is not democratic enough in domestic politics. In particular, the one-way broadcasting of the press and media and the weakness of the opposition cause the people of the country to fall under the influence of fundamentalist and ultra-nationalist movements. In addition, the large number of political prisoners in the country causes some problems in terms of freedom of expression. There is not much difference between father Heydar Aliyev and son Aliyev in terms of domestic and foreign policy. Ilham Aliyev continues to pursue a policy of balance in line with his father. Son Aliyev also maintains close relations with Turkey. Turkey is the country that Aliyev trusts the most. There is political, military, economic and diplomatic cooperation between the two countries. With the recent Karabakh War, the cooperation between Turkey and Azerbaijan has clearly surfaced. The aim of my study is to analyze the problems of democracy in domestic politics during the Aliyev period and the cooperation between Turkey and Azerbaijan with the success story in foreign policy.

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