Since then, Turkey has been a staunch supporter of Azerbaijan in its efforts to consolidate its independence, preserve its territorial integrity and realize its economic potential arising from the rich natural resources of the Caspian Sea.

The two countries share a 17 kilometres (11 mi) long international borderline, with the Aras River separating Turkey from the Nakhchivan exclave of Azerbaijan.

Following a UN Security Council resolution on April 6, 1993, calling for the immediate withdrawal of Armenian forces from the Azerbaijani district of Kelbajar, Turkey joined Azerbaijan in imposing a full economic embargo on Armenia, and the border between the two states was closed.

[5] Turkey supported Azerbaijan politically, supplied arms, and held joint military drills to improve combat interoperability since the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War.

In September 2022, at a United Nations news conference, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar reiterated Turkey's support for Azerbaijan in its conflict with Armenia.

[6] Turkey supports the OSCE Minsk Group, as a mechanism for resolving the territorial dispute and views it from the principle of Azerbaijani integrity.

But its proximity to Azerbaijan, the Caspian, and Central Asia, as well as to the Middle East, has allowed it to cultivate a new strategic role: the ‘missing link’ in a chain connecting these new producers of vast mineral resources with the consumer societies in Europe, America and beyond.

The foundation of STAR was laid on October 25, 2011, with the participation of Azerbaijani and Turkish Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The consortium consisting of Técnicas Reunidas (Spain), Saipem (Italy), GS Engineering & Construction Corp (South Korea) and Itochu (Japan) built the plant.

[15][16][17] Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ilham Aliyev, and Georgy Margvelashvili officially met in the city of Kars in Eastern Turkey to lay the foundation of the pipeline on March 17, 2015.

[29] Azerbaijan maintains a base in Nakhchivan that has received heavy Turkish support in the past, but no official information is available about the current scope of military cooperation between the two countries in the exclave.

[30] On the eve of the April 2009 official visit to Turkey by US President Barack Obama, sources in Ankara and Yerevan announced that a deal may soon be struck to reopen the border between the two states and exchange diplomatic personnel.

[31] That prompted concerns from both Baku and Turkish nationalists that the ongoing negotiations over the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute would be adversely affected by the lifting of the longstanding blockade.

Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry spokesman Elkhan Polukhov initially stated that it was "too early" to discuss what steps his country might take in retaliation,"[32] Azerbaijani President İlham Aliyev failed to take part in the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) meeting in Istanbul on April 6–7, which was claimed to be a protest.

There was also heated debate in the Turkish Parliament with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader, Devlet Bahçeli, who shared the Azerbaijanis' "rightful concerns" in warning the government: "Your approach to Armenia harms our dignity".

The International Crisis Group (ICG) issued a report on the normalisation: "The politicized debate whether to recognize as genocide the destruction of much of the Ottoman Armenian population and the stalemated Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh should not halt momentum.

The unresolved Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh still risks undermining full adoption and implementation of the potential package deal between Turkey and Armenia.

[36] When the announcement of the provisional roadmap for normalising Armenia–Turkey relations was made on April 22, 2009, there was no mention of the dispute, which is no longer believed to be part of the agreement.

[37] According to a statement from the office of Turkish President Abdullah Gül, he initiated a phone conversation with Aliyev following the announcement to stress the importance of "solidarity and cooperation" between their nations for regional stability, and speaking to the press on April 23, he reaffirmed commitment to finding a solution to the dispute: "There has been unprecedented intense diplomacy [that] does not only involve Turkey, Azerbaijan and Armenia [but also] Russia, the United States, the EU, are all involved....

"[39] When Turkish Energy Minister Hilmi Güler finally emerged from the talks, he stated, "These reports are not true; I have been holding meetings with the Azerbaijanis for two days.

[46] Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan confirmed during a live 9 May TRT broadcast that no problem exists in bilateral relations between Turkey and Azerbaijan and that the provisional roadmap with Armenia was tied to the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict: "There is a causal link here.

"[45] In a 24 February 2010 meeting with US Undersecretary of State William Burns, Azerbaijan's president Aliyev "made clear his distaste for [Turkey's] Erdogan government."

Mammadyarov stated, "The latest developments showed that it was impossible to achieve progress in the maintenance of stability and security in the region without taking Azerbaijan's position into consideration and without a solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

"[53][54] Davutoğlu announced, at a 26 May joint press conference in Baku, "Turkey and Azerbaijan are not two ordinary friends, neighbours and brother countries, they are at the same time, two strategic partners.

One of the fundamental foreign policy priorities which is embraced by everybody in Turkey – no matter what political thought [they] have – is the existing strategic partnership with Azerbaijan.

[56] According to Azerbaijani diplomats, a visa-free travel regime proposed by Turkey in 2009 had fallen victim to Iranian pressure on Azerbaijan, prompting the last-minute cancellation of the deal between Baku and Ankara.

In June 2010, Azerbaijan and Turkey have signed key agreement on a package of Shah Deniz gas issues in Istanbul.

Aliyev made these remarks while accepting the credentials of Greece's newly appointed ambassador to Azerbaijan, Nikolaos Piperigos, at an event in the capital Baku in September 2020.