By Bosphorus News Geopolitics Desk
On October 2, 2026, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said Azerbaijan had endured war and years of displacement on its own and that "no one" had helped when help was needed. The wording has since drawn attention in Türkiye, where it sits uneasily beside his repeated praise for Ankara's support during the 2020 Second Karabakh War.
Speaking at the eighth congress of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party (YAP) in Baku, Aliyev recalled the 1990s, when Azerbaijan had about one million refugees and internally displaced people, before turning to the country's military victories and independence from foreign patrons. Azerbaijan, he said, had paid for everything it acquired, including weapons bought at world prices "down to the last bullet."
"When we needed help, no one helped us. Whatever we acquired, we purchased with money."
— Ilham Aliyev, October 2, 2026
Aliyev also said Azerbaijan had received no discounts on arms purchases since 2003 and had sometimes paid several times the world market price. His broader point was that Baku owed its position to its own resources and would not accept outside interference or dependence.
The remarks soon became a subject of discussion in Turkish media and on social platforms. Much of the reaction centered on whether such sweeping language also encompassed Türkiye. Aliyev did not mention Türkiye in that passage.
There is no contradiction between Aliyev saying Azerbaijan paid for imported weapons and the public record on Türkiye. The tension lies elsewhere: Aliyev has repeatedly described Ankara's political and moral backing during the 44-day war as immediate and valuable to Azerbaijan.
Aliyev's own words on Türkiye
At the Victory Parade in Baku on December 10, 2020, Aliyev said Azerbaijan had felt Türkiye's support from the opening hours of the war and praised President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for backing Baku from the outset.
"Turkey and its President provided support to Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijani people from the first hours of the war."
— Ilham Aliyev, December 10, 2020
Aliyev went further that day, saying Erdoğan's statements had shown the world that Azerbaijan was not alone and that Türkiye stood beside it. He said Ankara's position gave Azerbaijan additional strength and thanked the Turkish public for its support and solidarity.
At a Turkic states summit in 2023, Aliyev again said Erdoğan's political and moral support from the first hours until the final day of the fighting had given Azerbaijan additional strength. He also said the Turkish public had stood with Azerbaijan throughout the 44-day war.
At the fifth-anniversary Victory Parade in November 2025, Aliyev again credited Erdoğan with supporting Azerbaijan, its people and its army from the opening hours of the Second Karabakh War. He said Azerbaijanis would not forget the support shown by the Turkish public.
Aliyev has also described Türkiye's position as having concrete political value. Speaking to Russian media in 2022, he said Ankara's stance had restrained some outside actors from taking unfriendly steps against Azerbaijan during the war.
Türkiye's position in 2020 was just as explicit. On September 27, the first day of the fighting, Erdoğan said the Turkish nation stood with Azerbaijan "with all its means" and pledged continued solidarity under the "one nation, two states" relationship.
The distinction is simple. Whether Azerbaijan paid for its weapons is one question. Whether Türkiye supported Azerbaijan during the war is another. On the second, Aliyev's own statements over several years have been explicit.
'There is no third' superpower
The October 2 speech contained another unusually blunt foreign-policy judgment.
Aliyev pointed to Azerbaijan's comprehensive strategic partnership with China and its Strategic Charter with the United States. He then called them "the world's two superpowers" and added that "there is no third."
Russia was not named. The formulation nevertheless left Moscow outside the category Aliyev reserved for Washington and Beijing.
Aliyev presented Azerbaijan as a state determined to avoid dependence on any outside power while maintaining relations with competing centers of influence. In Türkiye, however, the sharper reaction centered on his claim that Azerbaijan had received no help, because Baku's own record contains years of statements crediting Ankara with standing beside it during the 2020 war.
Sources: Office of the President of Azerbaijan, Türkiye's Directorate of Communications, Bosphorus News review and reporting.