The Turkic vector of regional politics in Central Asia and the South Caucasus received another boost in January, when officials from Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, and Türkiye signed a new multifaceted agreement on cooperation in Ankara, Türkiye. While not necessarily groundbreaking, the agreement builds on the trend of growing political and economic ties among members of the Organization of Turkic States.

The trilateral meeting’s Ankara Declaration provides a comprehensive list of priorities for joint projects.  The ministers of foreign affairs, trade, economy, and transport from the three countries, agreed to a wide-ranging document that addresses mutual security, political issues, and economic provisions. 

Economically speaking, the document re-affirms the intent of all three states to focus on the building out of the Middle Corridor. Already a priority across Central Asia and the Caucasus, the nations of Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, and Türkiye are crucial transit countries for the Middle Corridor, containing nodes such as the port at Baku and the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway. The Ankara Declaration further outlines economic priorities such as reducing barriers to trade and investment, as well as easing and digitizing border crossing points.

Additionally, officials present in Ankara emphasized an interest in cooperation on climate issues, noting the potential for cooperation on green energy. Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan are already cooperating on building a green energy corridor to reach Europe.

As for politics, the agreement further underscored the commitment of Ankara, Tashkent, and Baku to respect and uphold one another’s territorial integrity and work through the Organization of Turkic States, a multi-lateral organization made up of Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, with Turkmenistan and Hungary as observer members, which has risen in prominence in recent years.

 The document pledges Turkish and Uzbek aid in re-building and de-mining the Karabakh region, which after over 30 years of conflict and displacement is largely empty. In recent years, the government of Azerbaijan has sought to pour investment into the region, building airports and establishing a “Green Energy Zone.”

The document also previewed something that has begun to appear in recent joint statements of OTS members: higher degrees of foreign policy alignment. In recent OTS meetings, members have articulated a desire to form a single, shared policy on Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, as well as  on the continuing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Ankara Declaration showed a continuation of that trend, with members pledging to form a united policy on Afghanistan as well as one welcoming the current cease-fire in Gaza that calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capitol. Israel, in particular, has been an undiscussed dividing line among OTS members, with Azerbaijan having close relations with Israel while Turkish leadership has become outwardly hostile to the country over the course of the war in Gaza.

Driven by a number of factors, the Turkic countries of the Caspian region are eager to build ties with Türkiye in recent years. This has entailed a number of declarations, such as last year's Karabakh Declaration. While the Ankara Declaration is not completely novel, it, nevertheless, provides evidence of a continued commitment to region-altering projects and harmonized policies, whether it be the Middle Corridor or the political power of the OTS.