AZERBAIJAN The Erdogan clan and its millionaire deals with Baku in Nagorno-Karabakh

A joint project of 100 million euros was entrusted to trusted men of the Turkish president and his Azerbaijani counterpart. The two leaders visited the agricultural park with 500 jobs and 10,000 head of cattle. Investments were also made in infrastructure and gold and copper mines. The tenders awarded to the “Band of Five”.

Istanbul () – Ankara and Baku, in the name of the Islamic “brotherhood” and common interests, are strengthening their relations with the launch of a joint project of 100 million euros, entrusted to relatives and trusted men of the presidents. of the two countries. A unity of intentions that has been growing since Azerbaijan’s victory over Armenia in the 2020 war, during which Turkey provided its ally with significant military aid. And now, this collaboration is paid: companies close to Recep Tayyip Erdogan have received at least hundreds of millions in contracts, especially in the reconstruction of the Nagorno-Karabakh territories that the Azeris recovered during the war.

In some cases, relations go beyond business and politics: in the Zangilan region, members of the Erdogan family are actively involved in a complex deal with relatives of their Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev. The two leaders personally dealt with the creation of the Dost (“friends”) agricultural park in October 2021. It is a project valued at 100 million that creates 500 jobs and covers 10,000 head of cattle. The two leaders visited the area (and the project) on October 20, during a joint stopover in Nagorno-Karabakh, on which occasion they inaugurated an airport on the border with Armenia and Iran.

Accompanying Erdogan on the tour was Abdulkadir Karagöz, the owner of Dost Ziraat, the main Turkish investor in the agricultural park as well as being the husband of the president’s niece, the daughter of his brother Mustafa. Shortly after his marriage in 2016, the man began racking up government contracts and a growing volume of business – including the agricultural project in Karabakh – and bringing other members of the Erdogan family into the company. In some of the commercial documents analyzed by eurasianetthe names of two other nephews emerge: Üsame, son of Mustafa, and Ahmet Enes İlgen, son of the leader’s sister, Vesile İlgen (now exiled).

As for the Azerbaijani side, the biggest player is Pasha Investments. It is part of the Pasha Holding, which brings together a series of companies and activities attributable to Aliyev’s wife and first vice president, Mehriban Aliyeva. However, managing the agricultural parks is the prerogative of another Erdogan ally, Mehmet Zeki Tuğrul, a former member of the ruling AKP party’s youth wing. The plan is to further expand it by exploiting the Lachin territory, also conquered in the 2020 war against Yerevan.

Karagöz is not the only Turkish businessman from the Erdogan clan. Others are: Cemal Kalyoncu, Chairman of Kalyon Holding; Mehmet Cengiz, Chairman of Cengiz Holding; Yıldırım Demirören, Chairman of Demirören Holding. The trio has always been a key ally and has accompanied his political rise, as well as being part of the cabal of companies known as the “Gang of Five”, which has won the majority of the big bids for multi-million dollar deals, now focused on in infrastructure and mining (gold and copper).

Another company of the Gang of Five, Kolin İnşaat, received a juicy tender for the execution of road works in Nagorno-Karabakh: it is the project for the construction of “Victory Road” -the road in the direction of Susha- for which partnered with the Azeri company Azvirt. Kolin also plays an active role in the creation of a market (located along the “Turkish-Azerbaijani Friendship Street”) in the village of Agali, where the first Azeris relocated to the disputed territory. There are some 30 Turkish companies operating in the territory, according to Ankara’s embassy in Baku. “These companies,” explained Yakup Sefer, Turkey’s top trade adviser in Baku, “have already invested more than a billion euros and the resources will increase” in the future.