ABSTRACT

Turkey has always been an active player in the Caucasus. It has maintained a special relationship to Azerbaijan due to its ethnic and religious proximity, its important economic and geopolitical potential as a cultural bridge between Turkey and Central Asia and their concurrent geopolitical interests. This chapter focuses on religion as a specific part of the Turkey-Azerbaijan relationship. It explores how the transnational religious actors from Turkey operate across state boundaries and how their relations with both the home and host states affect their success. Turkey's foreign policy focuses on the whole region rather than just looking at one country. Turkish religious influence, represented by state and non-state religious organizations headquartered in Turkey, has always been manifold in post-Soviet Azerbaijan. It has also played a crucial role in the revival of Sunni Islam in the traditionally Shi'a country. The case of Turkish religious actors in Azerbaijan has demonstrated that transnational non-state religious actors can be successful complementary soft power tool.