ABSTRACT
The linguistic proximity of Turkey and Azerbaijan, whose national tongues are essentially dialects of a single Western Turkic language, made Baku uniquely receptive to societal, economic, and political links with Turkey. Wealthier Azerbaijanis found it a simple matter to travel to Turkey and interact with the population, while ordinary Azerbaijanis, even poor villagers, soon got hooked up to Turkish television networks, and became intimate with Turkey's celebrity gossip, soap operas, and soccer league. Turkey's post-Karabakh relations with Azerbaijan began with an embarrassing coup attempt. Turkey's renewed engagement in the South Caucasus took place in spite of the country's continued domestic instability, and a political vacuum that was the result of the self-destruction of the country's major political parties. When Russia invaded Georgia, in August 2008, Turkey's reaction showed the conflicting pressures and instincts guiding its decision making. During the first decade of Azerbaijan's independence, Turkey was the country's main foreign ally and in many ways its mentor.
