CC BY 4.0 Official Website of the President of Azerbaijan
Name? Ilham Heydar oglu Aliyev
Westphalian identity? Azerbaijani
Age? 64
Why is he in the news? On 15 October, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev hosted the seventh summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA), whose 28 member states cover 90% of Asia’s territory and population. In his opening speech, Aliyev branded Armenia’s three former presidents war criminals and said Azerbaijan took revenge on the battlefield before offering peace.
Why do we care? Aliyev dismissed the mediation of the Minsk Group of the OSCE, created in 1992 to settle the Karabakh conflict, as “merely an imitation”, preferring forums he hosts himself. A day earlier, he received Israeli President Isaac Herzog to deepen their strategic partnership, even though Israel’s rival Iran also sits in CICA. Aliyev is betting he can keep both sides of the region’s fiercest rivalry at his table.
Why should you care? Aliyev pitched Azerbaijan as Eurasia’s connecting hub. The Middle Corridor, a rail and sea route from China to Europe that bypasses both Russia, Iran and the Red Sea, moved 53,574 twenty-foot container units between January and August 2026, up 11% on a year earlier. With Houthi attacks already driving up shipping costs, every working detour shows up in what you pay.
Who else cares? Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan walked out of Herzog’s speech at CICA alongside the Iranian, Kuwaiti, Pakistani and Palestinian delegations. Türkiye has kept its border with Armenia closed since 1993 in solidarity with Azerbaijan, so Fidan stands firmly with Aliyev on Armenia. On Israel, Aliyev’s other key partner, he walks the other way.
Any further comments? Geography is Aliyev’s greatest asset. Situated between Russia and Iran, Azerbaijan is the only land bridge linking Europe and Asia that avoids both, channeling pipelines, railways and internet cables through the Ganja Gap. Above it lies an 85-mile-wide air corridor that at times handles over 1,000 flights a day.
