It’s kind of common now for people to think Turkey and Azerbaijan are in lockstep agreement but that’s not necessarily always the case, particularly on the subject of Israel. Turkey views Israel as having committed genocide in Gaza but Azerbaijan does not, they do not have the same policy stance.

This difference is in part because Erdogan is a relatively religious leader who has cultivated Palestinian ties for years; it’s in his interest to make statements against Israel for his beliefs, the sentiment at home, and for his cultivated connections in the Islamic world who are convinced at this point as well, so he has all the reason in the world to openly call out Israel for genocide. Aliyev on the other hand is secular to the point of actually cracking down on undesired religious expression (ex. Iranian preaching in Azerbaijan or the Gulen movement back when Erdogan was pushing it) and his country has a formerly Soviet population that is mostly irreligious so in practice he has domestic flexibility to even align with Israel as he sees fit. So Aliyev instead has promoted relations with Israel since he was opposed to their common enemy of Iran anyway and that allowed him access to military equipment and economic benefits since back in a time where Azerbaijan was militarily very behind the combined forces of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. Among the benefits of the partnership were Harop drones (loitering munitions) that Azerbaijan used to systematically demolish thoroughly fortified and entrenched Armenian forces from the air.

Actually we have cables from folks speaking with Aliyev on Wikileaks where he is documented as directly criticizing Erdogan (very frequent in general in the cables of that time since Aliyev thought he was a religious nutjob) on his foreign policy regarding Israel.

wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/10BAKU134_a.html

BAKU 00000134 004 OF 004

1. © Unprompted by U/S Burns, Aliyev spelled out the reasons Azerbaijan decided to sell gas to Russia last year, noting that "“Moscow had asked” and offered a good price for gas that was surplus anyway. But the real reason, Aliyev confided, was that the sale illustrated to “our Turkish friends” that they will not be allowed to create a gas distribution hub. "Aliyev made clear his distaste for the Erdogan government in Turkey, underscoring the “naivete” of their foreign policy and the failure of their initiatives, including the loss of support for Turkey among traditional international friends because of Ankara,s hostility to Israel. He noted that in his view, there had never been any merit to the notion of a “moderate Islamist” government in Turkey, and that Erdogan,s insistence on promoting Hamas and Gaza ) when other Arab countries were notably silent on these issues ) had brought Turkey no benefits.

wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/09BAKU52_a.html

1. © The President complained that the current Turkish Government is moving toward political Islam and away from secular democracy. He said that he could not understand Erdogan’s harsh attacks on Israel with respect to Gaza in light of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan remaining silent. He noted that Turkey was in essence supporting pro-Iranian forces by siding with Hamas. “This will ruin everything that Turkey has built in its relations with Israel, including excellent economic, military and intelligence cooperation . . . With Turkey having this position, it is difficult for us to continue our joint foreign policy,” the President commented.

So the matter of whether or not Israel committed genocide is actually an area where there is a fair amount of daylight between Turkey and Azerbaijan.

I mean that’s literally the Turkish playbook here…