Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan flew to Azerbaijan on Tuesday to reassure its leaders that Turkey's efforts to reconcile with Armenia won't undermine Azerbaijan's interests.
The visit, Erdogan said, is aimed at "eradicating misunderstandings and misperceptions" over Turkey's policies and pledged that Azerbaijani interests remained a priority for Ankara.
"Nobody should have the slightest doubt that Turkey will continue to defend Azerbaijan's interests as it has done so far," Erdogan told reporters before his departure. "Our relations are strong and based on a culture of fraternity."
Erdogan, accompanied by Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, was to meet with President Ilham Aliyev and address the Azerbaijani parliament Wednesday.
Turkey said last month it had agreed a "roadmap" to normalise relations with Armenia, its neighbor to the east, with which it has a bloody history and no diplomatic ties.
Azerbaijan, which shares ethnic roots with Turkey, is worried that Turkey may reconcile with Armenia and re-open the border between the two countries, overriding Azerbaijani interests.
Turkey sealed its border with Armenia in 1991 in solidarity with Azerbaijan over the conflict in Nagorno Karabakh, an Armenian-majority Azerbaijani enclave Armenia had occupied two years earlier, dealing a heavy economic blow to Armenia.
Turkey has said a peace deal with Armenia will depend on the resolution of the Karabakh conflict and is eager for progress on the issue.
Turkish-Armenian ties have been poisoned also by Yerevan's campaign for an international recognition of the mass killings of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire as genocide.
After his visit to Baku, Erdogan was to meet with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi Saturday.
Russia, which has been mediating between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno Karabakh, is reportedly pushing for a summit between Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian in June aimed at moving to formally end the conflict.