on Azerbaijan, prompting the last-minute cancellation of the deal between Baku and Ankara. Azerbaijani diplomats also said the national interests of Azerbaijan did not allow for an open-border policy with Iran since political instability in Iran may trigger a huge influx of Iranian ethnic Azeris refugees to Azerbaijan and did not want the proposed Turkey-Azerbaijan Visa-Free Regime to be reciprocal with Iran as well. Azerbaijan lifted visa requirements for Turkish citizens from 1 September 2019. Strategic partnership In June 2010, Azerbaijan and Turkey have signed key agreement on a package of Shah Deniz gas issues in Istanbul. The agreement also will open the way for securing supplies to the EU's flagship Nabucco gas pipeline project. On 16 September 2010, countries signed a treaty to establish Strategic Cooperation Council in Istanbul. In December 2010, National Assembly of Azerbaijan ratified on strategic partnership and mutual assistance between Azerbaijan and Turkey. The agreement consists of 23 articles and five chapters: Military-political and security issues, military and military-technical cooperation, humanitarian issues, economic cooperation, and common and final provisions. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in a written statement that the 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria will serve to eliminate the terror risks, return of the refugees to their homes, solution of the humanitarian problems, and providing peace and stability within the territorial integrity of Syria. Support in Turkey's tensions with Greece Amid the tensions between Turkey and Greece in the Eastern Mediterranean which sparked in the summer of 2020, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev vowed to "stand with Turkey under any circumstances without any hesitation." Aliyev made these remarks while accepting the credentials of Greece's newly appointed ambassador to Azerbaijan, Nikolaos Piperigos, at an event in the capital Baku in September 2020. Aliyev said "we support Turkey on all issues, including the issue of intelligence in the Eastern Mediterranean." Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara will too continue to support Baku and that the friendship between the two countries is eternal. Energy relations As of August 2020, Azerbaijan has become Turkey's major gas supplier which fits into Turkey's efforts of the past several years to diminish its dependence on Russian gas. Economic relations On 11 September 2020, Turkish Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan said that Turkey aims to sign a Free Trade Agreement with Azerbaijan and increase trade turnover between the two countries. Noting that the trade turnover between the two countries in