National security in the classical sense is the protection of state sovereignty and its citizens from external threats.

According to the vision of the III Republican Platform, the democratization of Azerbaijan is a matter of its national security.

In the current circumstances, when the traditional system of international security has practically collapsed, Azerbaijan should strive to ensure its security more reliably. At a time when global geopolitics is dominated by neo-realism, wars and numerous local conflicts are taking place in the east of Europe and the Middle East, and in the context of threats arising from the reality of the neighborhood with the Russian Federation pursuing an aggressive, neo-imperial policy, states like Azerbaijan are not capable of ensuring their national security on their own.

Military-strategic partnership and alliance with Türkiye create great opportunities for the security of our country. However, the fact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine clearly demonstrates that neither the bilateral alliance pacts nor the security guarantees provided by major powers were sufficient to ensure Ukraine's security. This incident also revealed that NATO is the only reliable umbrella for protecting all member states from Russian expansion.  

The Third Republican Platform believes that a reliable guarantee of Azerbaijan's security is membership in the European Union and NATO. 

In this context, the restoration of Azerbaijan's sovereignty over its entire territory and the end of the conflict with Armenia has removed the main obstacle to our country's NATO membership. On the other hand, the the growing trend of authoritarianism in Azerbaijan creates an insurmountable obstacle to European integration, depriving the country of the most reliable security umbrella in the world – possibility of becoming a NATO member. 

The Third Republican Platform believes that in the new system, which will replace the already collapsed traditional international security system, the main criterion in relation to individual countries will be democratization. From this perspective, we believe that democratization is a matter of national security. Our country shall achieve radical democratic changes without delay, be able to meet the basic standards to integrate into Europe (free society, free market economy, modern army) and obtain a reliable guarantee of its national security by achieving NATO membership.

Foreign policy of the Republic of Azerbaijan shall:

• serve to protect the national interests and the interests of the country; 
• be based on friendly relations and partnership with neighboring and distant countries; 
• be based on equality, bilateral and multilateral relations in accordance with the norms of international law and strict loyalty to its own territorial integrity and that of all neighboring countries.

Azerbaijan should be interested in reviving the historical idea of the “Caucasian House”, which would pave the way to European integration, and, in parallel with the normalization of relations with Armenia, should initiate the creation of the Caucasian Union. This union should be organized as a small model of the European Union and all three countries should strive for mutual deep political-economic-cultural integration. The borders between the countries of the South Caucasus should be conditional and the movement of people should be free. Third-country citizens visiting any of the countries of the South Caucasus should be able to freely travel through all three republics. As a result, the internal integration of the three Caucasian countries will create a favorable ground for the integration of the South Caucasus into the European Union as a whole.

Based on our position above, the following theses on the concept of security and foreign policy of Azerbaijan are produced:

- The current geopolitical conditions dictate that Azerbaijan shall immediately abandon its participation in the international authoritarian coalitions, of which it has become a part, join the Euro-Atlantic security alliance and prioritize real integration into the European Union in its foreign policy; 

- Azerbaijan shall actively participate in all initiatives aimed at EU membership; 

- Azerbaijan shall become a member of the World Trade Organization; 

- Azerbaijan should strengthen its deep strategic partnership and alliance with Türkiye, as well as develop a policy of rapprochement with Türkiye to contribute to peace, stability and security in the region;

- Relations with Georgia should be founded on peaceful neighborhood and equal and bilateral relations based on international law and the current strategic partnership should be deepened; 

- Normalization of relations with Armenia should be carried out within the framework of the conclusion of a reasonable peace treaty based on the principle of mutual recognition of territorial integrity, aiming at the completion of the process of delimitation and demarcation process, laying the foundation for the establishment of mutual economic and trade relations and the opening of communication lines; 

- Meantime, relations with Armenia and Georgia should be developed on the basis of deepening the integration of the South Caucasus within the framework of the Caucasian Unity initiative; 

- Azerbaijan should cease its participation in the CIS, which has become a meaningless and amorphous entity and give priority to equal bilateral relations with the former Soviet countries, including the Russian Federation; 

- Azerbaijan should give priority to relations with its neighbor, the Islamic Republic of Iran, based on equality, bilateral relations and mutual respect for the territorial integrity.

- Azerbaijan should develop relations with the Organization of Turkic States and the Organization of the Islamic Conference.