Controversial former Turkish Minister meets Azerbaijani President

Former Turkish Interior Minister Mehmet Agar, who is accused of numerous links to organized crime and corruption, was seen in the same photo with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev after a long absence in Azerbaijan.

The duo met ahead of a match between Azerbaijani and Turkish soccer clubs Karabakh and Galatasaray..

Agar has come under renewed discussion as a result of allegations by organized crime leader Sedat Peker, who claimed he represented the 'deep state' in Turkey

Peker had accused Agar of 'knowingly and willingly aiding" FETO, a religious group accused of being behind the 2016 coup attempt in Turkey, and of intimidating and defrauding Mubariz Mansimov, an Azerbaijani businessman, and causing him to lose his property in a port business in Bodrum. Peker also said that Agar was involved in international cocaine trafficking and was the planner of many unsolved murders.

These allegations contributed to the controversy surrounding Agar's disputed reputation in the 1990s, when he was accused of human rights abuses and involvement in the Susurluk scandal, a political scandal that exposed links between organized crime, the police, and politicians in Turkey.