The reason Erdoğan dismissed his adviser at Aliyev’s demand is clear. Those familiar with the Aliyev family’s history will recognize the same tactics: Heydar Aliyev used them against Leningrad Communist Party leader Romanov and Uzbek Communist Party leader Sharaf Rashidov. The scheme is simple: draw people into a corruption network, then use their involvement to blackmail them when the moment comes. The Aliyev family has long used corruption as a political tool, including in the post-Soviet period. Many high-ranking Western politicians and diplomats, as well as institutions such as the Council of Europe, have also been caught in this trap. Those who engage in corrupt dealings with the Aliyevs pay sooner or later. Once you are in, you never out. The only way to stay out of it is to refuse, despite lucrative offers and intimidation, to make deals with them. Yet, over my lifetime, I’ve come to agree with the famous saying: “History teaches us one thing: that it teaches us nothing.”