diff --git a/graphiti_core/cross_encoder/openai_reranker_client.py b/graphiti_core/cross_encoder/openai_reranker_client.py
index 2e6c5b2ff..16f60065e 100644
--- a/graphiti_core/cross_encoder/openai_reranker_client.py
+++ b/graphiti_core/cross_encoder/openai_reranker_client.py
@@ -22,7 +22,8 @@
 from openai import AsyncAzureOpenAI, AsyncOpenAI
 
 from ..helpers import semaphore_gather
-from ..llm_client import LLMConfig, OpenAIClient, RateLimitError
+from ..llm_client import LLMConfig, RateLimitError
+from ..llm_client.openai_base_client import BaseOpenAIClient
 from ..prompts import Message
 from .client import CrossEncoderClient
 
@@ -35,7 +36,7 @@ class OpenAIRerankerClient(CrossEncoderClient):
     def __init__(
         self,
         config: LLMConfig | None = None,
-        client: AsyncOpenAI | AsyncAzureOpenAI | OpenAIClient | None = None,
+        client: AsyncOpenAI | AsyncAzureOpenAI | BaseOpenAIClient | None = None,
     ):
         """
         Initialize the OpenAIRerankerClient with the provided configuration and client.
@@ -45,7 +46,7 @@ def __init__(
 
         Args:
             config (LLMConfig | None): The configuration for the LLM client, including API key, model, base URL, temperature, and max tokens.
-            client (AsyncOpenAI | AsyncAzureOpenAI | OpenAIClient | None): An optional async client instance to use. If not provided, a new AsyncOpenAI client is created.
+            client (AsyncOpenAI | AsyncAzureOpenAI | BaseOpenAIClient | None): An optional async client instance to use. If not provided, a new AsyncOpenAI client is created.
         """
         if config is None:
             config = LLMConfig()
@@ -53,7 +54,7 @@ def __init__(
         self.config = config
         if client is None:
             self.client = AsyncOpenAI(api_key=config.api_key, base_url=config.base_url)
-        elif isinstance(client, OpenAIClient):
+        elif isinstance(client, BaseOpenAIClient):
             self.client = client.client
         else:
             self.client = client
diff --git a/graphiti_core/llm_client/openai_base_client.py b/graphiti_core/llm_client/openai_base_client.py
index 93e9c598e..259272704 100644
--- a/graphiti_core/llm_client/openai_base_client.py
+++ b/graphiti_core/llm_client/openai_base_client.py
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 from typing import Any, ClassVar
 
 import openai
+from openai import AsyncAzureOpenAI, AsyncOpenAI
 from openai.types.chat import ChatCompletionMessageParam
 from pydantic import BaseModel
 
@@ -48,6 +49,9 @@ class BaseOpenAIClient(LLMClient):
     # Class-level constants
     MAX_RETRIES: ClassVar[int] = 2
 
+    # Instance attribute (initialized in subclasses)
+    client: AsyncOpenAI | AsyncAzureOpenAI
+
     def __init__(
         self,
         config: LLMConfig | None = None,
diff --git a/tests/cross_encoder/test_openai_reranker_client.py b/tests/cross_encoder/test_openai_reranker_client.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8dc3ae540
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/cross_encoder/test_openai_reranker_client.py
@@ -0,0 +1,145 @@
+"""
+Test file for OpenAIRerankerClient, specifically testing compatibility with 
+both OpenAIClient and AzureOpenAILLMClient instances.
+
+This test validates the fix for issue #1006 where OpenAIRerankerClient 
+failed to properly support AzureOpenAILLMClient.
+"""
+
+from types import SimpleNamespace
+from unittest.mock import AsyncMock, MagicMock
+
+import pytest
+
+from graphiti_core.cross_encoder.openai_reranker_client import OpenAIRerankerClient
+from graphiti_core.llm_client import LLMConfig
+from graphiti_core.llm_client.azure_openai_client import AzureOpenAILLMClient
+from graphiti_core.llm_client.openai_client import OpenAIClient
+
+
+class MockAsyncOpenAI:
+    """Mock AsyncOpenAI client for testing"""
+    
+    def __init__(self, api_key=None, base_url=None):
+        self.api_key = api_key
+        self.base_url = base_url
+        self.chat = MagicMock()
+        self.chat.completions = MagicMock()
+        self.chat.completions.create = AsyncMock()
+
+
+class MockAsyncAzureOpenAI:
+    """Mock AsyncAzureOpenAI client for testing"""
+    
+    def __init__(self):
+        self.chat = MagicMock()
+        self.chat.completions = MagicMock()
+        self.chat.completions.create = AsyncMock()
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def mock_openai_client():
+    """Fixture to create a mocked OpenAIClient"""
+    client = OpenAIClient(config=LLMConfig(api_key='test-key'))
+    # Replace the internal client with our mock
+    client.client = MockAsyncOpenAI()
+    return client
+
+
+@pytest.fixture 
+def mock_azure_openai_client():
+    """Fixture to create a mocked AzureOpenAILLMClient"""
+    mock_azure = MockAsyncAzureOpenAI()
+    client = AzureOpenAILLMClient(
+        azure_client=mock_azure,
+        config=LLMConfig(api_key='test-key')
+    )
+    return client
+
+
+def test_openai_reranker_accepts_openai_client(mock_openai_client):
+    """Test that OpenAIRerankerClient properly unwraps OpenAIClient"""
+    # Create reranker with OpenAIClient
+    reranker = OpenAIRerankerClient(client=mock_openai_client)
+    
+    # Verify the internal client is the unwrapped AsyncOpenAI instance
+    assert reranker.client == mock_openai_client.client
+    assert hasattr(reranker.client, 'chat')
+
+
+def test_openai_reranker_accepts_azure_client(mock_azure_openai_client):
+    """Test that OpenAIRerankerClient properly unwraps AzureOpenAILLMClient
+    
+    This test validates the fix for issue #1006.
+    """
+    # Create reranker with AzureOpenAILLMClient - this would fail before the fix
+    reranker = OpenAIRerankerClient(client=mock_azure_openai_client)
+    
+    # Verify the internal client is the unwrapped AsyncAzureOpenAI instance
+    assert reranker.client == mock_azure_openai_client.client
+    assert hasattr(reranker.client, 'chat')
+
+
+def test_openai_reranker_accepts_async_openai_directly():
+    """Test that OpenAIRerankerClient accepts AsyncOpenAI directly"""
+    # Create a mock AsyncOpenAI
+    mock_async = MockAsyncOpenAI(api_key='test-key')
+    
+    # Create reranker with AsyncOpenAI directly
+    reranker = OpenAIRerankerClient(client=mock_async)
+    
+    # Verify the internal client is used as-is
+    assert reranker.client == mock_async
+    assert hasattr(reranker.client, 'chat')
+
+
+def test_openai_reranker_creates_default_client():
+    """Test that OpenAIRerankerClient creates a default client when none provided"""
+    config = LLMConfig(api_key='test-key')
+    
+    # Create reranker without client
+    reranker = OpenAIRerankerClient(config=config)
+    
+    # Verify a client was created
+    assert reranker.client is not None
+    # The default should be an AsyncOpenAI instance
+    from openai import AsyncOpenAI
+    assert isinstance(reranker.client, AsyncOpenAI)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_rank_method_with_azure_client(mock_azure_openai_client):
+    """Test that rank method works correctly with AzureOpenAILLMClient"""
+    # Setup mock response for the chat completions
+    mock_response = SimpleNamespace(
+        choices=[
+            SimpleNamespace(
+                logprobs=SimpleNamespace(
+                    content=[
+                        SimpleNamespace(
+                            top_logprobs=[
+                                SimpleNamespace(token='True', logprob=-0.5)
+                            ]
+                        )
+                    ]
+                )
+            )
+        ]
+    )
+    
+    mock_azure_openai_client.client.chat.completions.create.return_value = mock_response
+    
+    # Create reranker with AzureOpenAILLMClient
+    reranker = OpenAIRerankerClient(client=mock_azure_openai_client)
+    
+    # Test ranking
+    query = "test query"
+    passages = ["passage 1"]
+    
+    # This would previously fail with AttributeError before the fix
+    results = await reranker.rank(query, passages)
+    
+    # Verify the method was called
+    assert mock_azure_openai_client.client.chat.completions.create.called
+    assert len(results) == 1
+    assert results[0][0] == "passage 1"