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Azerbaijan, Turkey mull fight against terrorism

18 February 2016 17:51 (UTC+04:00)
Azerbaijan, Turkey mull fight against terrorism

By Aynur Karimova

Fight against terrorism was high on the agenda of talks held between Azerbaijani officials and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, who visited Baku on February 18.

Cavusoglu met with President Ilham Aliyev, who could not host his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyib Erdogan in Baku upon the recent terror attack on Ankara on February 17.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan postponed his scheduled visit to Azerbaijan as the deadly attack left 28 people dead and 61 injured.

President Aliyev expressed his condolences to Cavusoglu and the Turkish people over the loss of lives in the terror attack in Ankara, and stressed that it shocked Azerbaijan as well.

He said the terror attack was strongly condemned in Azerbaijan and added that, as always, the Azerbaijani people is by the side of the Turkish people in these difficult days.

Cavusoglu, in turn, stressed the importance of fighting against all forms of terrorism, and said Turkey will continue combating this evil.

Before, Cavusoglu and his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov held a meeting, which was scheduled to convene after the Turkey-Azerbaijan High Level Strategic Cooperation Council in Azerbaijan's Ganja.

The foreign ministers mainly focused on Azerbaijan and Turkey's positions on combating all forms of terrorism.

Addressing a joint press conference with the Turkish FM, Mammadyarov expressed his country's deep condolences over the recent attacks on Turkey

“We have a clear position on this issue: we condemn any form of terrorism,” said the minister, adding that currently, there is no information whether there are Azerbaijani citizens among the injured as a result of the explosion in Ankara.

Mammadyarov said the fight against terrorism is very important and currently, Azerbaijan’s participation in the Islamic anti-terrorism coalition in Syria is under discussion.

"No decision has been made on this issue so far," he added.

Cavusoglu, in turn, condemned the terrorist attack on Ankara and expressed his country's gratitude to Azerbaijan for its support.

“Turkey doesn’t make any distinction among terrorists,” he further said.

He added that the meeting of the Azerbaijani and Turkish presidents, which was cancelled due to the terror attack, will be held soon.

Azerbaijan-Turkey enjoyed strong relations for centuries due to a common culture and history and the mutual intelligibility of the Turkish and Azerbaijani languages.

Turkey was the first country in the world to recognize Azerbaijan's independence in 1991 and has been a staunch supporter of Azerbaijan in its efforts to preserve its territorial integrity and realize the economic potential that arises from its rich natural resources in the Caspian Sea.

Azerbaijan and Turkey are among the important countries in the region from the political and economic point of view. They succeeded not only to use their potential for ensuring their own development, but also to create close cooperation for the region’s benefit.

Today, the two countries enjoy good and developing economic ties, especially in terms of huge energy projects envisaging the transportation of Azerbaijan's hydrocarbon resources to the European and world markets through the Turkish territory.

Azerbaijan and Turkey are successfully engaged in mutual investment as well. It is expected that in the coming years, Azerbaijan will invest about $20 billion in Turkey.

The two countries are bound not only by common culture, but also by important joint energy projects. One can say with no doubt that Europe’s energy security is in the hands of Azerbaijan and Turkey, which further boosts importance of the two brotherly countries for Europe.

The importance of Azerbaijan and Turkey is not limited only to energy projects. The two countries are also connected with significant transport projects, and one of them is the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, which will be an important transport corridor between Asia and Europe.

Mammadyarov said the sides discussed cooperation in the energy sector and the project of construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway.

“We believe that the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway will be commissioned by late 2016,” he added.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, being constructed on the basis of a Georgian-Azerbaijani-Turkish intergovernmental agreement has great importance for the region.

Playing a significant role in the revival of the historical Silk Road, the corridor will enable to expand the links from Europe to the Anatolia, Central Asia and the Far East.

The peak capacity of the corridor will be 17 million tons of cargo per year. At the initial stage, this figure will be equal to one million passengers and 6.5 million tons of cargo.

Azerbaijan state oil fund SOFAZ is financing the project allocating two loans totaling $775 million for the construction of the Georgian section.

Turkey has always supported Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and included this issue on the agenda at all international events.

Cavusoglu also said there are close relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey, adding Ankara supports Baku in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 over Armenia's territorial claims against Azerbaijan. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed as a result of large-scale hostilities and over one million Azerbaijanis are unable to return to their homes because of the invasion. Armenia continues the occupation of Azerbaijani territories, which in turn obstacles the regional security and peace.

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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

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