Erdogan: Turkey, Azerbaijan are members of one family
By Gunay Hasanova
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey and Azerbaijan are members of one family, the TRT Haber news channel reported on August 4.
He was commenting on Ankara’s fighting the movement of Fethullah Gulen, who is accused of the orchestrating the July 15 failed military coup in Turkey.
Erdogan pointed out that Turkey will continue to fight the Gulen movement as before.
“Azerbaijan’s flag will always be welcomed in Turkey and during the solidarity rally to be held on August 7 in Istanbul. The Turkish people don’t want to see any flag other than the flags of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Northern Cyprus,” he noted.
The Turkish government and the opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) will hold a joint protest rally against the military coup attempt in the country on August 7.
President Erdogan, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and MHP leader Devlet Bahceli will take part in the rally.
In turn, Turkish Presidential Administration said that Turkey highly appreciated Azerbaijan’s role in Ankara’s fight against the movement of Fethullah Gulen.
Azerbaijan made a significant contribution to Ankara’s fight against the Gulen movement and Turkey expects such reaction from other brotherly countries as well, said a source at the presidential administration.
“Azerbaijan’s support to Turkey in its fight against the Gulen movement is another bright example of brotherly relations between Baku and Ankara,” said Turkey’s presidential administration.
Previously, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov reiterated the unacceptability of the treacherous coup attempt against the democratic will of the Turkish people and the constitutional foundations of the state.
During the phone conversation with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu on August 2 Mammadyarov said that Azerbaijan as a fraternal country is always near to Turkey.
In turn, Cavusoglu said that Turkey appreciates the support and the steps taken by Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan in the fight against the Gulen movement should be an example for other fraternal countries, he added..
Political, military, social and economic relations are at the high level between the two friendly and brotherly countries, which are bounded with the principle of “one nation, two states”.
Turkey and Azerbaijan are in close cooperation in the areas of energy and transport as well. The two countries have conducted massive regional projects of strategic importance, such as Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Crude Oil Pipeline, BAKU-Tbilisi-Erzurum Gas Pipeline and Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway Project. The cooperation between two countries will further be enhanced with the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP).
In turn, Turkey actively participates in the efforts of OSCE Minsk Group, which seeks a peaceful solution to Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Turkey, due to the occupation of the Azerbaijani territories, keeps its border with Armenia closed since 1993.
On July 15 evening, Turkish authorities said a military coup attempt took place in the country. Meanwhile, a group of servicemen announced about transition of power to them.
However, the rebelling servicemen started to surrender July 16 and Turkish authorities said the coup attempt failed. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the death toll as a result of the military coup attempt stood at 246 people excluding the coup plotters and over 2,000 people were wounded.
Erdogan declared a three-month state of emergency in Turkey on July 20.
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