Azernews.Az

Turkish President Abdullah Gul has severely criticized the United States and the Bush administration over policies in Iraq.

Gul said after talks with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev in Baku on Tuesday that "as a country that has occupied Iraq", the U.S. bears a full brunt of responsibility for fighting terror across the country.
"It would be a contradiction to wage struggle against terrorism in one region of Iraq, and not to combat it in another part of the country. This is pivotal not in terms of supporting Turkey in its anti-terror combat, but from the standpoint of the United States' accountability," the Turkish leader told a joint news conference with President Aliyev.
Aliyev said Azerbaijan remained committed to backing Turkey in its anti-terror efforts and fight against PKK militants.
"We support all of Turkey's operations against terror, and the PKK terrorist organization in particular, and will always stand by Turkey," the head of state said. "Terror against Turkey means terror against Azerbaijan".
He said this stance dwells upon brotherly bonds between the two strategic allies - Azerbaijan and Turkey, which will help to achieve peace, stability and prosperity in the region.
Turkey blames the Kurdish rebel group for the killings of over 30,000 people. Dozens of soldiers and civilians have been killed in recent weeks by PKK guerillas in attacks from mountain hideouts near the border. Turkey has not ruled out diplomacy as a way to end stand-off but threatened to send forces into northern Iraq. The Turkish parliament has recently authorized the country's military to launch a cross-border attack on the militants at any time. The United States, which relies on Turkey for logistical support for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, has called on Ankara to exercise restraint.
Commentators say that Washington did not succeed in convincing Ankara to back down from its plans to launch an attack on PKK rebels during Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyib Erdogan's meeting with US President George Bush at the White House on Monday. Washington insisted, however, on precision strikes instead of waging full-scale hostilities.
Erdogan said Ankara reserved the right to protect itself from terror threats. "We are availing of all the rights stipulated by international law against the separatist terror organization in northern Iraq, which poses a threat to the country's territorial integrity and security."
Erdogan made it clear that Turkey was not at the brink of war and was only pursuing a cross-border operation.
"I rule out the very possibility of this step causing trouble in southeast Turkey and the country as a whole," he added.
President Aliyev praised the outcomes of talks held with his Turkish counterpart, pointing to the commonality of approaches on all regional developments.
He spoke highly of Ankara's position on the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh.
Upper Garabagh is an Azeri region occupied by the Armenian forces since a 1994 cease-fire ended separatist hostilities that killed an estimated 30,000 people and ousted about a million out of their homes.
Aliyev emphasized the high level of Azeri-Turkish economic cooperation and interaction within international organizations.
The Azerbaijani leader decisively condemned the attempts to pass a resolution on the so-called "genocide of Armenians" in the US Congress. "An end should be put to baseless claims against Turkey," he said.
The House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee passed a resolution in October calling the 1915 alleged mass killings of Armenians "genocide", despite hard lobbying against the bill by the Bush administration and Ankara's warnings that the move would damage ties with Washington.
President Aliyev said the passage of the measure resulted from the efforts of the Armenian lobby and was based on a distortion of history. "This is an Armenian lie," he added.
Armenians say Ottoman Turks killed 1.5 million people during World War I, a claim strenuously denied by the Turkic world.
Aliyev called on the Azerbaijani and Turkish Diaspora around the world to join effort in struggle against the Armenian lobby.
Turkish President Gul, for his part, regarded as "very efficient and important" talks with the Azerbaijani leader covering all aspects of bilateral relations as well as regional issues.
Gul said the long-standing Garabagh problem should be resolved in peace and in keeping with the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.
"Turkey is ready to join all the effort to support peace and stability in the South Caucasus," he said.
Gul pledged to further expand his country's economic and trade ties with Azerbaijan. He said Ankara was working to triple the trade turnover between the two countries, which already exceeds $1 billion.
The Turkish president welcomed the fact that global energy and transport projects play a great role in the development of both Turkish-Azeri relations and regional cooperation. He called on Turkmenistan to take part in the trans-Caspian pipeline project that envisions gas exports to world markets by-passing Russia.
Gul said implementing such large-scale transport projects as the Baku-Tbilisi-Akhalkalaki-Gars railway - a $600 million line to link Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey - will be among key objectives in the foreseeable future.
With regard to Turkey's doing business in Azerbaijan, he said investments by over 2,000 Turkish firms in the Azerbaijani economy have reached $2.5 billion. With investments in the energy sector included, the figure amounts to $5 billion.
Baku and Ankara signed five documents during President Gul's first official visit to Azerbaijan since taking office. These included a joint declaration by the heads of state, a program on long-term trade and economic cooperation, inter-governmental agreements on partnership and collaboration and on youth and sports, and a memorandum on family, women and children's issues between respective state bodies.
Local analysts say the fact that Turkey's new president is paying one of his first foreign visits to Azerbaijan indicates that the South Caucasus republic is a priority in Ankara's foreign policy.
President Gul, who is accompanied by a broad delegation of Turkish entrepreneurs, is due to attend a joint business forum on Wednesday. During the three-day visit, he is also expected to visit Ganja, which is Azerbaijan's second largest industrial city next only to the capital and an ancient cultural center.

Parliament to label PKK as terror group

The Milli Majlis (Azerbaijani parliament) will soon issue a statement recognizing the PKK as a terror group, Speaker Ogtay Asadov said.
The remarks were in response to an inquiry from opposition MP Panah Huseyn. The lawmaker said 10 parliament members had passed a relevant appeal to the Azerbaijani legislature at a recent broad forum held with the participation of local political and public organizations.
Speaker Asadov replied that he had discussed the issue with the chairmen of parliamentary commissions on Monday. "We decided in conclusion that a special statement will be prepared on the recognition of PKK as a terrorist organization," he said, emphasizing that a parliamentary commission would be set up for the purpose.