Azernews.Az

BAKU – The Azerbaijani parliament on Tuesday approved the country`s strategic partnership deals with Turkey that include mutual military assistance in case of an outside attack.

"We had long expected the adoption of these documents and this encourages us," Samad Seyidov, chairman of the parliamentary committee on international relations, said while submitting a host of documents to the parliament members.

The documents submitted to the Milli Majlis include the Azerbaijan-Turkey agreement on strategic partnership and mutual assistance and a joint statement on establishing "a high-level strategic cooperation council".

"One of the clauses in these documents says that if one of the countries comes under a military incursion from a third state or a group of countries, the other side is to provide it with military and political assistance," Seyidov said. The volume of such assistance is determined during negotiations and considering the scope of the threat.

The strategic partnership deal also envisions expanding military cooperation between Azerbaijan and Turkey. Such cooperation could cover creating infrastructure for joint military operations, supplying the armed forces with weaponry and other issues.

According to Seyidov, the agreement also covers economic cooperation, as well as issues of humanitarian aid and collaboration in the area of science.

Zahid Oruj, a member of the parliamentary committee on defense and security, told AssA-Irada earlier that the agreement also envisions joint production of military goods as well as holding joint military exercises and training staff for the armed forces. He added that the signing of such an agreement will be "a step serving the military and political balance" in the volatile region.

The 23-clause strategic partnership agreement was signed in August in Baku by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul.

Azerbaijan faces a two-decade-long conflict with Armenia. 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s territory has been under Armenian occupation since the two South Caucasus republics signed a precarious cease-fire in 1994 following a lengthy war.