Azernews.Az

ANKARA – The Turkish prime minister’s visit to Azerbaijan shows the country’s importance for Turkey and is an "historic" visit, Ambassador Hulusi Kilic said on Tuesday.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan was in Azerbaijan last Wednesday on his second foreign visit after the June 12 parliamentary elections in Turkey, which were won by the ruling AKP party. The first visit was paid to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).

Speaking to a news conference on the outcomes of Erdogan’s visit, Ambassador Kilic said that during the prime minister’s talks in Baku the two countries discussed bilateral relations, the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno Karabakh, the development of the Turkic world, trade and economic cooperation.

Kilic pointed out that the Turkish-Azerbaijani trade turnover amounted to $2.5 billion last year. In the first five months of 2011, the figure made up $1.4bn and is expected to reach $3bn by the end of the year, he said.

The ambassador said the fight against terrorism was touched upon during Erdogan’s meeting with President Ilham Aliyev, and Ankara was pleased with Aliyev’s statement that Azerbaijan formally recognizes PKK as a terrorist organization.

"Nagorno Karabakh was also high on the agenda of the meeting," Kilic said. "The prime minister reiterated what he stated earlier: ‘Nagorno Karabakh is Turkey’s bleeding wound as well’."

"We shut our border with Armenia due to Nagorno Karabakh 18 years ago. This was unprecedented in the whole world. This is the best example of fraternity," Kilic said.

Kilic said the issue of lifting visa regulations between Turkey and Azerbaijan was also tabled during Erdogan and Aliyev’s talks, expressing hope that the issue would be resolved soon.

"Ilham Aliyev said at the news conference [after talks with the Turkish premier] that ‘we are not ready yet’. We respect that. But we already travel to Georgia merely with an identification document. Moreover, we have cancelled visas with Russia, Syria, Serbia and other countries. Inshallah, the Azerbaijani side will be ready [soon] too, and the visas will be waived."

Turkey unilaterally cancelled visa regulations with Azerbaijan in 2010.

"Azerbaijanis can stay in Turkey without a visa for a month, and we now want to extend this period to three months," Kilic said.