Azernews.Az

Turkey will provide the needed military support to Azerbaijan as part of the two close allies’ defense cooperation, the Turkish defense minister said in Baku Thursday.

"Turkey-Azerbaijan relations are beyond time and space," Ismet Yilmaz, who started an official visit to Azerbaijan on Wednesday, told reporters.

President Ilham Aliyev, hosting the delegation led by Minister Yilmaz, stressed that many Turkish presidents and prime ministers have paid their first official visits to fraternal Azerbaijan and praised the fact that this tradition is being observed on the level of ministers, according to the Azerbaijani president’s press service.

President Aliyev said Azerbaijani-Turkish relations are successfully developing in all areas, particularly defense. He added that Yilmaz’s visit will help to further strengthen ties between the two countries’ relevant bodies.

Yilmaz said he was pleased to pay his first official visit since his appointment as Turkey’s defense minister to fraternal Azerbaijan.

"The words ‘one nation, two states’ said by the national leader of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev are now accepted around the world," he said.

In Yilmaz’s meeting with Azerbaijani Defense Minister Safar Abiyev, the parties exchanged views on ways of boosting bilateral military cooperation.

On the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, the ministers noted that it is time for Armenia to withdraw its occupying forces from Azerbaijani territories.

Minister Abiyev said that despite ongoing peace talks, no result has been achieved so far, and Armenia continues its aggression against the neighboring country.

"In this situation, there is no other way but to carry out serious [combat] preparations in our armed forces," Abiyev said.

About 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory has been under the occupation of Armenian armed forces since a ceasefire was signed in 1994 following a brutal war. Peace talks brokered by US, Russian and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far. Azerbaijan has been spending heavily on its armed forces and repeatedly warned it would take back part of its territory if the ongoing peace talks yield no results.