Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu paid a one-day visit to Azerbaijani capital Baku on July 16 to hold discussions with the Azerbaijani officials.

On July 17 Davutoglu met with the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov. The two ministers mulled issues of cooperation between Azerbaijan and Turkey, as well as the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

"We constantly contact with my Turkish counterpart," Mammadyarov said after the talks with his Turkish counterpart.

Mammadyarov noted that he advised his Turkish counterpart about the Vienna meeting with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen, which was held in Vienna, on July 12.

He emphasized that Azerbaijan supports the idea of holding a meeting between the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

In turn, Davutoglu said the occupied territory of Azerbaijan should be freed to achieve peace and stability in the Caucasus.

About 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts, has been occupied by Armenian armed forces since then. Peace talks have been largely fruitless so far.

"We have held productive meetings with the Azerbaijani President and Foreign Minister in Baku," Davutoglu stressed. "The sides achieved an agreement on the exchange of experience between the officials of the Foreign Ministries of the two countries."

"Azerbaijan and Turkey are the two fraternal countries and there is no example of two countries' such close cooperation in the world," he added.

"There are big plans for cooperation and we now have the practical results of this cooperation between our two countries," Davutoglu added.

He also underlined that contemporary Azerbaijan is the success of the country's government.

According to Davutoglu, Turkey observes the economic growth and development of Azerbaijan.

Regarding the relations between the two countries Davutoglu said that Turkey has always supported and will support Azerbaijan.

According to him, the next Supreme Council of the Strategic Cooperation between the two countries will be held in Baku in November.

Turkish Foreign Minister also thanked Azerbaijan for its support for Istanbul's bid to host the Olympic Games.

Also, the issues of economic cooperation were discussed during the meeting of the Azerbaijani and Turkish Foreign Ministers.

Regarding this, Mammadyarov stressed that Turkey must be more active in the implementation of the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline project (TANAP).

The TANAP project envisages construction of a pipeline from the eastern border of Turkey to the country's western border to supply gas from Azerbaijan's giant Shah Deniz gas condensate field. Initial capacity of the pipeline is expected to be 16 billion cubic meters per year. Around 6 billion cubic meters will be delivered to Turkey, while the rest will be transported to European markets.

The minister also said that Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia have agreed to accelerate the process of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway construction.