Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who was re-elected the country's president for the next five years, made his first official visit to neighboring Turkey on November 12.

President Aliyev and his spouse Mehriban Aliyeva were welcomed by Turkey's top state and government officials at the Esenboga Airport, decorated with the national flags of the two countries.

During the visit President Aliyev visited Anitkabir, the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish Republic.

President Aliyev was officially welcomed in Cankaya Presidential Palace.

Turkish officials were introduced to President Aliyev and the members of the Azerbaijani delegation were introduced to President Abdullah Gul of Turkey.

President Gul awarded the Azerbaijani Head of State with Turkish State Award and President Aliyev awarded the Turkish president with Heydar Aliyev order.

The First Lady Aliyeva and political leaders of both countries attended the award ceremony.

After the award ceremony, the Azerbaijani and Turkish presidents delivered speeches.

During his speech President Aliyev said that the Azerbaijani-Turkish ties have become an important factor not only for both countries, but also for the region and the whole world.

"The Azerbaijani-Turkish relations have become an important factor not only for the two countries but also for the region and the entire world," President Aliyev said, Turkish TV channel TRT Haber reported on November 12.

Azerbaijani President made the remarks at the awarding ceremony, where he was awarded the State Award of Turkey by his Turkish counterpart.

"Today is a remarkable and historic day in my life," President Aliyev said. "Today I have been awarded the top award of the fraternal Republic of Turkey. This is a great honour, and a great happiness for me, and I would like to assure you and the Turkish people that I will further continue to make every effort for the development of the Azerbaijani-Turkish relations."

The Head of Azerbaijani State said he would make efforts to further strengthen the friendship and alliance between Azerbaijan and Turkey for the implementation of joint projects between the two countries and to ensure that the alliance between Azerbaijan and Turkey was eternal and indestructible.

President Aliyev noted that there are a lot of peoples close to each other in the world, and these peoples are not always as close as Azerbaijan and Turkey.

"It is no coincidence that after the declaration of Azerbaijan's independence, brotherly Turkey was the first country to recognize it. From that day on our unity, friendship and brotherhood are being preserved and create opportunities for the integration of our nations, for mutual settlement of the issues that are important to our peoples and states," the President of Azerbaijan said.

President Aliyev went on to say that the priority of the country's foreign policy is precisely the Turkish-Azerbaijani relations. "These relations define our foreign policy in the first place. Turkey is our closest friend, fraternal country, an ally, and in recent years our unity has risen to a new level," he said.

"Today, Azerbaijani and Turkish relations have become an important factor not only for our countries but also for the region and the entire world. The jointly realized common political, economic, and energy projects bind us more closely, making this unity everlasting and irreversible. And of course, our unity today has a positive impact on the processes taking place in the region, and the Turkish-Azerbaijani unity is the main condition for regional cooperation," he said.

According to President Aliyev, the Turkish-Azerbaijani unity is the main factor of security and stability in the region.

"The stronger Turkey is today, the more comfortable Azerbaijan will be," President Aliyev said. "We are very pleased that even in the years of crisis, Turkey was able to strengthen its economic and political stability."

He added that Turkey's economy is successfully developing. "All its initiatives are being implemented. At present, Turkey is a global powerhouse in the world. Special merits in the implementation of all these operations belong to my brother President Gul. Turkey is developing under your leadership and has already turned into an international force. Turkey is a very attractive country for friends and partners."

He said that the number of the countries willing to establish friendly relations with Turkey is increasing, adding that the country's international prestige is at a very high level.

"Azerbaijan became a member of the UN Security Council, but until then, Turkey was a member of this organization," President Aliyev said. "I am confident that Turkey will once again become a member of the UN Security Council because respect for Turkey in the world is increasing day by day. Both me and my dear brother President Gul worked together at various stages of the Azerbaijani-Turkish relations. We were working shoulder to shoulder. In Ceyhan we participated together in the opening of the Baku- Tbilisi- Ceyhan oil pipeline. In Kars we laid the foundation of the Baku -Tbilisi -Kars railway. I am sure that there will be many joint events because the ongoing projects focus on the future."

President Aliyev noted that it is necessary for the future generations to maintain the relations of friendship, unity and brotherhood and for the traditions and directions created today to be a guide for future generations.

"This is necessary because we want our unity to be eternal, unshakable and irrevocable and I am sure we will achieve this," President Aliyev said. "Anyway, the recent history gives ground to this.

"Neither Azerbaijan nor Turkey doubts in Turkey's further development," the President said. "Our fraternal country will continue to develop. While using this opportunity, I want to express my appreciation for Turkey's constant support to Azerbaijan."

"Today's ceremony and awards are of great symbolic value. This is the triumph of our unity, friendship, and brotherhood," Ilham Aliyev underscored.

President Gul, in turn, said that Turkey attaches great importance to the friendship and brotherhood between Azerbaijan at the highest level.

"Azerbaijan's turning into a leader, which has achieved stability amid the current processes in the world, is a guarantee for the future of these relations," President Gul said.

"President Aliyev is playing a significant role in the development of relations between the two countries," President Gul added.

Following the award giving ceremony, Aliyev and Gul had a meeting in Ankara. Following their bilateral meeting the two leaders held a joint press conference.

President Aliyev said that the sides have discussed the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

He noted that Turkey has always supported Azerbaijan in this issue.

The territories, recognized as Azerbaijan's by the world community, are under Armenian occupation for long years. The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions which are not implemented by Armenia. However, Azerbaijan continues to exert efforts for resolving this issue.

"Unfortunately, Armenia's position does not allow resolving this issue and restore the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. We suffer from this occupation," President Aliyev stressed.

He went on to say that over one million citizens of Azerbaijan are refugees and internally displaced persons for long years. The ethnic cleansing policy was implemented towards Azerbaijan and to reconcile with this injustice is impossible.

He expressed confidence that in the coming months and years more serious steps will be made toward this issue and the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan will be restored.

President Aliyev went on to say that the sides also discussed the joint projects which have moved beyond the regional framework and become global.

"Each of the projects-Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum and Baku-Tbilisi-Kars-are significant events, projects which have a great success. We were able to achieve the implementation of these projects thanks to the Turkish-Azerbaijani friendship and unity and today we are looking forward," he said.

According to Presidenti Aliyev, today the mutual investment issues are being successfully resolved and Azerbaijan's largest investment abroad are invested in Turkey.

"This process is underway and during the next five years Azerbaijani capital worth $15-17 billion will be invested in Turkish economy. At the same time we welcome the investments of Turkish companies and support the ties between the businessmen of two countries," he said.

The Turkish president, in turn, said that along with regional issues, relations between the two countries were also discussed at the meeting.

"Moreover, the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and the liberation of occupied Azerbaijani territories, which is a national issue of Turkey and Azerbaijan, were mulled," he said.