Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev arrived to Turkey on a state visit on January 14.

President Aliyev first met Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkish Prime Minister and discussed the cooperation between the two countries, AzerTag news agency reported.

The sides expressed satisfaction with the development of Azerbaijani-Turkish bilateral relations in a variety of fields, including economic, energy and transport ones. The importance of joint projects, particularly the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project was emphasized.

They also noted that Azerbaijani-Turkish ties were contributing to the strengthening of regional cooperation.

The sides further noted the necessity of solving the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in a just manner, within the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since a lengthy war in the early 1990s that displaced over one million Azerbaijanis, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions.

The sides also expressed confidence that the friendly relations between the two countries would further expand.

The Azerbaijani president and Turkish Premier had a joint dinner following their meeting.

Azerbaijan-Turkey relations have always been strong due to a common culture and history and the mutual intelligibility of Turkish and Azerbaijani languages.

Turkey was the first country in the world to recognize Azerbaijan's independence in 1991 and has been a staunch supporter of Azerbaijan in its efforts to consolidate its independence, preserve its territorial integrity, and realize its economic potential that arise from the rich natural resources of the Caspian Sea.

Turkey also cut diplomatic ties and closed its border with Armenia after the country invaded Azerbaijan's territories.

Turkey set Armenia's withdrawal from Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions of Azerbaijan as a precondition for establishing diplomatic relations with the country.

--

Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz