Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Azerbaijan and Turkey, who are brotherly countries always supporting each other in the international arena over many years, have expressed satisfaction with the successful development of bilateral ties in various fields.

President Ilham Aliyev paid his first official visit in 2015 to Turkey on January 14, where he discussed different aspects of the cooperation with the high-ranking officials.

Following the visit to the tomb of the founder of the Turkish Republic Mustafa Kemal Ataturk – Anitkabir, President Aliyev was solemnly welcomed by his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the presidential palace in Ankara on January 15.

President Aliyev and Erdogan held a private meeting following the official welcoming ceremony. The two leaders hailed successful development of bilateral friendly and fraternal relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey in political, economic, energy and other fields.

The two heads of states also highlighted the value of jointly implemented by the countries of the global projects in the energy and transport sectors.

During their conversation, the presidents noted that Turkey will host the next meeting of the "Big Twenty." President Aliyev thanked his counterpart for inviting him to the meeting, considering it as an example of friendly relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey.

Touhing upon the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, President Aliyev and Erdogan stressed the importance of a fair settlement to the problem based on the norms and principles of international law and 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.

They expressed confidence that relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey will continue to develop.

Afterwards, the presidents attended the fourth meeting of the Turkey-Azerbaijan High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council.

During the meeting, the sides discussed prospects for cooperation between Azerbaijan and Turkey in the economic, electricity, oil and gas, transport, defense, humanitarian and other spheres, the progress in the implementation of projects such as the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars, TANAP, and exchanged views on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Following the meeting of Turkey-Azerbaijan High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council, the two leaders made a speech at a joint press conference.

Finding fair solution to Karabakh conflict

Noting that Turkey and Azerbaijan discussed the latest situation around the negotiations on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Presdient Erdogan, unfortunately, the OSCE Minsk Group has not taken concrete steps in this direction and diverts attention from the settlement process.

Delay in the process of conflict settlement is of concern and regret, as there are the resolutions to resolve the problem, according to Turkish president.

Noting Ankara will continue to support Baku in peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict within the territorial integrity of the country, Erdogan said Turkey will never give up its position on this issue.

In meantime, President Aliyev accused Armenia in hampering the peaceful solution of the conflict despite the four resolution of the UN Security Council on immediate withdrawal of Atmanian armed forces from the occupied Azerbaijani territories.

He thanked President Erdogan for Turkey’s constant stance regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, adding Turkey supports justice, truth, international law and its brothers.

President Aliyev further expressed regret that over the years the OSCE Minsk Group failed to achieve any result.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict can only be resolved within the territorial integrity. “Nagorno-Karabakh - the native land of Azerbaijan and Azerbaijan will restore its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said.

Azerbaijan, Turkey plan to increase trade turnover

President Erdogan said Turkey and Azerbaijan are going to increase trade turnover to $15 billion till 2023 and the two countries are able to do so.

Noting that the bilateral ties at the highest level, he said the two countries attach great importance to energy projects.

One of the global projects implemented by the parties, is a project to build a gas pipeline Trans-Anatolian (TANAP), Erdogan said.

He stressed that the strategic role of Azerbaijan and Turkey will rise in the world with the implementation of the TANAP project.

Touching upon the construction of the railway Baku-Tbilisi-Kars as another important project, implemented by countries, Erdogan added that the project will be put into operation this year.

He went on to say that the sides have implemented a number of strategic projects, such as the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC).

Also, a signing ceremony of documents with the participation of Presidents Aliyev and Erdogan was held.

The two presidents signed "Joint Statement on the results of the fourth meeting of Turkey-Azerbaijan High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council.”

"Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the exchange of financial information on money laundering and property acquired by criminal means and financing of terrorism between the Financial Monitoring Service under the Central Bank of Azerbaijan and the Council of Financial Crime Investigation Turkish Ministry of Finance" signed by Faig Bagirov, Azerbaijani Ambassador to Turkey and Ibrahim Hakki Polad, Chairman of the Board of the Financial Crime Investigation at the Turkish Ministry of Finance.

"Memorandum of Understanding to establish a joint committee on customs issues between the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan and the Ministry of Customs and Trade of Turkey" was signed by Shahin Mustafayev, Minister of Economy and Industry of Azerbaijan and Nurettin Canikli, Minister of Customs and Trade of Turkey.

Prior to his meeting with Erdogan, President Aliyev met Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkish Prime Minister and discussed the cooperation between the two countries.

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.

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

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