Turkey voices support to Azerbaijani borders’ security
By Sara Rajabova
Ankara once again announced that Turkey has always been close to Azerbaijan and will always support the fraternal republic.
“As long as Turkey with Azerbaijan, there cannot be problems on Azerbaijani borders,” Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on August 30, Anadolu news agency reported.
He commented on the recent aggravation of tension on the contact line of Armenian-Azerbaijani troops by the Armenian military.
The ceasefire breaches by the Armenian armed forces had reached 160-170 times some days in the most recent wave of attacks.
Davutoglu stressed that the success of Azerbaijan is a success of Turkey.
Azerbaijan and Turkey's relations have always been strong due to their 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 arises from the rich natural resources of the Caspian Sea.
Ankara also supports an irreversible approach in its foreign policy agenda in regard to the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. It has made clear it wants Armenia to immediately and unconditionally leave the region in view of restoring Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and internationally recognized borders.
Turkey unequivocally refuses to open its borders with Armenia until the latter withdraws from Azerbaijan's occupied lands.
Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that had caused a lengthy war in the early 1990s.
The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions on Armenia's withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but they have not been enforced to this day.
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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on
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