Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 31
Trend:
The people and state of Azerbaijan will never allow creation of a second Armenian state on Azerbaijan's historical lands, said President Ilham Aliyev.
He made the remarks at a joint press conference together with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Baku Oct. 31.
“Both at the one-on-one meeting and at the meeting with participation of delegations, we have seen once again that the Turkey-Azerbaijan relations are at the highest level,” said President Aliyev.
The Turkey-Azerbaijan friendship, brotherhood, unity is at the highest peak today, he noted adding that there is consensus on the discussed issues, all issues are solved, and the discussed issues are implemented.
“Naturally, we have discussed today the future development of our political relations,” said the president.
The head of state noted that political relations of Azerbaijan and Turkey are developing successfully.
Speaking about the high-level mutual visits, President Aliyev reminded that he has visited Turkey twice this year, and today the Turkish President is on a visit to Azerbaijan.
Ministers, other officials meet frequently, added the head of state.
Meanwhile, the two countries support each other in all international organizations, said President Aliyev.
The president said that the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, one of the most painful problems for the region today, has also been discussed.
“Unfortunately, this conflict has not been solved yet. Azerbaijan’s historical land, Nagorno-Karabakh, and seven surrounding districts are under occupation, and as a result of the occupation, more than one million Azerbaijanis have become displaced persons,” said President Aliyev. “International organizations, especially the UN Security Council passed four resolutions on the conflict. These resolutions indicate that the Armenian armed forces must be withdrawn immediately and unconditionally from the occupied lands.”
“Unfortunately, these resolutions remain on paper, Armenia still ignores them, and the conflict remains unresolved. This is the policy of double standards against us. In some cases, UN Security Council resolutions are implemented within a few days. However, in our case, these resolutions and decisions remain unfulfilled for more than 20 years,” added the president.
The head of state noted that the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict must be resolved on the basis of international law and within the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.
“There is no other way. The people and state of Azerbaijan will never allow creation of a second Armenian state on our historical land. I once again thanked President Erdogan for the support of Turkey in this issue. Turkey has always supported the just case of Azerbaijan in all international organizations as a friend, as a brother,” added Ilham Aliyev.
“Today, we have discussed the military cooperation extensively,” he noted adding that this issue is also on the agenda.
Noting that three joint military exercises have been held in Azerbaijan, two military exercises – in Baku and one military exercise – in Nakhchivan this year, President Aliyev said that this is a factor strengthening the two countries’ cooperation in the military sphere.
Meanwhile, the joint military-technical cooperation continues, added the president.
Turkey’s growing military industrial complex is of great interest to Azerbaijan, said Ilham Aliyev, adding that Azerbaijan buys and will continue buying military products from Turkey.
President Aliyev said that the document signed today in the economic sphere is of great importance. “Preferential, in other words, the privileged trade agreement is of great importance,” noted the president.
He expressed confidence that once this agreement enters into force, the two countries’ trade turnover will increase significantly.
Speaking about the investments, President Aliyev said that to date, $10 billion have been invested in Turkey by Azerbaijan, and $11 billion have been invested in Azerbaijan by Turkey.
The volume of these investments will further increase and Azerbaijan’s investments in Turkey must reach $20 billion, added the head of state.
Turkish companies have been operating successfully in Azerbaijan for a long time and to date, Turkish companies, at the expense of the Azerbaijani state budget, have been carrying out various work worth $11 billion, added Ilham Aliyev.
This strengthens friendship and cooperation between businessmen, noted the president.
“Of course, energy and transportation issues have been traditionally discussed at today’s meeting,” said the president, and added that “we are moving confidently towards the set targets”.
The Azerbaijani president expressed confidence that the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) project will be completed soon and there is no problem with its implementation.
“The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project was put into operation yesterday. We celebrated this historic day together with my brother, our brothers and sisters who came from Turkey. This is our great success, great victory,” said the Azerbaijani president.
This once again shows that all the projects involving Turkey and Azerbaijan and those initiated by the two countries are being implemented, noted President Aliyev.
Along with the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC), Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum, TANAP, the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) is also a big transnational, continental-scale project, said the head of state.
“Our unity, our friendship has made it all possible,” he added.
Ilham Aliyev said that today the Turkey-Azerbaijan friendship, brotherhood and unity is an important factor for the region and plays a stabilizing role in the region.
Strengthening Turkey increases Azerbaijan’s strength, noted the president.
“Thanks to the leadership of my dear brother, Turkey has become a great power today in the world, and our enemies are disappointed,” added President Aliyev.
