After the heads of state’s meeting, the President of the Republic of Turkey Abdullah Gul and the President of the Azerbaijan Republic Ilham Aliyev made a statement to the press.

President Abdullah Gul’s statement

Mr President, my dear friend,

Distinguished ministers,

Dear journalists,

As you know, my dear brother, Mr Ilham Aliyev, was elected President for a third term in the elections held in Azerbaijan on 9 October. In this regard, I congratulate him once again and wish him successes in his activities.

As was the case after the previous elections, Mr President, my dear friend Ilham Aliyev paid his first visit to Turkey again.

For this reason, I deeply thank my dear brother.

You know that when I was elected President of Turkey in 2007, I paid my first visit to Azerbaijan. Friendly and brotherly relations between Turkey and Azerbaijan are at a high level. In order to show how close our relations have been in the recent period, I can say that presidential visits between the two countries are being paid for the seventh time over the past six years. During this visit, President Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will chair the third session of the Turkey-Azerbaijan High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council.

Today we had both one-on-one and expanded meetings with Mr President Ilham Aliyev. Of course, at these meetings we examined regional issues along with bilateral relations. Of course, we examined very important economic projects – gas, energy and transport - related to our bilateral relations. At the same time, we discussed regional issues and Azerbaijan’s national issue, which is also our national issue – the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and the issue of liberating the occupied territories. This issue, of course, is one of the issues to which Turkey attaches great importance. I believe that sooner or later, this problem will be resolved. We shared our opinions on this issue with the respected ministers.

Turkish investments in Azerbaijan and Azerbaijani investments in Turkey – all these issues are always of great importance. We will support the strengthening and development of these relations till the very end. As a sign of our brotherhood, a ceremony was held to award medals in your presence today.

I decorated Mr President Ilham Aliyev with Turkey’s highest award – the State Medal. Mr President presented me with the Heydar Aliyev Order, which bears the name of the founder of Azerbaijan – Heydar Aliyev. Of course, all these are one of the best examples of the further strengthening of relations between the two countries. Today we will visit Turkish Aerospace Industries, Inc. And of course, we will all be together in the evening.

Once again, I congratulate my dear brother and tell him “Welcome!” to Turkey – your own homeland.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s statement

Thank you, my dear brother.

Dear President Abdullah Gul,

Dear ladies and gentlemen,

First of all, my dear brother, I would like to thank you for your hospitality towards me and our delegation. I am very pleased to be in fraternal Turkey.

When we see development in Turkey, we become very happy. Over the past years, Turkey has travelled a great and successful path. Under your leadership, your country has turned into a great centre of power on the global scale. Turkey demonstrates its fundamental position not only on regional issues, but on developments in the world, and a lot depends on Turkey’s approach and position. This is very pleasing and encouraging for us. The stronger Turkey, the stronger Azerbaijan.

Today a very remarkable event happened in my life. I was decorated with the fraternal country’s highest award – the State Medal. I regard this decoration as an assessment of the work that has been carried out. I am trying and will continue to try to always develop Turkey-Azerbaijan relations. I and my dear brother President Abdullah Gul have managed to do a lot of work to strengthen this unity in recent years. Today our relations are at the level of alliance. I believe that Turkey and Azerbaijan are the closest countries on the global scale. Our mutual understanding and mutual support are very rare in nature.

Of course, we discussed various aspects of bilateral relations today. First of all, we exchanged opinions on the resolution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. I expressed my gratitude to the Turkish state for its fair position once again. In this issue, Turkey is always with us and with justice and truth, because Azerbaijan’s lands recognized by the international community have been under Armenian occupation for a long time. There are four resolutions of the United Nations Security Council, which are not being implemented by Armenia, and norms of international law are being grossly violated. Azerbaijan is continuing its efforts to resolve the issue. But unfortunately, Armenia’s position makes it impossible to resolve this issue and to restore the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. We are suffering from this occupation. For many years, more than one million Azerbaijani citizens have been living in their land as refugees and displaced persons. A policy of ethnic cleansing was conducted against us, and it is impossible to put up with this injustice. I hope that more serious steps will be taken in connection with this issue in the months and years to come and Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity will be restored. I would like to say once again that this is dictated by historical justice and international law. Of course, Turkey’s support increases our power even more, and we are grateful for this support.

At the same time, today we discussed projects that unite us and have gone beyond the regional framework and risen to the global level – Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum and Baku-Tbilisi-Kars. Each of them is a great event and a project that brings about great success. We managed to implement these projects only owing to unity and friendship between Turkey and Azerbaijan. We are looking even further today. Today issues of mutual investment are being successfully resolved, and Azerbaijan’s largest investments abroad are, of course, investments made in Turkey. This process is continuing, and Azerbaijani investments worth 15-17 billion dollars will be made in the Turkish economy in the next five years. At the same time, we welcome the investments made by Turkish companies in Azerbaijan and support relations between businessmen. At the same time, today, as always, we discussed issues of cooperation in other spheres in conditions of friendship and brotherhood. As my dear brother said, after the presidential elections, I paid my first visit to Turkey. It is natural. It is already a tradition. I am sure that this tradition will live in the future too. Our strength lies in unity, and our unity is based on history. Today the two independent states – Turkey and Azerbaijan – support each other and increase each other’s strength. I am sure that our cooperation will continue to increase in the future.

Once again, my dear brother, I thank you for your hospitality. Thank you.