AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT TO VISIT TURKEY
Cihan News Agency, Turkey
Jan 13 2015
ISTANBUL – 13.01.2015 20:37:04
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is scheduled to pay an official
visit to Turkey upon the invitation of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The Office of the President announced on Tuesday that Aliyev is
visiting Turkey on Jan. 15 to attend and co-chair with Erdogan
the fourth meeting of the Turkey-Azerbaijan High-Level Strategic
Cooperation Council (YDSK), which aims to boost bilateral relations.
“The talks and joint works during the visit [of Aliyev] and the
fourth YDSK will facilitate discussion on and furthering of bilateral
relations between two friendly and brotherly countries. Furthermore,
the two countries will exchange views on regional and international
developments that concern them,” said the statement from the Office
of the President.
The two leaders co-chaired the last YDSK meeting in November 2013,
during which Aliyev noted Turkey’s unconditional support for Azerbaijan
and described bilateral relations as “excellent.”
Erdogan had said that the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute between Azerbaijan
and Armenia was also Turkey’s problem and reiterated Ankara’s
commitment to settling the issue.
Nagorno-Karabakh is a disputed enclave between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Armenia occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory in the early
1990s, including Nagorno-Karabakh, which is primarily populated by
Armenians, and seven adjacent provinces.
Subsequently, Turkey closed its borders with Armenia in 1993 in
solidarity with Azerbaijan. The conflict remains unresolved and has
the potential to destabilize the region.