Antalya, August 29, AZERTAC

A trilateral meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs Mevlut Cavusoglu of Turkey, Elmar Mammadyarov of Azerbaijan and Rashid Meredov of Turkmenistan has been held in Antalya, Turkey.

The sides discussed projects carried out by the three countries in various areas including energy, transport, tourism and sport, regional cooperation, bilateral relations and other issues of mutual interest.

The Ministers addressed the meeting.

Condemning the terrorist attacks in Turkey in recent months, Elmar Mammadyarov highlighted Azerbaijan's assistance to Turkey in combating terrorism.

He described the unresolved Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as the greatest threat to peace in the region and a serious barrier to the development of regional cooperation. “Twenty percent of the internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan have been under Armenian occupation for many years. More than one million Azerbaijanis have become refugees and internally displaced persons,” he added.

Hailing Azerbaijan's geo-strategic position, the FM noted that the country is located on the regional, energy and transport corridors of global importance. “This is what opens wide opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation. Azerbaijan successfully implements regional projects whose foundation was laid by the commissioning of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline. Azerbaijan as the initiator of a number of vital projects in the region connects the most important regions of Eurasia via implementation of the projects of the Southern Gas Corridor, the main lines of which are the TANAP and TAP, the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project and new Baku International Trade Port.”

Mevlut Cavusoglu hailed trilateral relations. “Azerbaijan, Turkey and Turkmenistan stand at the center of economic projects carried out in the region. Rapid growth of the trilateral relations contributes to regional development,” he added.

Rashid Meredov drew the audience`s attention to the tasks set by Baku and Ashgabat declarations adopted by Azerbaijan, Turkey and Turkmenistan in May 2014 and in January 2015, saying they accelerated the development of trilateral relations between the countries.

The FMs then inked Antalya Declaration, under which the next trilateral meeting will be held in Azerbaijan.

Sabir Shakhtakhti

Special Correspondent