Samarkand, November 11, AZERTAC

The 9th Summit of the Organization of Turkic States has been held in Samarkand.

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev attended the event.

President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev welcomed President Ilham Aliyev and other heads of state.

Then a group photo was taken.

Opening the meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Organization of Turkic States, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev greeted the guests and made a speech, highlighted the issues to be discussed, the tasks facing the Organization of Turkic States and the prospects for further expanding cooperation.

Chairman of the Halk Maslakhaty of the Milli Gengesh of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said that the Samarkand Summit would make an important contribution to the further development of relations between Turkish states and spoke about the importance of expanding cooperation.

In his speech, President of Turkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan congratulated Azerbaijan on the occasion of the second anniversary of Victory in the Patriotic War. He said: “The peace process in the South Caucasus is still fragile despite all the efforts of our native Azerbaijan. On the second anniversary of the glorious Karabakh Victory celebrated on 8 November, I wish God's mercy for our dear martyrs and good health to our ghazis. I once again congratulate the people of Azerbaijan in the person of our brother Ilham. We stand by Azerbaijan in its search for peace and just struggle.”

Noting the importance of the giant projects being implemented jointly by Azerbaijan and Turkiye, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: “The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline is one of the most successful energy projects on a global scale. The Southern Gas Corridor has been designed as the fourth artery that will transport gas to Europe. This corridor, the backbone of which is the Trans-Anatolian natural gas pipeline, can be further expanded with additional gas supplies. The Caspian basin is the first source that comes to mind in this respect. From this point of view, we attach great importance to the joint projects that we will implement in the field of energy within the framework of our organization and with cooperation at the bilateral level.

The President of Azerbaijan made a speech at the Summit.

Speech by President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev

-Dear Shavkat Miromonovich,

Dear Heads of State and Government,

Ladies and gentlemen,

I am visiting brotherly Uzbekistan for the third time in the last seven months. In April, I paid a state visit to Uzbekistan and in September I participated in the Summit of the Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. I am very happy to be in Samarkand again today.

During these visits, I had the opportunity to see the large-scale construction work in Uzbekistan. I congratulate my brother, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev and brotherly Uzbek people on the achievements made. During the visits, the discussions I had with President Shavkat Mirziyoyev show that Azerbaijan-Uzbekistan relations have risen to a higher level.

I would like to express my gratitude to President Shavkat Mirziyoyev for the organization of the Summit of the Organization of Turkic States at a high level and for the hospitality.

I would also like to thank brotherly Turkiye for the successful chairmanship of our organization for the past year and wish success to brotherly Uzbekistan during its upcoming chairmanship.

Dear colleagues,

The strengthening of relations with Member States of the Organization of Turkic States in all fields is one of the top priorities of Azerbaijan's foreign policy.

Azerbaijan has always contributed to the close unity of the Turkic world and will continue to be committed to the goals of unity of the Turkic world.

Starting from the Nakhchivan Summit of 2009, our organization has covered a long path of development.

The Turkic world covers a vast geography inhabited by more than 200 million people and has great economic potential, energy resources, transportation routes and advanced military capabilities.

The Turkic world is a large family. Taking each other's national interests into account, we must continue to show mutual support and solidarity.

In addition to the political, economic, commercial, cultural, transport, energy, digital transformation, agriculture and tourism, we should also activate our cooperation in the fields of security, defense and defense industry.

The Turkic world does not consist of independent Turkic states only, its geographical boundaries are broader. I believe that the time has come to permanently keep in mind, within the framework of the organization, issues such as preventing the assimilation and protecting the rights, security and national identity of our compatriots living beyond the countries that are members of the Organization of Turkic States.

The young generation of the Turkic world should have the opportunity to study in their mother tongue in the countries of their residence. Unfortunately, majority of the 40 million Azerbaijanis living outside Azerbaijan are deprived of these opportunities.

Education of our compatriots living outside Turkic states in their mother tongue should always be on the agenda of the organization. Necessary steps should be taken in this direction.

The state of Azerbaijan pays special attention to the protection of the rights, freedoms and security of Azerbaijanis living abroad. We will continue our efforts so that our compatriots, who were separated from the state of Azerbaijan due to bitter fate, preserve our language, traditions, and culture, remain loyal to the ideas of Azerbaijanism, and never cut ties with their historical homeland.

Dear colleagues,

This week, the Azerbaijani people proudly celebrated the second anniversary of the liberation of Karabakh and Eastern Zangazur from Armenian occupation. Two years ago, we put an end to the 30-year occupation of Azerbaijani lands, restored historical justice and international law. By doing that, Azerbaijan also itself implemented the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council.

Although the 30-year occupation is over, its severe consequences are still there. Nine cities and hundreds of villages of Azerbaijan were wiped off the face of the earth by Armenia. Aghdam, once a large and prosperous city, has been destroyed to an extent that foreign experts call it the Hiroshima of the Caucasus. During the occupation, Armenia destroyed 65 out of 67 mosques, while the remaining two mosques were seriously damaged and used to keep pigs and cows. This is an insult to the entire Muslim world. Islamophobia and Turkophobia form the basis of Armenia’s official ideology.

During the occupation, Armenia planted more than a million landmines in our territories. In the two years since the end of the Patriotic War, about 270 Azerbaijani citizens have been killed or seriously injured in mine explosions.

Azerbaijan is carrying out large-scale reconstruction work in the territories liberated from occupation. We have started the implementation of the “Great Return” program to return former internally displaced persons to their native lands.

Turkish companies are actively involved in many infrastructure projects in this process as contractors. My dear brother, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited the liberated territories three times and has been to Shusha, Fuzuli, Zangilan and Jabrayil.

I am also inviting the heads of other Turkic states to Karabakh and Eastern Zangazur. Using this opportunity, I express my gratitude to the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev and President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev for the school to be built by Uzbekistan and the creativity centre to be built by Kazakhstan in the liberated Fuzuli district. These are the manifestations of brotherhood between Azerbaijani-Uzbek and Azerbaijani-Kazakh peoples.

Although two years have passed since the end of the Second Karabakh War, Armenia continues to commit military provocations on the border. In the latest one, in September, the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan had to launch a resolute counter-offensive operation to repel yet another military provocation by Armenia.

In order to misguide the world public opinion, Armenia is trying to baselessly accuse Azerbaijan of military aggression. We categorically reject these groundless claims. We fought on our lands, defeated the Armenian army and expelled them from our ancestral lands. Today, we are also in our native lands in the direction of the Azerbaijan-Armenia border.

In October, Azerbaijan and Armenia officially recognized each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity by joint statements adopted in Prague and Sochi. It once again demonstrates that the Karabakh conflict was left in the past.

The results of the Second Karabakh War create new opportunities for the region. Azerbaijan actively promotes the establishment of the Zangazur Corridor and carries out large-scale activities related to the corridor in its territory. All countries from the region will benefit from the opening of the Zangazur corridor.

Dear friends,

We highly appreciate Baghdad Amreyev's activity as Secretary General of the Organization of Turkic States. In recognition of his contributions to the unity of the Turkic world, Baghdad Amreyev has received a high state award of Azerbaijan, the “Dostlug” Order, which was presented to him by me personally on 21 October.

In conclusion, we once again congratulate Uzbekistan for the organization of the Summit at a high level and wish peace, prosperity and happiness to the Turkic peoples.

Thank you.

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In his remarks, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev emphasized the importance of cooperation among Turkish states in the development of information technologies, transport and transit corridors. In this regard, he particularly noted the importance of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, which passes through the territory of three brotherly states - Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkiye.

In his remarks, President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov said that relations with Azerbaijan had reached a new level. He said: “We have recently exchanged visits with my dear friend, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Heydar oglu Aliyev, and raised the relations between our two states to a new level of strategic partnership.”

Noting the important role of Azerbaijan in ensuring Europe's energy security, Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban said: “I want to express my gratitude to my brother President Ilham Aliyev. Because Azerbaijan is the only real chance for diversification for us. I also want to thank my brother Ilham Aliyev for fully supporting our initiative to open ‘green energy’ for cooperation among Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania and Hungary. I have high hopes for this cooperation.”

Secretary General of the Organization of Turkic States Baghdad Amreyev, speaking about cooperation within the framework of the organization, said that the organization always supported the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. “Our cooperation and the political arena have developed significantly. Our countries have demonstrated unanimity to the whole world by firmly supporting Baku in the struggle for the liberation of fraternal Azerbaijani lands from occupation and the restoration of territorial integrity,” he said.

The new Secretary General of the organization, Kubanychbek Omuraliev, expressed his gratitude for the confidence placed in him and said that he would work hard to further expand cooperation among member countries.

The event then featured the signing of a number of documents, including the Samarkand Declaration.

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The meeting was followed by an awards ceremony.

President of Turkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Chairman of the Halk Maslakhaty of the Milli Gengesh of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov were awarded with the Supreme Order of the Turkic World.

World-famous Kyrgyz writer Chingiz Aitmatov was posthumously awarded the Alisher Navoi prize in recognition of his contributions to the unity and development of the Turkic world. The award was handed to President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov.