Baku, November 27, AZERTAC

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has received a delegation led by Foreign Affairs Minister of the Turkish Republic Mevlut Cavusoglu.

President Ilham Aliyev said:

I congratulate you on the occasion of your appointment as Foreign Affairs Minister, and wish you success in your activities. I am very glad that you are paying your first visit to Azerbaijan. This tradition has already existed for several years. Both state and government officials, ministers make their first visits after the appointment to the brotherly country. Using this opportunity I would like to congratulate you on the successful organization of recent G20 Antalya Summit. This is a big success of Turkey. Turkey once again demonstrated that it is a great country, a country with big power. I am happy that the brotherly country invited Azerbaijan to the Summit. This is indicative of the high level of Turkish-Azerbaijani relations, and shows both our nations and the world that Turkey and Azerbaijan have the closest relations on the global scale.

The head of state noted that G20 Antalya Summit demonstrated that Turkey’s position has a significant role to play in many issues. Stressing that Azerbaijani-Turkish relations are at the highest level, President Ilham Aliyev said the two countries are successfully cooperating in all areas.

Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said:

Dear Mr President, thank you so much. First of all I would like to thank you for receiving us.

I want to stress that I am very proud to continue our traditions, make my first visit since my appointment as Foreign Affairs Minister to brotherly Azerbaijan.

I would also like to congratulate you on the Parliamentary elections held on November 1. Both Turkey and brotherly Azerbaijan held elections on the same day. You had very successful elections. I read the reports of international organizations. Yesterday I reviewed approval reports of the Council of Europe. We congratulate you on this occasion.

Mevlut Cavusoglu thanked President Ilham Aliyev for Azerbaijan’s participation in G20 Antalya Summit. Saying he was proud that President Ilham Aliyev attended the Antalya Summit, the Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister praised precious remarks on international issues that the head of state made at this prestigious event. He noted that Azerbaijan`s participating in the Summit made Turkey’s position even stronger.

Mevlut Cavusoglu expressed his confidence that Turkish-Azerbaijani relations will continue developing in all areas and reach a higher level under the leadership of the two brotherly countries’ presidents.

Touching upon ongoing tension between Turkey and Russia, President Ilham Aliyev said that historically, Azerbaijan has had close ties with both Turkey and Russia, and that it regrets and is concerned about tension between the two countries. The head of state said Azerbaijan is ready to make efforts to reduce and eliminate tension in Turkish-Russian relations.

They also discussed a variety of issues, including settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh, and the projects jointly implemented by Azerbaijan and Turkey such as TANAP, TAP, Baku-Tbilisi-Kars and others.