Baku, March 6, AZERTAC

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has received a delegation led by Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey Mustafa Sentop.

The head of state congratulated Mustafa Sentop on his election as Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and hailed the fact that he paid his first visit in this post to Azerbaijan. President Ilham Aliyev noted that paying first high-level visits has become a tradition between Azerbaijan and Turkey, adding that this is a clear evidence of brotherhood and friendship between the two countries. In this regard, the head of state recalled a joint march of the Azerbaijani and Turkish servicemen at the parade to mark the 100th anniversary of the liberation of Baku last year. Noting that the partnership between Azerbaijan and Turkey is today at a high level and is successfully developing, President Ilham Aliyev highlighted the two countries` cooperation in the trilateral and quadrilateral regional formats. The head of state pointed out important regional initiatives implemented through joint efforts of Azerbaijan and Turkey, as well as large-scale projects such as TANAP, STAR Oil Refinery, which have already been commissioned. President Ilham Aliyev also underlined that Azerbaijan and Turkey support each other on all issues and in international organizations, and pointed out close cooperation within the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States.

Mustafa Sentop said that it is a great honor for him to pay his first visit to Azerbaijan after his election as Speaker of the Grand National Assembly, and extended Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s greetings to President Ilham Aliyev. Saying no two other countries are so close to each other as Azerbaijan and Turkey, Mustafa Sentop stressed the importance of high-level reciprocal visits in developing the bilateral ties. He underlined that large-scale projects such as TANAP, TAP, STAR Oil Refinery bring the two countries closer to each other. Mustafa Sentop said that Turkey always stands by Azerbaijan on the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and supports international law and justice. Noting that Azerbaijan will host the Summit of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States this year, the Speaker pointed out that the two countries are successfully cooperating within the Turkic Council, TURKPA, TURKSOY, International Turkic Culture and Heritage Foundation and other organizations.

The head of state thanked for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s greetings and asked Mustafa Sentop to extend his greetings to the Turkish President.