PRIME MINISTER OF TURKEY RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN ADDRESSED THE CONGRESS
Addressing the 11th Friendship, Brotherhood and Cooperation Congress of Turkic States and Communities, Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the saying by “one of the architects of eternal ties between Turkey and Azerbaijan, the great statesman and political figure Heydar Aliyev “We are one nation, two states” is the source of special pride for us, as well as the saying by the creator of our Republic Ataturk, which goes “Sorrow of Azerbaijan is our sorrow, the happiness of Azerbaijan is our happiness.”
“By bringing us together, such congresses strengthen ties between our countries - between politicians, scientists, workers of culture and students, and represent a turning point in creation of unified society in the future,” he said.
The Prime Minister called on the Turkic world to express its attitude to the developments taking place around it. “Otherwise we may face difficult problems,” he said.
Erdogan called Karabakh issue “a bleeding wound” of the Turkic world, and the indifference of the international community towards it “downright injustice”.
“As a result of this unfair aggression, over a million of our brothers and sisters became internally displaced in their own country… One of the main conditions for establishing peace, prosperity and cooperation in our region is cessation of aggression by Armenia and settlement of the conflict on the base of international law,” he said.
The Prime Minister went on to say that the Minsk group chaired by USA, France and Russia has not yet made more or less important decision. “Armenia must put an end to the unfair aggression and this unacceptable situation, which is incompatible with international values, human rights, neighboring relations and legal norms. In this issue, Turkey has always been side by side with its brother Azerbaijan,” he said.
The Prime Minister also spoke of the problems of Turkish-speaking peoples in Iraq, Balkans, Romania and Turkish Cypriots. “The only way to cope with all those problems is closer cooperation and intensive development,” he said.
Touching upon the large-scale economic projects implemented by Turkey and Azerbaijan in the past few years, Recep Erdogan described them as a vivid example of cooperation and solidarity.
“The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline put into operation last year, the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline, which will start to function at its full capacity very soon, and now the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railroad we are preparing to lay a foundation stone of are the examples of cooperation, which link our countries, bring Asia and Europe, East and West close to each other, and foster economic development and increase the geo-strategic importance of participating countries,” he said.
The Turkish Premier called on to pay a special attention to teaching the common history of the Turkic world. “It is time for establishing planned and coordinated cooperation among Turkic republics,” he said suggesting the founding of a Permanent secretariat of the heads of Turkish-speaking states Summit. “This Permanent secretariat will keep an eye on what we have done, what we are doing and what we will do, and prepare us for the next Congress. On the other hand, we should start working on establishing the Interparliamentary Council and Advisory Council, which honorable Nursultan Nazarbayev, the President of Kazakhstan was talking about at the heads of Turkish-speaking states Summit in Antalya,” Mr. Erdogan said.
In conclusion, he expressed gratitude to the President of Azerbaijan and all who had contributed to organization of the Congress.
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