Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends,

First of all, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my dear brother, the President of the Turkish Republic Ahmed Necdet Sezer for organizing this Summit and great hospitality. I am very pleased to be in the fraternal country again, and I think this meeting, exchange of views, and the decisions to be adopted here, will open new opportunities for our joint activities.

15 years have passed since our country gained independence. We gained our independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Gaining independence is a great achievement. I can say independence is our greatest wealth. Because we have been deprived of independence for years, for centuries.

But it is even more difficult to strengthen and preserve independence, and the passed 15 years show the newly independent states have been quite successful in this regard.

We overcame the major difficulties we faced in the first years of independence, and the role fraternal Turkey’s played in this was great. Turkey was the first to recognize Azerbaijan as an independent state. After regaining sovereignty, Turkey was an enormous support and help to Azerbaijan, that played a great role for us to carry out independent activities.

At present, the new sovereign countries are in the era of development. I would say, economic slowdowns and other difficulties are left behind in all the countries. Our economy is developing rapidly, the political processes are going on normally, and, of course, our bilateral relations are strengthening too. Our bilateral relations are at a high level, and we are taking efforts to enhance them. Of course, there is a great need to consolidate multilateral ties, as well. That is why, conducting of this Summit after a long break was so important, there was a necessity to convene it Developments in the region require new approaches as the world changes and new challenges emerge; and we have to find solution to them by common efforts which are of immense importance for establishment of peace, safety and stability in the region.

Our common historical roots, culture and ethnic belonging are, of course, a solid foundation, a great factor of mutual and effective activity. Development of cultural ties leads to strengthening of relations among peoples, and I would like to appreciate contribution of the organization TURKSOY to this cause. As a result of this organization’s activity, our peoples have become closer. Our political relations are at a high level, and much has been done in the economic field; our relations are now developing comprehensively.

In the economic field, there are concrete and real projects to unite us, and successful realization of them opens new opportunities for both our countries and the whole region. Inauguration of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline is a historical event and in the coming decades, this pipeline will foster economic development and strengthen security of the region.

Fraternal Kazakhstan’s joining the project has increased its dynamism, and, in fact, has turned it into a regional project. I am convinced that operation of the pipeline will better our peoples’ welfare, cement our relationship, and therefore, will make it possible to ensure peace and stability in region.

Construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas main means to transport the Azerbaijani gas to Turkey and further to Europe, is a contribution to ensuring European energy security, and our countries’ joint activity in this direction is of huge importance. The Caspian basin countries have rich natural resources – oil and gas reserves, which are of great importance for development of our countries and peoples. Because they bring welfare to the counties of the region. They lead to development of political processes, and have a positive impact on democratic processes too. The poorer the country, the slower democratic processes taking place in them.

We form our policy in two directions: the economic and political reforms supplement and condition each other. Improving people’s welfare, creating normal living conditions for them, development of economy, private sector and entrepreneurship are, of course, what have a great impact on democratization of our countries.

Our successful cooperation is already a reality. The projects once seen as legends, today become a reality. It shows that we are capable to do this work. Despite all the difficulties, all obstructions, we have managed to do that.

Therefore, I have no doubt the difficulties we face in realization of the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas main, and the artificially created obstruction will also be overcome.

Construction of this railway is necessary for our countries, our peoples, for the regional cooperation. It will connect Turkey to Azerbaijan through rail way. It will connect Turkey with Central Asia, Kazakhstan and, thereby, Europe to Asia. This project will lead only to strengthening stability and peace in region. Therefore, the artificially created problems cannot make us stay away or break our will; on the contrary, it will make us stronger and more active.

We have been living independently for the 15th years. Over these years, we experienced many problems, difficulties and crises. Of course, it was our mutual support that created opportunities to eliminate those problems. Azerbaijan’s rapid economic development is already a reality. According to the latest calculations by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Azerbaijan has become a world’s leader in economic growth rate. In 2005, our economy grew by 26 percent, and in 2006, by 34 percent. Industrial production increased by 40 percent. This enables the country to develop dynamically, and, simultaneously, strengthen its economic potential. What we want is that fraternal benefit from these potentialities, and we benefit from their potentialities . Our countries have already reached the stage of dynamic development. New jobs, businesses, oil-gas pipelines are being created, transport infrastructures are being modernized in line with international standards. That is what makes me sure that our economic cooperation and our future activity will have a powerful impetus to deepening the relations between our countries.

However, there are still problems in our own region, which concern us greatly. Unfortunately, no peace, stability and security have been established in our region, including Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan’s most painful problem is Armenia’s continuing aggression against Azerbaijan. It is a big problem for us, and a factor which can violate stability in region. We wish the problem to be solved peacefully, on the base of the international legal norms and principles. Solution to every conflict, every dispute should find within certain frames, in accordance with existent international principles and norms. First and foremost, they should be solved according to resolutions of the United Nations as the world’s leading international organization. The United Nations Security Council adopted four resolutions on the problem, demanding immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian troops from the occupied lands of Azerbaijan. But Armenia ignored them. We are grateful to member states of the Organization of Islamic Conference for its support. It also adopted several resolutions on the problem. In January of the last year, such authoritative organization as the Council of Europe adopted a resolution on the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, in which it recognized Armenia as an aggressor. Nevertheless, it in no way influenced Armenia. In this case, our hopes lessen for international mechanisms of settling conflicts. In this case, tension may run high in the region. Azerbaijan lost 20 percent of its territories, and over 1 million people became refugees and IDPs as a result of ethnic cleansing. All historical, cultural, religious monuments were destroyed and ruined. They commit acts of vandalism setting fire to our lands, cutting down our forests, and destroying our religious monuments. The criminal structure called Nagorno-Karabakh is absolutely out of international control. International community is not aware of what is going on there. According to our information, it is the home for criminal operations; drug and arms trafficking, and training of terrorists.

As the country suffered from terrorism, Azerbaijan is well aware of what terrorism is. That is why we demand that this issue be settled only in compliance with international legal standards. It cannot be settled on the base of any country’s illusions. There are many things we could have wanted. Our historical land once named Irevan khanate is now part of Armenia. However, we are approaching this issue in accordance with existing realities. We know that if the borders recognized in the world are touched, it will lead to very hard consequences, very big disasters.

That is why, every country’s territorial integrity should be recognized. Territorial integrity of Azerbaijan is recognized by all countries of the world except Armenia. I want to reiterate that we are standing for peaceful resolution of this problem and try our best to achieve this. We are grateful to the fraternal countries for their support, attention and care. This support is very important to us and we will try to take every opportunity to achieve a fair resolution of the conflict. To achieve this, we must be strong. We have to strengthen our economy, potential, and have stronger positions in the region. If so, our positions at the negotiations will of course be stronger.

Dear friends, I am sure this summit will go down in history. Because, I want to reiterate, the fact that Turkey initiated and hosted the summit meeting after the long break, is very important to us. I am confident that there will be no intervals, and we will be meeting regularly to combine our efforts. We must always support each other. The problem of one Turkish-speaking nation must be the problem of other Turkish-speaking nations. We support and welcome Turkey’s efforts to join the European Union. It makes us worn out to see the injustice against Turkey, and it affects us very much. Because there must be justice in the world, there must be frames and rules of conduct. It is too hard for every person, every country, to remain patient seeing injustice. Our cause is the right cause. We support partnership, cooperation. I have no doubt the decisions to be made at this meeting and in future summits will even strengthen our unity.

I express my gratitude to the Turkish State and personally to my bother President Ahmet Necdet Sezer for organizing the summit. I am sure that the decisions to be made will bring us even closer together, and the foster development of the Turkish world.

Thank you.