Azerbaijani envoy hails Baku-Ankara ties, investments to serve for centuries ahead

By Handan Kazanci

ISTANBUL (AA) - Azerbaijan's envoy to Turkey on Tuesday praised the two countries' cooperation and mutual investments that he said will serve both countries for centuries to come.

Ankara and Baku support each other with mutual investments, said Rashad Mammadov, Azerbaijan's envoy to Turkey at an event organized by the Istanbul-based Azerbaijani Business Association (TAIB).

These are "strategic investments" to meet Turkey's energy needs and build roads to connect Turkey to Central Asia, Mammadov added.

"These investments will serve the people of the two countries for centuries. The investments will also enable the two countries to transfer technology," he said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan received the credentials of Baku's newly appointed Ambassador Mammadov on Oct. 14.

The Azerbaijani envoy also said his country has invested over $18 billion in Turkey.

Noting that the investments between the two countries were not only focused on "making money," he said: "Today, Azerbaijan is building hundreds of kilometers of roads, tunnels, and smart villages and cities in the lands it liberated. Turkish companies do all this."

He was referring to areas in the Karabakh region that Azerbaijan liberated from decades of Armenian occupation last year.

One of the two countries' mutual investments, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, will contribute greatly to their economies, he said, adding that this line will carry 50 million tons of naphtha.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline delivers Azeri light crude -- mainly from the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli field -- through Georgia to Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan for further export via tankers.

- Shusha Declaration

Mammadov also hailed the Shusha Declaration signed between Azerbaijan and Turkey on June 15 and said it made the two states "politically, militarily and economically whole."

Under the declaration -- signed in June in the city of Shusha, Nagorno-Karabakh -- Ankara and Baku declared the expansion and deepening of Turkish-Azerbaijani relations in all aspects.

"With the Shusha Declaration, we drew up a roadmap of our relations for the new era," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had said during the event .

For her part, TAIB president Neslihan Tombul said the organization aims to act "as a bridge between two brotherly countries," and "strengthen our social, commercial, cultural and economic ties, to offer new commercial opportunities to our members and to deepen our network."

"At the same time, we aim to make the economic contribution of Azerbaijan in Turkey better known," Tombul added.

Among the visitors were Samil Ayrim, a Turkish lawmaker who chairs the Turkey-Azerbaijan Parliamentary Friendship Group, as well as Erdal Bahcivan, the head of Istanbul Chamber of Industry.

- Liberation of Karabakh

Relations between the former Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Armenia have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Upper Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

When new clashes erupted on Sept. 27 last year, the Armenian army launched attacks on civilians and Azerbaijani forces, violating several humanitarian cease-fire agreements after the clashes erupted.

During the 44-day conflict, Azerbaijan liberated several cities and nearly 300 settlements and villages.

On Nov. 10, 2020, the two countries signed a Russia-brokered agreement to end the fighting and work toward a comprehensive resolution.

The cease-fire is seen as a victory for Azerbaijan and a defeat for Armenia, whose armed forces withdrew in line with the agreement.