UPDATE - Turkey urges Turkish Cypriot membership in Turkic Council

UPDATE - Turkey urges Turkish Cypriot membership in Turkic Council

At Turkic Council summit, Turkey's Erdogan asks for support in easing isolation, embargo against Turkish Cypriots

UPDATES WITH MORE REMARKS BY TURKISH, AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENTS

By Rabia Iclal Turan and Jeyhun Aliyev

ISTANBUL (AA) – Turkey hopes to see the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) among the members of the Turkic Council, the Turkish president said on Friday.

"I trust in your valuable support in easing the isolation and embargo against Turkish Cypriots, who are an inseparable part of the Turkic world," Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the leaders of Turkic countries during the council's eighth summit in Istanbul.

He announced that the council adopted the Turkish World 2040 Vision document during the summit meeting, which, Erdogan said, is "a manifestation of our will to spread peace, tranquility and prosperity to our entire region."

"We must rapidly increase both our trade and mutual investments. We must remove all non-tariff barriers between our countries," he urged.


- Fight against 'all forms of terrorism'

Stressing Turkey's determined fight against "all forms of terrorism," such as that of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), which orchestrated a defeated coup in Turkey in 2016, as well as those of the PKK/YPG and Deash/ISIS, Erdogan called on the leaders to increase cooperation on this issue.

He added: ​​"We must act together in the fight against Islamophobia and xenophobia that are the plague of our time."

On the climate change, Erdogan said Turkey will exert great effort to develop multilateral cooperation in this global issue during its term presidency.

This year's summit was held under the theme of "Green Technologies and Smart Cities in the Digital Age".

Also stressing the importance of cooperation in digitalization, Erdogan said Turkey's largest aerospace and technology event Teknofest would be held in Azerbaijan next year.

"It will be beneficial to organize it in other brotherly countries in the coming years," he stated.

He also invited the leaders at the summit to attend the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in March 2022 in Turkey.

The Turkish leader later presented the Turkic world honorary medal to his Azerbaijani counterpart for the country's efforts to liberate Azerbaijan's occupied lands from Armenian occupation in a 44-day battle last year.


- 'Turkey will be role model'

Speaking at the summit, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev thanked Erdogan for the honorary medal.

There is a "common vision" among the countries of the Turkic world, Aliyev said, adding that it needs a "solid foundation."

"Today, we have strengthened our unity much more than before. Today we are experiencing a historic peak... We have a very promising future ahead of us," he said.

"Turkey will be a role model for each of us," Aliyev said.

He also hailed Turkey's support for Azerbaijan during the 2020 Second Karabakh War, also known as Patriotic War.

Erdogan's support for Karabakh "gave us greater strength," Aliyev asserted.

"My brother (Erdogan) showed that Azerbaijan is not alone in the world and that Turkey will always stand by it."


- Zangezur corridor

Aliyev stressed that the Zangezur corridor – set to be built in the wake of last year's Karabakh conflict -- will connect the Turkic world to each other and to Europe.

"I am sure that Armenia, as a country that has itself been damaged by the occupation policy, will eventually realize that all these territorial claims are not in their own interest and will give up these territorial claims regarding Azerbaijan and Turkey as soon as possible.

"They will realize that if they do not give up, they will find themselves in a much more difficult situation."

On Nov. 10 last year, Aliyev, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a deal declaring the end of the conflict in Karabakh, following nearly three-decade occupation by Armenian forces.

The clashes erupted on Sept. 27, 2020, with the Armenian army launching repeated attacks on civilians and Azerbaijani forces and also violating several humanitarian cease-fire agreements.

During the 44-day conflict, Azerbaijan liberated several cities and some 300 settlements and villages that were occupied by Armenia for nearly 30 years.

In its first year, some articles of the deal were applied, while others remained on paper due to Armenian intransigence.

The last article, which Azerbaijan has been focusing on with great importance and provides for the connection of the country’s contiguous territory and the Autonomous Republic of Nakhchivan – its exclave – via land and rail routes through Armenia, has not yet been implemented.

Azerbaijan has started work on this issue, and construction of the part of this line called the Zangezur corridor up to the Armenian border is underway.

Although Armenia tried to resist, Pashinyan made positive statements about the opening of transport between the western provinces of Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan.

Kaynak:Source of News

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