The 8th Summit of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States was held in Istanbul [UPDATE]

The 8th Summit of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States was held in Istanbul on November 12, AzerTaj reported.

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev attended the event.

Before the event, the heads of state and government took a joint photo.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared the summit open.

The Turkish President then presented the “Supreme Order of the Turkic World” to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

The head of state addressed the meeting.

Speech by President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev

– My dear brother, dear President Recep Tayyip Erdogan,

Distinguished heads of state and government!

First of all, I would like to express my deep gratitude to you for this high award, the “Supreme Order of the Turkic World.” It is a great honor and a great responsibility for me. What doubles my joy is that this Supreme Order is presented to me by the heads of state of the Turkish Council. This high award is given to me on the basis of their signature and on the initiative of my dear brother, esteemed President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. It is noted that this is a recognition of my efforts to liberate Karabakh and my contribution to the further strengthening of Turkish unity. This is a very high award given to me by the Turkish states for my work and activities. Therefore, on behalf of all the people of Azerbaijan, I express my deep gratitude to you. Because I believe that this award is given to all the people of Azerbaijan.

Our perseverance, determination and courage in the Second Karabakh War led us to the Great Victory, and I must say that, as everyone has seen, this is the support and moral support of my dear brother Recep Tayyip Erdogan from the first hours. the last minutes of the war that gave us extra strength. Feeling this support, we listened to him and became stronger. The President said that Azerbaijan was not alone in this war, that Turkey was with Azerbaijan and would always be with it, and this gave us additional strength. This kept certain forces, the supporters of Armenia, out of this war and gave us the opportunity to fulfill this glorious mission.

My dear brother, dear President, dear heads of state and government, I want to thank you all again. The symbolic fact is that Azerbaijan receives this award when it hands over the chairmanship of the Turkic Council to Turkey. It is also a sign of appreciation for our work over the past two years, and my dear brother Recep Tayyip Erdogan is now taking on this glorious mission as chairman of the Turkish Council and the Organization of Turkic States. I am confident that under his leadership, relations between our countries based on unity, solidarity, mutual respect and love will be further strengthened, and there is no doubt that our President, the leader of the Turkic world, will succeed in this work. Because thanks to his policy and leadership, Turkey has come a long and glorious way in recent years, has become a center of global power, a country that must be accounted not only in the region but also in the world. I think that there is no one in the world who does not know the power of Turkey – its political, economic and military power. And thanks to the leadership of my dear brother, the development and stability of Turkey is an important prerequisite for the whole Turkic world. Because it is a strong Turkish state at the center of the Turkic world. It is the strengthening of Turkey that gives us all extra strength, so each of us should be grateful to my dear brother. Today, honored to speak on behalf of the Azerbaijani people, I convey to my dear brother the endless love of the Azerbaijani people. Tayyib Bey was loved by everyone in Azerbaijan before the war, and he lives and will live forever in the hearts of the Azerbaijani people for his great support in the war.

I am very glad that we are looking to the future when we speak together between the Turkic states. Because we have a very solid foundation, a solid foundation for our future together. These are our common roots, language, religion and common interests.

During its two-year presidency, Azerbaijan has made great efforts to unite the Turkic world. Many events were held during this period. I think we are now moving into the future in a more united and united way. Today’s summit has great historical significance. First of all, because we are turning our Council into an organization, and this organization has a great future. Because this organization is based on natural allies, and this unity is dictated by our history, culture and traditions. At the same time, threats arise in the world every month and every year, and, unfortunately, the world’s leading countries are not able to take the right steps against these threats. I am confident that the Organization of Turkish States will increase its importance not only for our countries and peoples, but also for the world. Because our cooperation is sincere, we are all brothers, we call each other brothers, we all develop our countries on traditional values. The unity and brotherhood between our peoples is strengthening day by day, we cover a large geography today, we have great economic, political and military power within this geography. Our countries have rich natural resources, modern infrastructure and transport routes. Turkey is a country with military, economic and industrial power. Suffice it to say that Turkey is the second most powerful country in NATO and has repeatedly shown this in its interests and in ensuring peace in the world. Therefore, I very much hope that our organization will achieve all its goals.

One of the important events of the last two years was the accession of Turkmenistan to our organization as an observer. This is natural, and I am pleased to say this today as chairman of the organization. We also cordially greet our Turkmen brothers, and this is a very important step. At the same time, at the Baku Summit, Uzbekistan became a member of our Council, which is a very important event. I remember that the Nakhchivan Agreement was signed at the Nakhchivan Summit in 2009, it was signed by four leaders, but now we are seven. This shows that our organization is very attractive, and I am confident that each member and observer will continue to increase our strength by hitting the same goals.

At the same time, we have responded together to the pandemic that is sweeping the world today. A video conference summit was held in April last year, and the member countries of our organization helped each other and other countries.

Four days ago, the people of Azerbaijan celebrated the first anniversary of the liberation of Karabakh with great joy and pride. We put an end to almost 30 years of occupation. We have implemented the resolutions adopted by the United Nations in 1993, but remaining on paper. We have restored historical justice, restored international law, restored our national dignity. This victory has historical significance. Because it was a just war. We fought on our land, shed blood and gave martyrs. We have never looked at the lands of other countries, and the results of the Second Karabakh War show this. Because the shooting and all the unpleasant situations were over on the day the war stopped. From the first days of the war, I openly stated that if Armenia gave us a schedule to withdraw its troops from our lands, we were ready to stop the war at any moment and we kept our word. Forty-four days later, Armenia signed an act of surrender and was forced to withdraw from its still-liberated lands, ending the Second Karabakh War. In 44 days, we liberated more than 300 towns and villages on the battlefield, and hundreds of towns and villages as a result of the peace process. Thus, Azerbaijan has restored its territorial integrity.

Everything was destroyed in the liberated lands. My dear brother, Mr. President has twice visited the liberated lands. He saw this during a visit to Shusha in June and more recently in October in Fizuli and Zangilan. Today, brotherly Turkey is the one that helps and supports us the most in the reconstruction of these regions – East Zangazur and Karabakh. Today, many Turkish companies are working on very important infrastructure projects for us – bridges, tunnels, roads, railways, power plants, airports. They take an active part in all these activities. 12 Turkish companies together with Azerbaijani companies participated in the construction of the recently commissioned Fizuli Airport, which we inaugurated together with the President. I think that’s why we were able to build it in a record time – eight months. At present, Turkish companies are involved in the construction of Zangilan Airport and will participate in other projects.

At the same time, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Shavkat Miromonovich Mirziyoyev. At his initiative, a large school will be built in the Fizuli region at the expense of Uzbekistan. The school project was presented to us, and it is the next step of solidarity, friendship and brotherhood, and the Azerbaijani people appreciate it very much.

Currently engaged in major restoration work. At the same time, the results of the Second Karabakh War open wide opportunities for the region. In particular, I think that the opening of the Zangazur corridor will open new opportunities for the whole region in terms of transport. I hope that Armenia, defeated by the policy of aggression, will sooner or later realize that making a territorial claim to any country will not bring them good and honor. I hope that Armenia’s territorial claims against both Turkey and Azerbaijan will end in the near future. Otherwise, they may find themselves in an even more dangerous situation. The Zangazur corridor is a project that can unite the Turkic world, Europe and our neighbors, and active work is underway to implement this project.

As for Zangazur, I would like to recall my speech at the Nakhchivan summit. Then I said that in 1920, the Soviet government broke the geographical connection of the Turkic world by tearing Zangazur from Azerbaijan and handing it over to Armenia, and everyone can see it when they look at the map. We are now restoring this geography. With the implementation of transport and communication projects, we are redrawing this geography, and I hope we will succeed to the end.

My dear brother, esteemed President, esteemed heads of state and government, thank you again for this high award. I am sure that in my future activity I will try to be awarded this high award.

Thank you very much.

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