FROM BAKU TO WALES

The President of the Turkish Republic, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has made an official visit to Azerbaijan. In achieving a convincing victory at the first nationwide Turkish presidential elections, which was predicted by almost all analysts and sociologists, Erdogan followed the tradition of his predecessors. And, like all previous leaders of that fraternal country, he chose Azerbaijan as the country for his first official visit.

The relations between the two states are of a strategic nature, covering all spheres, including the economy, foreign and defence policy and culture. There is an ongoing dialogue between top leaders, parliaments and government, political and public organizations. That is why the Turkish leader's visit to Baku was a demonstration of the unshakable course towards the all-round strengthening of the Turkish-Azerbaijani alliance as a top priority. At the same time, it is a matter of course that the ongoing situation in the region, large-scale projects in energy, transport, mutual investments and other important questions, among which, of course, countering and neutralizing Armenia's hostile actions and illegal claims against Azerbaijan and Turkey have been paramount, are discussed on a routine basis.

After the official welcoming ceremony Presidents Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ilham Aliyev held one-to-one talks and then continued them in a wider format with other members of the delegations present. This was followed by a briefing for the press.

Turkish President Erdogan and the persons accompanying him visited the Alley of Honorary Burial and laid a wreath at the grave of Azerbaijan's national leader, Heydar Aliyev. Finally, a reception was given in President Erdogan's honour, at which the Turkish leader was presented with the supreme state award of the Azerbaijani Republic, the Heydar Aliyev Order.

At a joint briefing with the Turkish president, President Ilham Aliyev thanked Turkey for its efforts in the settlement of the Karabakh conflict and its support for Azerbaijan's just position. He said that Turkey had always carried out a transparent policy in this question, had been close to Azerbaijan and called for justice within the context of international law. For its part, Azerbaijan shoulder-to-shoulder with Turkey opposes and will continue to oppose the false campaign of Armenia and the Armenian world community about the recognition of the so-called "1915 genocide".

In his response, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan noted: "Relations between Turkey and Azerbaijan will develop in a new form in the future. Current problems in the region are matters that must be resolved by the two countries together. A solution will be found to the problem of relations between Turkey and Armenia if the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia is settled. Otherwise, relations between Turkey and Armenia will remain at their previous level. Efforts to develop our relations will be made with staunch determination." The sides "synchronized their watches" on acute international problems, such as the crisis in south-east Ukraine, Iraq and Afghanistan in order to align their positions before the NATO summit in Wales.

Both leaders stressed the importance of the jointly implemented large-scale projects in the energy sphere. 20 September will see a ceremony to lay the foundations and start work on TANAP [Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline], which is a most important element of the Southern Energy Corridor. According to the Turkish president, the whole world is observing Azerbaijan's development with delight: "This is largely down to President Ilham Aliyev and his team." Erdogan announced that Turkey had set itself a goal of bringing the volume of trade turnover with Azerbaijan up to 15bn dollars.

In his speech, the Azerbaijani president made particular mention of cooperation in the defence industry, as well as questions of mutual investment. He said that even greater volumes of Azerbaijani investments - approximately 17-20bn dollars - would be put into Turkey in the next 5-6 years. For its part, the Turkish side is increasing its share in Azerbaijani projects (Sah Daniz and TANAP).

There have been many inferences, or rather fabrications in the Azerbaijani, Turkish and particularly in the Armenian media regarding the invitation given by Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandyan to President Erdogan at his inauguration ceremony. The Turkish leader was asked to honour with his presence the events in Yerevan to mark the centenary of the so-called "1915 genocide". Armenian politicians and journalists smugly declared this invitation was a win-win declaration. If Erdogan accepts and comes to Yerevan, they said, this will be interpreted as official recognition of the "genocide" and could lead to demands about property, financial, political and territorial "compensation". If the invitation was silently rejected this could be used as a demonstration to the world of the Turks' "destructiveness".

The Armenians are at least continuing to hope that under pressure from the West the Turkish leaders will waver and enter into a normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations and an opening of borders without worrying about objections from Baku. However, Erdogan's visit to Azerbaijan showed there was no foundation to these expectations. The solidity of the Azerbaijani-Turkish alliance was once again confirmed at the highest level during the course of President Erdogan's visit.

The coordinated position between Azerbaijan and Turkey was also demonstrated at the NATO summit in Wales. In his speech at the NATO summit, President Ilham Aliyev noted Azerbaijan's role in ensuring stability and security in the region and its significant role in NATO's operation in Afghanistan. He condemned the expansionist policy of Armenia, which has occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan's territory - Nagornyy Karabakh and the seven adjacent regions - which remains the biggest threat to security in the region. In his speech, the Turkish president said that NATO should fulfil its promises to Azerbaijan and pointed out that a solution to the problem of Nagornyy Karabakh is of great significance in the context of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity.

Neither the false speech by the Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, which did not befit a head of state, in which he made unsubstantiated accusations against the Turkish and Azerbaijani leaders and begged that support for territorial integrity in the context of the Karabakh conflict should not be mentioned in the final resolution of the summit, nor the meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents with the participation of US Secretary of State John Kerry, which was held during the summit, produced the result Sargsyan was counting on. The final declaration of the NATO summit in Wales notes that the North Atlantic alliance will continue to support efforts towards a peaceful settlement of conflicts in the South Caucasus on the basis of the principles and norms of international law, the UN Charter and the Helsinki Final Act. The document goes on to say that the persistence of protracted conflicts continues to be a matter of special concern, undermining the opportunities for citizens in the region to reach their full potential as members of the Euro-Atlantic community. All parties are urged to engage constructively and with reinforced political will in peaceful conflict resolution, within the established negotiation frameworks. The declaration also stresses that "Russia's illegitimate occupation of Crimea and military intervention in eastern Ukraine have raised legitimate concerns among several of NATO's other partners in Eastern Europe". In this connection, the allies will continue to support the right of partners "to make independent and sovereign choices on foreign and security policy, free from external pressure and coercion. Allies also remain committed in their support for the territorial integrity, independence and sovereignty of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and the Republic of Moldova".

This is Armenia's only "achievement", to be mentioned in this list, although everyone knows that no-one has designs on its territorial integrity. In the context of the events in Ukraine, the Armenians failed to drag into the NATO summit a direct mention of their cherished principle of "the right of a nation to self-determination".

The ongoing assured economic growth of Azerbaijan and Turkey, the strengthening of their defence potential and close political partnership in the international arena are a guarantee that the hostile intrigues of the Armenians and the powers that patronize them, both in the context of a Karabakh settlement and in pushing ahead with their historically unfounded demands for the recognition of the "Armenian genocide", will end in defeat.