DM Monitoring
ANKARA: Turkey believes that permanent peace is possible through mutual security-based cooperation among states and people in the South Caucasus region, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Wednesday as he addressed Azerbaijan’s National Assembly in the capital Baku.
“Not only Azerbaijan, but all countries in the region, including Armenia, and the world will benefit from peace and tranquility in the Caucasus,” he said.
Erdoğan also stated that the “Zangezur Corridor” will not only benefit Turks or Azerbaijanis but also Armenians who can use railways connecting different parts of the world and terminate their self-imposed isolation.
Zangezur was part of Azerbaijan, but in the 1920s the Soviets gave the region to Armenia. After this move, Azerbaijan lost its link with Nakhchivan.
Azerbaijani projects in the Zangezur corridor will include highways and rail lines which would stretch across territories of Armenia’s Syunik region.
Following the completion of the railway, Azerbaijan will be able to reach Iran, Armenia and Nakhchivan uninterruptedly by train.
The president reiterated his proposal for a six-nation platform comprising Turkey, Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia for permanent peace, stability and cooperation in the region.
During the speech, Erdoğan once again highlighted Turkey’s determination to stand by Azerbaijan, saying: “Today we stand by Azerbaijan with all our means. The whole world should know that we will stand by you tomorrow as well.”
He also said that Turkey would be pleased to see Shusha, Azerbaijan’s cultural capital this year, as the cultural capital of the Turkic world next year. Erdoğan congratulated Azerbaijan once again for regaining control of its Nagorno-Karabakh region saying that the happiness of Azerbaijan is the happiness of Turkey.
He also criticized the damage Armenian forces inflicted on the region and said that Yerevan “occupied the region and destroyed it while leaving.”
“Azerbaijan is rebuilding the villages and cities that they (Armenia) have burned down. We will also help and build a new Karabakh,” he added in his speech which was frequently interrupted by the enthusiastic applause in the room.
Erdoğan assured future support for Baku in all fields.
A day earlier, both countries signed a declaration “on allied relations” aimed at deepening ties in several areas of cooperation, including security during a visit to Shusha, a city that Azerbaijan recaptured from Armenian occupational forces in last autumn’s conflict.
