Azeri, Turkish ministers discuss military ties, Karabakh

Azad Azarbaycan TV, Baku
20 Jul 05

[Presenter] The Turkish and Azerbaijani defence ministers, Vecdi Gonul
and Safar Abiyev, have focused on the Nagornyy Karabakh problem in
their talks. They also discussed cooperation within the framework of
NATO and Turkey’s role in building up the Azerbaijani army.

[Correspondent over video of the ministers greeting each other and
inspecting the guard of honour] Turkish-Azerbaijani relations have
deep historical roots and are rapidly developing, Turkish Defence
Minister Gonul told his Azerbaijani counterpart Safar Abiyev at
the meeting. The minister expressed satisfaction with his visit to
Azerbaijan. Mr Gonul said relations between the two fraternal countries
have a firm foundation and regarded as important the strengthening of
cooperation in the military sphere. The Turkish guest touched on the
Nagornyy Karabakh problem and said that the problem should be resolved
while observing the principle of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity.

Defence Minister Safar Abiyev said Turkey is expanding cooperation
with Azerbaijan as part of NATO’s partnership programme. From this
standpoint, it is natural that Turkey is assisting our armed forces.
Azerbaijan has always viewed fraternal Turkey as its strategic ally
and this cooperation will continue, Abiyev said.

Mr Abiyev also spoke about economic reforms carried out in the
country. He described the launch of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil and
the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipelines as important developments. The
defence minister stressed that the two countries were cooperating
successfully in maintaining the security of international export
pipelines.

[Passage omitted: more about schedule of Gonul’s visit]