TURKEY, AZERBAIJAN: COUNTRIES WITH COMMON HISTORICAL ROOTS
[July 20, 2005, 20:18:40]

AzerTag, Azerbaijan
July 20 2005

Defense minister of Turkey Vecdi Konul, now visiting Azerbaijan,
has come to revere memory of the great son of the Turkic world Heydar
Aliyev at the park before the Heydar Aliyev Palace on 20th July. He
laid flowers on the monument of the founder and architect of the
independent Azerbaijan state.

The Minister has visited the Alley of Martyrs and laid wreath on the
graves of the courageous sons and daughters of Azerbaijan who fell
for territorial integrity and sovereignty of the country.

On the same day, ceremony of official welcoming of the Turkish defense
minister was held at the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan.

Defense minister of Azerbaijan, colonel-general Safar Abiyev welcomed
the guests, and spoke of close relations between fraternal countries,
strategic interests of both states.

The Minister expressed confidence on closer cooperation and in the
frame of NATO arrangements.

Mr. Vecdi Konul thanked for warm greetings and extended his love to
the staff of the Azerbaijan Army and the people of Azerbaijan. “The
Turkish-Azerbaijani relations come from the ancient times. These
relations had become consecutive and irreversible after regaining by
Azerbaijan state independence”, he underscored.

The sides had wide exchange of views on the current
military-political situation in the Black Sea basin, on settlement of
the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno Karabakh conflict, the US-Azerbaijan
ties, admission of Turkey to the European Union and other questions.

Ambassador of Turkey Turan Morali was present at the meeting.