BAKU: Aliyev and Sezer meet in private

Azer Tag, Azerbaijan State Info Agency
June 28 2004

PRESIDENT OF AZERBAIJAN ILHAM ALIYEV WITH PRESIDENT OF TURKEY AHMET
NECDET SEZER MEET IN PRIVATE
[June 28, 2004, 15:31:31]

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and President of Turkey Ahmet
Necdet Sezer met in private at the Istanbul `Hayat’ hotel on 28 June.

The Turkish President expressed satisfaction with the participation
of his Azerbaijani counterpart in the NATO summit and especially
stressed the importance of such meetings. Mr. Ahmet Necdet Sezer
pointed out that the steadily expanding Turkey-Azerbaijan relations
are developing both in political and economic spheres in line with
the two countries’ interests. He also shared his views on the
Northern Cyprus related problems.

Having expressed his gratitude to the Turkish President for the warm
meeting, President Ilham Aliyev emphasized that it was great honor to
him to stay in Istanbul in the framework of the NATO Summit, and
pointed to the high level organization of the event. The Head of
Azerbaijan also State touched upon development of bilateral relations
between the two countries. He noted in particular that construction
of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline is going on as scheduled, and
the timely finishing of the project would considerably benefit booth
sides.

The parties also mentioned benefits from implementation of the oil
strategy initiated by nationwide leader of the Azerbaijani people
Heydar Aliyev, and his invaluable merits in bringing
Turkey-Azerbaijan relationship up to the existing level.

In addition, the Presidents exchanged views on international and
regional issues of mutual interest including peaceful settlement of
the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. In this
connection, President of Turkey Ahmet Necdet Sezer reaffirmed his
country’s consistent and constant support for Azerbaijan’s stance in
the matter.