Turkey to stand with Azerbaijan in row with Armenia

ANKARA

Turkey has said it will continue to stand with Azerbaijan in its ongoing dispute with Armenia, calling the latter to cease disruptive and destabilizing policies in the south Caucasus.

“Armenia attacked our brother Azerbaijan on July 12. We, as the Republic of Turkey, are saying the same thing we said on that day: We are on the side of Azerbaijan with all our resources,” said Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu at a joint press conference with visiting Azeri Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov on Aug. 11.

Bayramov paid his first abroad visit to Ankara after being appointed as the new top diplomat of Azerbaijan after a joint Turkish-Azeri military exercise seen as the two nation’s response to Armenia’s aggression in the region. The Azeri foreign minister was also received by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Armenia’s attack against the Azeri position on the north part of the border has escalated tension in the region as the countries have already been in a decades-old standoff over the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

“These attacks have shown the entire world that Armenia is not a reliable partner. There are very clear resolutions [on Nagorno-Karabakh]. Why this dispute could not be resolved despite all these resolutions? Because of the international community, particularly, the Minsk group’s failure to exert sincere efforts,” Çavuşoğlu said.

The problem needs to be resolved through diplomacy, he said, adding, “But whatever method it prefers for a solution, we will stand with Azerbaijan.”

Bayramov, for his part, expressed his happiness for making his first abroad visit to Turkey, saying, “Brother Turkey always lends support to Azerbaijan. The recent time we observed this was on July 12.”

The two ministers have also discussed ways to improve trade and energy relationships and evaluated recent international and regional developments.