Turkish FM visits Baku to express solidarity

ANKARA

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on Oct. 6 urged the world to stand by Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict during a visit to Baku to show solidarity with the country.

“To put these two countries on equal footing means awarding the occupier. The world must be on the side of those who are right, namely on the side of Azerbaijan,” Çavuşoğlu said during a joint press conference with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ceyhun Bayramov, on Oct. 6.

“There are calls for a ceasefire, but what will happen next? Can you [the world] tell Armenia to immediately withdraw from Azerbaijani territories or can you produce solutions for its withdrawal? No,” he said.

Çavuşoğlu became the first highest-level Turkish official visiting Baku after Armenian troops launched an attack against Azerbaijani civilian and military positions on Sept. 27.

“I call on the international community that we should altogether defend the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan in the same way that we do it for the territorial integrity of Ukraine, Georgia, Iraq and Syria,” he stated. “There is no place for double-standards in international law.”

Turkey has always advocated a peaceful resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh problem, but the past 30 years have proven that Armenia is just enjoying its occupation of the Azerbaijani territories, Çavuşoğlu said.

“Nagorno-Karabakh is Azerbaijan,” he said, recalling the four U.N. Security Council resolutions on the withdrawal of the Armenian troops from the Azerbaijani lands.

Bayramov also criticized Armenia, saying that it has “a terrorist mentality” with no scruples over achieving its goals. The minister thanked Turkey for its support and solidarity in Azerbaijan’s national cause.