Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's speech in Prague proves the level of bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey.

Turkish Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Ismail Alper Coskun made remarks on the sidelines of the second Global Shared Societies Forum kicked off in Azerbaijani capital Baku on April 28.

Coskun stressed that after this speech, he expressed his gratitude to the Azerbaijani president.

"It is necessary to note that if unfair treatment is observed towards Azerbaijan, Turkey, the Turkic world as a whole in connection with the Turkic history in the world, then Azerbaijan and Turkey will struggle against this together, rather than alone."

While commenting on holding the second Global Open Society Forum in Azerbaijan, Coskun said this is the result of constantly growing international prestige of Azerbaijan.

During the Prague Summit dedicated to the fifth anniversary of the Eastern Partnership program, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan devoted the entire speech at the plenary session of the summit to his thoughts on the so-called "Armenian genocide". Taking advantage of Turkey's absence in the event, the Armenian president went completely beyond the subject of the summit's plenary session, raised the issue of the fictitious "genocide" and chose Turkey as the object of a scathing attack.

President Ilham Aliyev gave a strong answer to Serzh Sargsyan. The president said unfortunately, the Armenian President has taken advantage of the opportunity to launch another attack on Turkey.

"It is easy to do so because there are no Turkish representatives around this table. But I am here and I can tell you why the Turkish-Armenian border remains closed. The Turkish border with Armenia was closed after the occupation of Azerbaijan's Kalbajar region in April 1993. Prior to that, all the Azerbaijanis were driven out of Nagorno-Karabakh. The Azerbaijanis accounted for 30 percent of the Karabakh population. Before Kalbajar, the Armenians occupied Shusha and Lachin. Then they occupied Agdam, Fizuli, Zangilan, Gubadli, Jabrayil, which are outside the administrative borders of Nagorno-Karabakh - a total of seven Azerbaijani regions which constitute 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory. Our population has been exposed to ethnic cleansing," he said.

The Head of State further said the occupation continues to this day despite four resolutions of the UN Security Council, resolutions of the European Parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Armenia flouts these resolutions and continues the occupation of a territory that does not belong to it both from a historical perspective and from the standpoint of international law.

Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that caused a brutal war in the early 1990s.