Azeri ambassador confident ties with Turkey will stay strong

YAYINLAMA 03 Ocak 2011 13:36

GÜNCELLEME 03 Ocak 2011 13:36

In an interview published today, Azerbaijan's ambassador to Turkey expressed confidence in the strength of friendly relations between his country and Turkey. "The friendship and fraternity between our two countries is unwavering," said Ambassador Faig Bagirov, adding that some of the prickly issues between the two are now a thing of the past, apparently referring to strains after Turkey signed rapprochement protocols with Armenia in October 2009. Bagirov said Baku is working for a peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia. "We have always been aware of and have seen Turkey's support in this matter. We highly value this support," Bagirov said, adding that this has empowered Azerbaijan's regional role through joint projects carried out with Georgia. "Armenia is a lonely country in the region," he said, blaming the Armenian leadership for its stalled rapprochement with Turkey. But Bagirov sounded optimistic about deepening bilateral cooperation between Baku and Ankara. "There are circles who exaggerate these situations," he said. "There are circles who don't like Azerbaijan or Turkey. We should be very careful about these groups and not allow even the tiniest opportunity that could potentially lead to a misunderstanding between our countries." On the future of ties between Ankara and Baku, Bagirov stressed the importance of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway connection between Baku and the eastern Turkish city of Kars, currently under construction. "This project is very important, as it will link Azerbaijan to Europe and Turkey to Central Asia," Bagirov said, expressing hope that it will be operational by 2012. Bagirov added that he believes both Azerbaijani and Turkish officials have the political will to finalize an agreement to largely end visa requirements between the two countries. He said Azerbaijan is continuing efforts to finalize domestic legal procedures for such a pact and predicted that the deal could be finalized "within 2011."