Turkish president visits Azerbaijan

President Abdullah Gul is paying an official visit to Azerbaijan, to participate in the Third Summit of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States, to be held in the city of Gabala, on August 15-16. Gul is accompanied by Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Minister of Transport Binali Yildirim. Having been founded with the signing of the Nakhchivan Agreement in 2009, the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States, also known as the Turkic Council, is an international organization encompassing Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey. Each year the summit is hosted by a different member state under various topics and themes. This year’s theme is “transportation and connectivity.” “The Turkic Council forms an important milestone in the institutionalization of the cooperation between the Turkic-speaking countries. Turkic states are doing their best to successfully continue our joint efforts initiated in 1992 to improve and strengthen the dialogue and solidarity among the brotherly countries,” Gul said in a press conference held at Istanbul Ataturk Airport. President Gul is expected to have bilateral meetings with his Kazakh, Kyrgyz and Azerbaijani counterparts.