President pleased with visit to Turkey

President Aliyev returned to Baku from Turkey Saturday night. He had been invited to Ankara by Turkish President Ahmed Necdet Sezer. In an interview with journalists at the Bina airport of Baku, the head of state said he considers his visit as quite successful and important for both nations. He also described it as a new stage in the development of Azeri-Turkish relations and strategic partnership.

Asked whether it is possible for the parties to sign an agreement or pact on military cooperation, H. Aliyev said most of his meetings in Turkey were confidential, therefore, he couldn’t elaborate.

The president declined to answer the question as to when the idea of stationing Turkish military units in Azerbaijan could be materialized. When asked whether he was counting on any serious breakthroughs in the upcoming Garabagh negotiations in Washington, H. Aliyev reiterated that he always expects something from such meetings. In the US, for the first time since the peace talks were given a boost, the three co-chairs will be talking with two presidents. In the past, MG co-chairs used to visit Azerbaijan and Armenia themselves. “What was being said in Armenia was denied to us, while Armenians didn’t know what we spoke about here. The Washington meeting will be opened by Secretary Colin Powel, therefore, I think this is a very significant event. Such meetings have never been held before”, the President said.

Asked whether he thinks that a lot still depends on talks in Russia, H. Aliyev responded that it didn’t matter much where the talks take place. “The importance of this stage is in the fact that Presidents Chirac, Bush and Putin have already spoken about this with each other, while earlier the level of Foreign Ministers was always the highest”, the President said.

Isn’t a recent statement by Russian and Iranian Presidents that the two countries rule out the possibility of construction of sub-sea oil or gas pipelines through the Caspian going to affect the commercial viability of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline? H. Aliyev said there will be enough oil in Azerbaijan’s Azeri, Chirag and Gunashli fields to ensure a complete profitability of the conduit.*