Turkic Summit over

The 7th Turkic Summit held in Istanbul completed its work Friday, as the Istanbul Declaration was adopted in the end. The document consists of 27 provisions, AssA-Irada’s Istanbul correspondent Dursun Ozden reports.

The Declaration highlights the importance of bilateral and multilateral relations among Turkic countries. The Presidents have reaffirmed their adherence to the observance of human rights and social justice principles.

The heads of state then approved the activity of Turksoy, an organization in the area of culture and education, and supported cooperation between public organizations that contribute to the promotion of the entire Turkic world.

The Presidents appealed for broader effort to boost the role of small and medium enterprise in the name of economic development of the countries, pledged to put collective pressure to combating terrorism and drug trafficking, and condemned separatism, which jeopardizes territorial integrity, sovereignty and security of Turkic countries.

A separate provision of the Declaration is completely dedicated to the Upper Garabagh problem. It says the conflict must be resolved on the basis of UN SC Resolutions and within the OSCE framework.

The Presidents attached a particular importance to the issue of developing immense natural resources, namely natural gas and oil, and voiced support for the East-West corridor to take them to international markets.

Heydar Aliyev is expected to return to Baku Friday night.*