President content with Turkic Summit results

The 7th Turkic Summit of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan completed in Istanbul Friday. After returning to Baku, President Aliyev told journalists that he was very satisfied with the meetings held in Istanbul, as he had always aspired to strengthen the Turkic-speaking world. Besides, the meeting was held on a very high level, he said.

Asked whether any agreement on trans-Caspian gas pipeline had been attained in a meeting with Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov, H. Aliyev asked a question back, “But do we need it after all? Why are you asking? The agreement on the pipeline was signed in Ankara in 1998 by Turkish and Turkmen Presidents. Then, during the Istanbul OSCE Summit in 1999 we approved of the treaty together with US President Clinton. We are only a transit country and may and may not let the pipeline run through our territory. We have no other interests here. Then we agreed, but soon afterwards the Turkmen President rejected the idea. Well, it does not make much difference to us”.

Answering the question what Azerbaijan would benefit from the information disseminated by Ilham Aliyev at the PA CE session (which suggested that Armenia is cultivating drug-bearing plants in the occupied Azeri territories), the President said it was very wise to inform the international community of this.

Asked about the future of Turkic summits in the wake of a three-year absence of the Uzbek and at times Turkmen presidents, H. Aliyev said everyone is responsible for himself. According to him, he himself has not missed any summits, thinks they are necessary for the Turkic countries and will continue taking effort toward invigorating the Turkic community.*