Turkish foreign minister makes stopover in Baku

Turkish foreign minister Ismayil Cem arrived in Baku Sunday for several hours as part of his tour of Turkic-speaking nations and met with President Aliyev.

Passing on greetings from his president and premier, Mr. Cem said the objective of the trip was to talk to the presidents of Azerbaijan and Central Asian republics about international developments, particularly those in Afghanistan following the September 11 terror attack on the US. The Turkish minister also intends to focus on preparations for an international conference due in Istanbul on the initiative of the European Union and the Organization of Islamic Conference.

President Aliyev said it was necessary to combat international terrorism and not to leave Armenia’s policy of aggression and terror unheeded. He mentioned that Turkey and Azerbaijan had repeatedly suffered Armenian terrorism. “We must now wage an active struggle against this”, the President said.*