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 19 provisions, Azernews 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.

The summit was attended by presidents of Turkey Ahmet Necdet Sezer, of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev, of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, of Kyrgyzstan Askar Akayev, of Turkmenistan Saparmurad Niyazov, and chairman of Uzbekistan's Supreme Mejlis Erkin Khalilov.

In his remarks a the summit, President Aliyev voiced confidence that the meeting would contribute to comprehensive cooperation among Turkic nations and strengthening of peace, stability and confidence in the region.

"The core objective of our meetings is to materialize the desire of our nations to live in peace and security", he said.

The President stressed the significance of the year 2001 for Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, which are going to mark tenth anniversary of their independence. The head of state emphasized that after gaining independence Azerbaijan has invigorated strategic partnership with Turkey.

"We intend to continue cooperating with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, our 70-year-long allies", Aliyev said.

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 summit was held on a very high level, he said.

Asked whether any agreement on trans-Caspian gas pipeline had been concluded 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 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 three-year-long 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.