ANKARA
Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Upper Karabakh issue was an issue of Turkey as it was of Azerbaijan and it is a vital issue that Turkey attaches importance on peace and stability of fraternity in Caucasus, adding that Turkey would continue its unconditional support for Azerbaijan to pacifically solve the issue.
Erdogan also said members of Minsk Group of Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) --US, Russia and France-- had great responsibility and should be more determined and rigorous in this issue.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev held a press conference after Turkey-Azerbaijan High Level Strategic Council meeting at the central office of the prime ministry.
Erdogan said they signed agreements and protocols after the meeting as representatives of Turkish-Azerbaijani people.
Protocol of technological cooperation, memorandum of understanding which aim to empower cooperation on science, technology, industry and entrepreneurship, agreement of international freight transport, agreement of security cooperation, agreement of mutual employment have been signed between the two countries.
Reminding Aliyev has been elected as the president for the third time, Erdogan congratulated the president, wishing the election to bring welfare to Azerbaijan.
Noting they had been conducting serious efforts to provide peace, stability and welfare in Caucasus, Erdogan said, "Today, we had the opportunity to discuss all issues during bilateral and meetings between delegations. We discussed what could be done more on military, politics, economy, trade and culture and what we did so far. Trade volume between the two countries reached 4.2 billion USD. We will sustain an intensive effort to raise it to 15 billion USD in the future."
Erdogan also mentioned Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline Project (TANAP) besides Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline as a previous project, the Ceyhan terminal of which was inaugurated with a ceremony in 2006.
"Another important step is the ongoing Shah Sea Project which brings gas to Europe without having to traverse countries like Russia and Iran, and the other one is Kars-Tblisi-Baku Railway Project which is about to finish with intensive efforts," said Erdogan.
Erdogan also touched on his program in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir which is due on Saturday, defining it as a historic process, and adding the high level mutual visits between Iraq and Turkey would contribute to regional peace.
The prime minister will meet with head of the regional administration in north of Iraq Massoud Barzani in Diyarbakir.
Erdogan announced that two famous singers of Kurdish descent, Ibrahim Tatlises and Sivan Perwer, will perform a duet in the opening ceremonies in Diyarbakir.
Erdogan also said Turkish Parliament Speaker Cemil Cicek would pay a visit to Iraq soon and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki would visit Turkey, adding the meetings of Turkey-Iraq High Level Strategic Council would be resumed by the way.
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