BAKU, Azerbaijan
Turkey and Azerbaijan will work “shoulder to shoulder” to settle regional conflicts, Turkey's prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Friday.
The Turkish leader was speaking following a meeting with President Ilham Aliev in the Azerbaijani capital Baku.
Regarding the long-running Nagorno-Karabakh dispute Davutoglu said: “Turkey will stand by Azerbaijan's struggle until the last centimeter of its territory is liberated.”
Azerbaijan and Armenia, two former Soviet republics, fought a war between 1988 and 1994 over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is a de jure territory of Azerbaijan but remains under de facto Armenian control.
Davutoglu said: “Turkey and Azerbaijan will work shoulder to shoulder until the wider region is converted into a region of peace and requirements of international law are fulfilled.
"If Azerbaijan feels any pain, the same is felt in Turkey's heart."
The Turkish PM was referring to the most recent clashes on border of the disputed region in late July, where thirteen soldiers from the Azerbaijani side and more soldiers from Armenian side were killed, according to the Azeri Ministry of Defense.
“When neighbouring regions and the world are observed and two success stories are to be told, Turkey and Azerbaijan are the two success stories in the Middle East, Balkans, Caucasus and all Eurasia,” Davutoglu added.
Davutoglu’s comments come against a backdrop of renewed fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia. There have been sporadic outbreaks of violence along the border between Azerbaijan and the enclave for decades, but fighting intensified at the start of August.
The last agreement for a peaceful settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was signed in Moscow in 2008.
Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a ceasefire in 1994, but never agreed a peace settlement.
The two countries have no diplomatic relations.
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