Ankara voices strong support to Azerbaijan's territorial integrity

/By AzerNews/

By Sara Rajabova

Ankara has ruled out recognition of the so-called “elections” in Azerbaijan’s occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The Turkish foreign ministry announced on September 11 that the country supports and will always support Azerbaijan's territorial integrity.

The upcoming “elections” in "self-government bodies" of the separatist regime in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan is an obstacle to the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, according to the ministry.

The so-called ‘elections’ to the ‘self-governing bodies’ of the puppet separatist regime in occupied territories is scheduled for September 13.

Many countries have already denounced the so-called “elections” as illegitimate. The French and UK embassies in Azerbaijan stated that their countries don’t recognize “elections” in the separatist region of Azerbaijan.

In the meantime, Turkish Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioglu said the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict must be resolved within the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, Turkish Ajans34 newspaper reported.

Sinirlioglu also stressed that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict must be solved within international law.

Azerbaijan and Turkey's relations have always been strong due to their common culture and history and the mutual intelligibility of Turkish and Azerbaijani languages.

Turkey was the first country in the world to recognize Azerbaijan's independence in 1991 and has been a staunch supporter of Azerbaijan in its efforts to consolidate its independence, preserve its territorial integrity, and realize its economic potential that arises from the rich natural resources of the Caspian Sea.

Ankara also supports an irreversible approach in its foreign policy agenda in regard to the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. It has made clear it wants Armenia to immediately and unconditionally leave the region in view of restoring Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and internationally recognized borders.

Turkey unequivocally refuses to open its borders with Armenia until the latter withdraws from Azerbaijan's occupied lands.

Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that had caused a lengthy war in the early 1990s.

The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions on Armenia's withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but they have not been enforced to this day.