President Aliyev holds meetings in Istanbul-UPDATE

/By Azernews/

By Aynur Karimova

Azerbaijan and Turkey, the two fraternal countries and strategic partners, have hailed the friendly and partnership relations.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met in Istanbul on April 14 to discuss some important issues on bilateral agenda.

The sides stressed the importance of the 13th Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which brought together more than 30 heads of state.

President Aliyev praised excellent organization of the Summit and wished Turkey success during its chairmanship of the OIC.

The sides also exchanged views over the recent developments on the frontline in the Nagorno-Karabakh.

On the sidelines of the summit President Aliyev also met with his Iranian counterpart President Hassan Rouhani to mull the dynamic development of bilateral and multilateral relations between Baku and Tehran and their cooperation in various fields.

They stressed the broad opportunities for developing cooperation, and importance of intensifying reciprocal visits and meetings in this regard.

During the meeting they had an exchange of views over the last developments on the line of contact of the Armenian and Azerbaijani troops in the beginning of April.

President Aliyev said Azerbaijan does not want war.

"But we had to retaliate the provocative actions of the Armenian military units," he stressed.

The discussions also focused on cooperation in oil and gas field. The sides underlined the importance of continuing the negotiations to determine the legal status of the Caspian Sea.

It was noted that this would contribute to elevating the relations between the two countries in political, security and other fields to a higher level.

The two presidents also discussed the development of the relations and cooperation in a variety of areas, including visa regime, tourism, financial and e-banking sectors, fight against extremism, terrorism and radicalism.

Later, President Aliyev met with the UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Jeffrey Feltman.

During the meeting the sides emphasized close cooperation between Azerbaijan and the UN and its agencies.

They described the 7th Global Forum of Alliance of Civilizations to be co-organized in Baku by Azerbaijan and the UN as a good sign of this cooperation.

The sides in particular noted the importance of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's participation in this Forum both for Azerbaijan and the region. The visit of the UN Secretary General to Azerbaijan would be a significant message of peace, stability and security to the world.

They exchanged views over settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. It was noted that a message to be given by Ban Ki-moon in Baku would be important in terms of resolution of the conflict and prevention of Armenia's provocative actions.

Later, a reception was hosted on behalf of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his spouse Emine Erdogan in honor of the heads of state and government, who attended the 13th Summit of the OIC.

President Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva attended the reception.

President Aliyev also attended another dinner reception was hosted on behalf of Turkish Premier Davutoglu in honor of participants of the Summit.

On April 15, President Aliyev and his spouse Mehriban Aliyeva ended a working visit to Turkey.