BAKU - Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said on Saturday that Turkish-Azerbaijani relations should be turned into a real strategic partnership.
Gul addressed Baku State University as his last contact during his visit to Azerbaijan.
Noting that Turkish-Azerbaijani relations were progressing within the scope of a strong strategic cooperation, Gul said that it was among the priorities of the Turkish government to further improve the cooperation with the new government in Azerbaijan.
Gul stressed that Turkey would continue its efforts to make Azerbaijan have a more effective status in international organisations.
Referring to Upper Karabakh problem in his speech, Gul said that the continuation of the Armenian occupation in the region despite the U.N. resolutions constituted one of the biggest obstacles of ensuring peace in the Caucasus. Gul said that Turkey continued its active initiatives for solution of the problem and its efforts for developing confidence building measures in that framework.
Recalling that there was no diplomatic relation between Turkey and Armenia, Gul said that there were certain things that needed to be done by Armenia before normalization of the relations.
(Öª) 10.01.2004