President Erdoğan, Azerbaijan's PM Asadov discuss Gaza, bilateral ties
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan shakes hands with Ali Asadov, May 9, 2024. (DHA Photo)


President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan discussed bilateral relations, Israel's ongoing attacks on the Gaza Strip and peace talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia with Azerbaijan's Prime Minister Ali Asadov at the Presidential Complex in Türkiye's capital Ankara on Wednesday.

Erdoğan and Asadov also discussed regional and global developments in a meeting held at the presidential complex in the capital Ankara.

"Expressing the expectation of a positive outcome from the meeting to be held in Almaty on May 10, President Erdoğan said the progress achieved in the peace process between Armenia and Azerbaijan is satisfactory and a peace agreement should be signed as soon as possible, so that the region achieves the stability it longs for," the Presidential Communications Directorate said.

Pointing out that Ankara and Baku will continue their "close cooperation" to prevent "unilateral and biased external interventions from turning the region into an area of ​​geopolitical conflict," Erdoğan said Türkiye will continue to support Azerbaijan.

Stressing that Israel seeks to spread the war to the region and that although Hamas accepted the cease-fire, Tel Aviv continues its attacks, President Erdoğan said the Organization of Turkic States might engage in further cooperation to deliver humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza.

Conveying congratulations to Azerbaijan for being the host of the upcoming COP29 conference, Erdoğan expressed Türkiye's readiness for all sorts of support in terms of preparations.

Earlier, Asadov met with Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz.

Following a bilateral meeting, Yılmaz and Asadov co-chaired the meeting of the Türkiye-Azerbaijan Joint Economic Commission.

Turkish backing was also significant for Azerbaijan in the Second Karabakh War in 2020 when Baku liberated the border territory from three decades of illegal Armenian occupation in 44 days of clashes that ended with a Russian-brokered peace agreement and opened the door to normalization with its archrival Armenia.

Baku established full constitutional order in Karabakh after a lightning September offensive against the last Armenian separatists in the region, who laid down arms and surrendered. Aliyev's landslide election win has been attributed to his victory in the liberated territory.