On behalf of the President of the Republic of Turkey Abdullah Gul and his spouse Hayrunnise Gul, an official dinner was given in honour of President Ilham Aliyev and his spouse Mehriban Aliyeva.
The heads of state spoke at the official dinner.
Speech by President Abdullah Gul
- Mr President, my dear brother,
Madam,
Distinguished guests,
We are very pleased to once again receive Your Excellency, distinguished Mehriban khanum and respected members of your delegation in Turkey.
After my election as President in 2007, I also paid my first visit to Azerbaijan, and since then we have always been welcomed with great hospitality. And you, as was the case after your election as President five years ago, are paying your first official visit to Turkey. There is no doubt that you did not accidentally choose Turkey. It has a much deeper meaning than common courtesy. We appreciate this choice as a sign of our eternal and primordial brotherhood and a vivid manifestation of strategic unity. With the most sincere feelings we greet you - our dear brothers, who arrived in our country.
Azerbaijan is our common homeland, and throughout history it has taken a special place in the heart of our nation. Our hearts are always beating in unison with the hearts of our Azerbaijani brothers. Your joy is our joy, your grief is our grief, and we are touched by the same songs and poems and are concerned about the same poems. We equally understand the deep meaning inherent in the poetry of Fizuli. With the most sincere feelings I want to say "Welcome" again to you and to our dear guests, who brought the wonderful atmosphere of Azerbaijan to their second homeland - Turkey.
Dear President, dear guests.
The late President Ozal, who visited Azerbaijan 20 years ago, said in his speech at Baku University: "We have left behind bitter years full of expectations, and this new period represents a historic opportunity to move forward with long strides in conditions of unity and equality." Looking back, we are pleased to see that Turkey and Azerbaijan appreciated this historic opportunity very well. Undoubtedly, the strong leadership of Your Excellency over the past 10 years has had a huge impact on it.
Within a short period, our fraternal countries achieved great development. They turned their political and social stability into economic and human wealth. In accordance with the dictum "One nation, two states" by the national leader, the late Heydar Aliyev, our countries have joined forces for the benefit of our peoples and the region. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum projects, which were named projects of the century during their implementation, are the result of this thinking and dynamism. These pipelines transport not just oil and gas, but also peace, prosperity and stability from the Caspian region, where there is calm.
We intend to further expand cooperation. Inshallah, next year the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project, which is an important part of the general route called the modern Silk Road, will be completed. We opened another important part of this line – the Marmaray railway - on 29 October. In the near future on the basis of this project there will be a rail service between London and Beijing through the Caspian Sea.
We also need to quickly implement the Trans-Anatolian pipeline project, which is a very important part of the Southern Gas Corridor. Undoubtedly, these projects, which will strengthen the link of the Caspian Sea to the world, deserve to go down in history as important milestones of the 21st century. The most important goal that faces us after that - under the leadership of Your Excellency – is to continue to move forward through new projects the strategic alliance between our two brotherly countries that share both joy and sorrow.
Mr President, my dear brother, dear guests.
As in our bilateral relations, Azerbaijan is a leading country in terms of our efforts to develop a framework of cooperation between Turkic republics. In this context, at the summit held in 2009 in Nakhchivan, the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States was created, whose secretariat is located in Istanbul. At the 3rd Summit of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States, which was held in Gabala in August this year, the presidency was taken over by Azerbaijan. Over the coming years, Azerbaijan will guide our joint efforts to transform the Turkic world, which has a large population and wide geography, abundant natural and human resources, into a centre of attention on a global scale.
The basis of friendly and brotherly ties between Turkic republics based on our historical past is our common language, religion, history, culture and values. At the same time, in order for this friendship and fraternity to turn into a community that will meet our mutual interests based on specific projects, far-sighted leaders with new views are always needed. In this sense, the role of Your Excellency deserves approval.
Mr President, my dear brother, dear guests.
I am very pleased that on the 95th anniversary of the salvation by the Caucasian Islamic Army of Baku, which was under Armenian and Bolshevik occupation, and on the 22nd anniversary of Azerbaijan's independence, we are experiencing the golden years of our friendship, brotherhood and cooperation. These lines, written many years ago by the outstanding poet Bakhtiyar Vahabzada, reflect the present and future of our relations.
(Reciting a poem)
In this regard, I want to express once again the joy I feel when receiving Your Excellency, your spouse and the distinguished members of your delegation in Turkey, and with invincible faith in the bright future of Turkish-Azerbaijani relations I convey my heartiest greetings, love and good wishes to all our Azerbaijani brothers. We ask you to convey on your return greetings and love from the Turkish people to our Azerbaijani brothers.
Once again, welcome!
Speech by President Ilham Aliyev
- My dear brother, dear Mr President Abdullah Gul,
Dear Hayrunnise khanum,
My dear brother, dear Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
Dear Emine khanum,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Dear friends,
First of all, I want to express once again my profound gratitude to you all for the hospitality extended to me and the delegation in fraternal Turkey. Today is a historic day in my life. Today I was awarded the highest award of the brotherly country – the State Sign. This is the highest honour and greatest happiness for me. I believe that this award is a manifestation of the assessment of my work.
As President, I have tried to ensure that Turkish-Azerbaijani relations develop and cover all areas. I am very happy that in Turkey I have brothers like the President and the Prime Minister. Our friendship and brotherhood is unbreakable. It is these feelings and these factors that underlie all successes.
The Turkish and Azerbaijani peoples have been next to each other for centuries and lived and worked together. Then history separated us from each other. For seventy years Azerbaijan lived in the Soviet Union. There were no ties and no contacts. But love and mutual respect for each other living in the hearts of our peoples did not allow us to be separated. It is no accident that Turkish-Azerbaijani relations were established immediately after Azerbaijan gained its independence. Turkey was the first country to recognize our independence, and we can say, from the very beginning of our independence, Turkish-Azerbaijani relations began to have a special nature. Today, I am absolutely convinced that the world has no other such countries that are so closely related to each other. This relationship is dictated by history. This relationship is based on common culture, common history and ethnic roots. And we are further strengthening this unity with our policy. Today independent Azerbaijan is successfully developing and rejoices at the successful development of Turkey from all its heart.
I have repeatedly been to Turkey. This is my 16th visit as President. But I last visited Ankara 5 years ago. I sincerely want to congratulate you on the work done in Ankara. Ankara has become a beautiful modern city and beautiful buildings have been built. Ankara has become a major industrial centre.
The work carried out in Ankara is a manifestation of the work going on in Turkey. We are pleased that today Turkey is a centre of power, an attractive centre of power on a global scale. With its policy and diplomacy, Turkey has gained a lot of friends in the world. It's not so easy. Turkey was able to win a lot of respect thanks to goodwill, sound policies and understanding. Today, Turkey enjoys enormous prestige and respect globally. Turkey's economy developed even in the crisis years. The financial and economic crisis that dominated the world had no impact on Turkey as the Turkish government is pursuing a thoughtful and wise policy. Thanks to this policy, Turkey is now one of the leading countries of the world community and a member of G20. Turkey's economy is gradually increasing, and its population is increasing and will increase. The power of Turkey is our power. We have always supported and support each other. Our strength is in our unity. As my dear brother President Abdullah Gul noted today, Turkish-Azerbaijani unity simultaneously determines the unity of Turkic-speaking states. I am very pleased that we are already taking very important decisions in the format of Turkic-speaking states. These are decisions that will unite our peoples even more in the future. History and political interests which unite us are very strong factors, of course. However, mutual investments, our energy and transport projects, the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway and the completion of the Marmaray project are historic events. Taking this opportunity, I want to congratulate you on the implementation of the Marmaray project.
We constantly support each other in international organizations. We are close to each other from a regional point of view. Turkey and Azerbaijan are an important factor in the world.
Our strength will only continue to grow as the potential of our countries is strong enough, and we will consolidate our efforts. The 21st century will be a century of the Turkic world. There is no doubt about it. We just need to plan our strategic steps and move confidently towards our goals. We must make sure that Turkish- Azerbaijani unity constantly develops.
Our friendship is indestructible and eternal. Today we are united by major projects, political interests and common goals.
But the basis of all these factors is love, respect and our peoples’ affection to each other.
In the 21st century, Turkish-Azerbaijani unity will solve many issues in our geographical area. We all must aspire to strengthen this unity. The negotiations held today and to be held tomorrow will strengthen our unity even more.
Once again I want to thank you for your hospitality and respect for me. I want to assure you that I will bear this honourable title with credit. In my activities I will continue to make every effort to strengthen Turkish-Azerbaijani unity.
Long live Turkey! Long live Azerbaijan!
