Statement by Elmar Mammadyarov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan, at the Meeting of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States

Gabala, August 15, 2013

Distinguished Ministers,

Distinguished Secretary General,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my pleasure to welcome distinguished delegations of friendly and brotherly countries as well as representatives of our Organisation’s respected bodies participating in our meeting of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States in our beautiful city of Gabala.

At the outset, I would like to congratulate all of us on the occasion of successful completion of the mission to preside our organisation. I would also like to express my gratitude for the contributions made by Kyrgyz side to the broadening of cooperation within our organisation during their chairmanship.

Dear colleagues and guests,

Today, almost all independent States face varying challenges calling for prompt reaction, such as maintaining peace and stability, as well as providing socio-economic and cultural prosperity. And obviously, no state can tackle complex problems alone which require collective engagement and actions. In such case, Azerbaijan considers the unification of our efforts as an important instrument for effectively and timely addressing such challenges.

The CCTS possesses unique opportunities in this respect. Our main duty is utilizing these opportunities efficiently for the sake of socio-economic development of our nations. Besides, our organisation plays an irreplaceable role in the promotion and preservation of historical roots of Turkic speaking nations embracing our common culture, traditions, material and mainly moral values.

Without undermining the importance of cooperation in various domains, we consider that our main focus should be changed towards fostering economic ties, especially towards the activities aiming to increase the mutual trade and investment flows among the Member States, creation of joint enterprises and providing support for realisation of joint projects.

I would like to note that during Azerbaijan’s presidency special attention will be attached to the further development of economic cooperation among the Member States. In this regard, preparation of economic agenda for our organisation is very important. This agenda should cover some priority areas of cooperation from current and future perspective by determining detailed goals and time periods.

Organisation of meetings among ministers of economy, transport and heads of custom bodies, also working group meetings in these fields has a significant importance. I would like to express my confidence that taken decisions and achieved results during these meetings will significantly contribute to the development of our cooperation within our Organisation.

Implementation of the decisions during the fixed timeframe and ratification of the signed documents remains as our primary goal towards the further development of the cooperation within CCTS.

I would like to note that the Republic of Azerbaijan has finalised the ratification of almost all the documents signed during the Second Summit held in Bishkek in 2012. I would like to express my firm belief that ratification process of documents by other Member States will be finalised soon and their implementation will be an important input to the effective work of the Organisation.

As part of our on-going efforts to promote cooperation aimed at enhancing regional connectivity, we have proposed draft resolution entitled “Developing cooperation for better connectivity and telecommunications transit routes” for the adoption in the framework of the current session of the UN General Assembly.

The draft is a follow up to our resolution 67/194 on the Trans-Eurasian Information Super Highway and focuses on the proposal to establish Eurasian Connectivity Alliance, as a platform to facilitate regional and international cooperation in the area of information communication technologies (ICT) deployment for sustainable development. We are pleased to recognize that all Turkic speaking countries provided their valuable support to the TASIM project and look forward to our continued collaboration towards the establishment of the Eurasian Connectivity Alliance.

We highly appreciate the work and efforts of CCTS Secretariat and expect evenmore active engagement as well as new and well-grounded proposals envisaging preparation and implementation of development strategy of CCTS.

With great satisfaction I have to mention intensified activities of Turkic Council’s affiliated institutions: TurkPA, Turksoy, Turkic Academy and I strongly believe that Turkic Cultural and Heritage Foundation will very soon start its activities as well.

While discussing regional cooperation issues we cannot ignore the factors hindering such cooperation. Aggressive separatism, attempts to create conflicts on national and ethnic basis, activities aimed at forcibly changing internationally recognised borders and territorial integrity of our states should be valued as the most menacing threats.

Continuing for more than 20 years, Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict arose as a result of ungrounded territorial claims and military aggression by Armenia against Azerbaijan must be seen as the most obvious example of such case.

Almost 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s territory has been remaining under Armenian occupation for more than two decades. Armenia has implemented a policy of ethnic cleansing, as a result of which currently in Azerbaijan one out of 9 people is either refugee or IDP. We aim for the soonest resolution of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict in accordance with the norms and principles of international law, and on the basis of four UNSC resolutions which clearly demand the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian forces from all the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

Taking this opportunity, I would like to express my gratitude to CCTS Member States for supporting efforts of the Republic of Azerbaijan aiming just resolution of this conflict on the basis sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

In conclusion, I would like to wish a successful work to our meeting and expressing my firm belief that tomorrow’s Summit will be a new milestone in the development of our Organisation.

Thank you.