19 September 2009 / TODAY'S ZAMAN WITH WIRES, İSTANBUL
State Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Çiçek said that no other development, no other process in the region is more important than Turkey's friendship with Azerbaijan, while answering Azerbaijani journalists' questions before attending a meeting of the heads of emergency agencies from member countries of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku on Friday.
Noting that good relations between Turkey and Armenia will intensify positively to solve the problems of Azerbaijan, Çiçek said: “There has been an illegal occupation for 17 years and no one has done anything, including the Minsk Group. However, there has been an intensification of activity as we have also increased our relations with the countries involved in the process.” Çiçek also ensured the Azerbaijani public that Turkey always informs Azerbaijan about the developments of Turkish-Armenian relations and will always keep providing information to Azerbaijan. “Some forces use propaganda to harm Turkish-Azerbaijani relations. Turkey has always been close to Azerbaijan. The normalization of Turkish-Armenian ties will help promote the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem,” he said.
