“As part of the visit, the delegation will meet with representatives of the Turkish government,” Azerbaijan's Trend News Agency quoted Nizami Jafarov, co-chairman of the Azerbaijani-Turkish Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group, as saying on Monday.
The 11-member delegation will stay in Turkey until the weekend. During their trip, Jafarov said, they will meet with representatives of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and opposition parties as well as with influential leaders of Turkish society. Turkish news reports said the delegation is expected to meet with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Wednesday.
Azerbaijan, a regional ally of Turkey, insists Turkey should not normalize its relations with Armenia before Armenia withdraws from Azerbaijani territory it occupied during a war over Nagorno-Karabakh in the early 1990s. Jafarov denied claims that the visit constitutes a protest against the protocols, but added, “We want the opening of the border [between Turkey and Armenia] to not look like Turkey's favor to Armenia.”
Jafarov also expressed Azerbaijan's trust in Turkish authorities not to act against Azerbaijan's national interests.
A similar visit took place in April when several Azerbaijani women deputies traveled to Turkey to express their opinions about the process of rapprochement between Turkey and Armenia. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan criticized the visit saying it was “ill-intentioned.”
