Cavusoglu: Turkey doesn’t want Afghanistan to be terrorism hub

Ankara has said efforts should be made to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a hub of terrorism.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu made the remarks while addressing the Extraordinary Meeting of Foreign Ministers of the Turkic Council on Monday in Istanbul.

Turkic Council members have met to discuss how to support economic stability and humanitarian aid in Afghanistan, promote an inclusive government, and preventing terrorist groups from taking root again, said Cavusoglu.

“Developments in Afghanistan have global implications. However, the Turkish world, as Afghanistan's neighbour, feels the impact of these developments more,” he said.

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"Preventing terrorist groups, wave of migration"

Cavusoglu also said that prevent a new wave of migration, as well as preventing terrorist groups from taking root again in the Afghanistan.

“The fact that millions of Turkish kin live in Afghanistan is of direct interest to us."

He added: “We have special relations with Afghanistan. Therefore, it is important that we send a strong message to the world with the joint statement we will make at the end of the meeting.”

Top diplomats of the Turkic Council member states Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, and Hungary, which has an Observer State status, are attending the meeting.

It is being held upon the invitation of Cavusoglu, who will also hold bilateral talks with his counterparts.

Karabakh war anniversary

Speaking at the event, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said September 27 marks the beginning of an end to the Armenian occupation in Upper Karabakh.

“The unity of the Azerbaijani people, army and the chief commander on the battlefield for 44 days showed that status quo had to change,” he said.

The latest big-scale clashes in Karabakh erupted last September when the Armenian army launched attacks on civilians and Azerbaijani forces.

During a subsequent 44-day conflict which ended under a Russia-brokered deal in November, Azerbaijan liberated several cities and nearly 300 settlements and villages from Armenia’s nearly three-decade occupation.