4 yıl önce

Turkey: Permanent peace possible if Armenia leaves Azerbaijan territories

Turkey's President Erdogan has said Turkey "will continue to support our Azerbaijani brothers and sisters with all means and with all our hearts, in line with the principle of 'two states, one nation.'"

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in Ankara, Turkey on October 1, 2020.

Turkey will continue to support Azerbaijan with all means in its conflict with Armenia over occupied Karabakh.

Speaking at the opening of the Turkish parliament's fourth legislative session of its 27th term in the capital Ankara on Thursday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey "will continue to support our Azerbaijani brothers with all means and with all our hearts, in line with the principle of 'two states, one nation.'"

Erdogan noted that permanent peace could only be achieved in the region "if Armenia withdraws from occupied Azerbaijani territories."

"Efforts to slander Turkey [...] also won't be able to save the Armenian administration," Erdogan said.

He warned countries supporting "rogue state" Armenia in its occupation of Karabakh would have to face "the common conscience of humanity."

Border clashes broke out early on Sunday when Armenian forces targeted Azerbaijani civilian settlements and military positions, leading to casualties.

Azerbaijan's parliament declared a state of war in some of its cities and regions following Armenia's border violations and attacks in the occupied Karabakh, also known as Nagorno-Karabakh, region.

Eastern Mediterranean

Erdogan said Turkey favoured resolving the eastern Mediterranean row with Greece "on an equitable basis".

Accusing the EU of becoming an "ineffective" and "shallow" body, he argued that the bloc was "enslaved" by two of its members, Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration.

There are no crises in our region that were resolved with the EU's involvement, Erdogan added.

"On the contrary, every crisis in which the union intervened has escalated with new dimensions," he said.

Tensions have been running high for weeks in the eastern Mediterranean after Greece disputed Turkey's energy exploration.

Turkey – the country with the longest coastline on the Mediterranean – sent out drill ships to explore for energy on its continental shelf, asserting its own rights in the region, as well as those of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

In August, Greece and Turkey were on the verge of resuming those "exploratory" talks, suspended in 2016.

But Greece signed a maritime demarcation deal with Egypt after which Turkey broke off contact and sent Oruc Reis into disputed waters.

SOURCE: TRTWorld and agencies