UPDATE - Azerbaijani president hails cooperation between Baku, Turkish armed forces

UPDATES WITH TURKISH NATIONAL DEFENSE MINISTER MEETS WITH HIS AZERBAIJANI COUNTERPART, CHANGES HEADLINE, EDITS THROUGHOUT

By Tolga Ozgenc

BAKU, Azerbaijan (AA) — Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev on Sunday praised the cooperation between the Azerbaijani and Turkish armed forces.

Receiving Turkish National Defense Minister Yasar Guler at the Zagulba Presidential Residence in the capital Baku, Aliyev said that Guler had made great contributions to the partnership of the two countries’ armed forces.

“The cooperation of the Azerbaijani and Turkish Armed Forces is at a very good level,” he said.

Mentioning how Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Azerbaijan during his first foreign tour after being reelected this May, Aliyev underlined the importance of a new air force central command post inaugurated during that visit.

For his part, Guler said that the sacrifices and heroism of Azerbaijani soldiers in the liberation of the formerly occupied territories of the country will never be forgotten, referring to a fall 2020 war in the Karabakh region against Baku's neighbor Armenia.

Meanwhile, Guler also met with his Azerbaijani counterpart Zakir Hasanov and discussed issues related to regional security and cooperation.

Hasanov emphasized the high level of Azerbaijan-Türkiye military cooperation, along with the importance of continuing work to boost it further.

Guler said the strategic alliance between Ankara and Baku was based on friendship and brotherhood, while expressing his pleasure at making his first visit abroad national defense minister to Azerbaijan, a brotherly country.

At the meeting, the two ministers also discussed the development of military, military-technical, military-training cooperation between Türkiye and Azerbaijan, as well as issues of regional security and mutual interest.