UPDATE - Azerbaijani president, Turkish foreign minister discuss relations with Armenia

UPDATES WITH STATEMENT BY AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENCY; CHANGES HEADLINE, DECK, LEDE

By Serdar Dincel and Esra Tekin

ISTANBUL (AA) - Meeting in the city of Shusha, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Friday discussed their relations with their common neighbor Armenia, said the Azerbaijani Presidency in a statement.

Turkish and Azerbaijani relations with the Caucasus nation of Armenia have long been strained, but recent years have seen signs of possible breakthroughs.

Citing this week’s meeting in Astana, Kazakhstan between Aliyev, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sherif, a Foreign Ministry statement underlined that such trilateral meetings will continue in the future.

“The importance was also highlighted of the 2021 Shusha Declaration, which forms the basis of the close relations between Azerbaijan and Türkiye, particularly in the city of Shusha itself,” the statement added, referring to a city Azerbaijan in recent years liberated from decades of Armenian occupation.

The statement added that the meeting expressed satisfaction with the successful development of fraternal, friendly, and allied relations between the two countries in all areas, stressing the significance of unity and solidarity in the Turkic world.

Fidan arrived in Shusha on Friday to participate in a two-day informal summit of heads of state of the Organization of Turkic States.

Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz will represent the country at the summit, as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will be in Germany to attend Türkiye’s football match with the Netherlands in the 2024 EURO Championship.