Aliyev hosts Erdoğan in Shusha, says unity with Türkiye is unbreakable

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held a joint press conference in Shusha on Victory Day. The leaders said efforts to weaken the alliance between the two countries are doomed to fail.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan arrived in Karabakh at the invitation of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to take part in Victory Day celebrations on November 8. At Fuzuli Airport, Aliyev and First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva welcomed the Turkish leader and his wife, Emine Erdoğan, after which an official welcoming ceremony was held in Shusha.

At a joint press conference, Aliyev recalled that Erdoğan had supported Azerbaijan during the first hours of the 44-day war. “Your historic words, ‘Azerbaijan is not alone; Türkiye stands with it,’ will never be forgotten,” he said. Aliyev said the Shusha Declaration, signed seven months after the war, merely formalized the allied relations that had always existed.

The presidents of Azerbaijan and Türkiye with their spouses during the welcoming ceremony in Shusha

“Türkiye and Azerbaijan are brotherly nations. There are no other peoples or states in the world so closely connected to each other. Our unity and brotherhood are unbreakable, and those who want to shake them will never succeed,” the Azerbaijani president said. He also noted that Türkiye had become a major global power under Erdoğan’s leadership.

Erdoğan, for his part, emphasized that the brotherhood between the two countries goes far beyond their shared language, history and culture. “Those who want to weaken our brotherhood, cemented by the allied ties of the Shusha Declaration signed on June 15, 2021, will not succeed today or tomorrow,” the Turkish leader said.

Erdoğan added that the task now was to crown the victory with lasting peace and stability in the South Caucasus. He said a Turkish-Azerbaijani international forestry training center with a nursery had opened in Jabrayil, while construction had begun in Aghdam on a 40-classroom school that the leaders plan to open next year.

Aliyev hosts Erdoğan in Shusha, says unity with Türkiye is unbreakable