The delegation of the Center for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SAM) held several meetings at the Presidential Administration and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey in the framework of Turkey visit in the course of November 26-30, 2018. The delegation started the mission by visiting a statue of national leader Heydar Aliyev in Ankara named after Heydar Aliyev. During the visit, SAM held a range of meetings and the international conference at the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Ankara, Presidential Administration and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey, Center for Eurasian Studies (AVIM) and SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research. Firstly, the envoy met with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Turkey, Mr. Khazar Ibrahim at the embassy of Azerbaijan in Ankara, as well as conducted the discussions on Turkey-Azerbaijan bilateral relations with the Azerbaijanis working at different universities and think tanks in Ankara. On November 27, the envoy met with Presidential Advisor Ms. Tuba Nur Sönmez at the Presidential Administration. Ms. Sönmez provided the guests with a brief on the current level of bilateral relations and future perspectives between the two states, while expressing her hope on further expansion of mutually beneficial cooperation. The meeting continued around these broad topics — the history of the Azerbaijan-Turkey cooperation and the ongoing friendly neighborhood policy at the presidential level of the two countries, mutual support between the states in the implementation of global projects, last but not least Strategic partnerships between the neighbors. As SAM is successfully conducting a series of events within the context of "Azerbaijan week", the Center has also organized a closed roundtable discussion at the Turkey MFA SAM and AVIM. The highly-important meetings, which were mainly designed for the discussion — Turkey-Azerbaijan bilateral relations, political, economic, security and cooperation aspects of these relations, and ongoing processes in the political arena of the region – were attended by the academicians from Turkish Universities and representatives of well-known think tanks. In the framework of the visit, SAM has organized another important conference under the theme of "The future of Turkish-Azerbaijani relations" at the SETA. The member of the Azerbaijan-Turkey Interparliamentary Relations working group, MP Musa Gasimli, noted that the friendly relations between Turkey and Azerbaijan at the political level are successfully transformed to the mutual ties among the fraternal nations of both countries. While MP Gasimli emphasized the commendable bilateral relations, which lean on the principles and the norms of international law, he has also pointed out the two sides mutually support each other in various international platforms. The head of the SAM’s Foreign Policy Analysis Department Javid Valiyev emphasized that the Turkish-Azerbaijani bilateral relations have a positive impact on the political configuration of the region and thus the interests of both countries in the political, economic, energy and military fields positively correlate with each other. Dr. Valiyev has also recalled Azerbaijan’s support to the counter-terrorism and separatism efforts of Turkey. The discussion-heavy conference, which played the role of informative platform for interaction of visions on the ongoing political, economic, and cultural cooperation between the two states has proceeded with the speeches delivered by the representative of the Middle East Technical University (METU) Oktay Tanrısevar and former head of Turkey-Azerbaijan Interparliamentary Friendship Group of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey Necdet Ünüvar about the development of bilateral relations and future perspectives of partnership among the states. The conference was widely covered by the local and foreign media, and brought together the representatives of the scientific community, officials of government institutions, political figures, and students studying in Turkey. Note that in accordance with the Memorandum of Cooperation signed between the Center for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Center for Strategic Research of the MFA of Turkey, the two centers traditionally co-organize "Azerbaijan Week" and "Turkey Week" activities every one year respectively in Turkey and Azerbaijan. Proceeding this tradition, the Center has organized a four-day "Azerbaijan Week" this year in Turkey. The main purpose of these series of events held in both countries is to inform the scientific community about the internal, external and security policies of two countries, and also to promote the development of bilateral relations.
