“We expect that Armenia will act correctly and be part of the peace process,” says Turkish official

The President of the Turkish Parliament (Meclis), Mustafa Sentop, received a delegation led by Azerbaijani Prime Minister Ali Asadov yesterday. This marks Asadov's first foreign visit since taking office as Azerbaijan's Prime Minister.

While discussing Turkish-Azerbaijani relations, Sentop emphasized that their closeness and sincerity is "unique in the world." Again invoking the now traditional slogan of "one nation, two states," the President of the Turkish Parliament noted that the results achieved by Azerbaijan in the Karabakh war were received with great enthusiasm by the Turkish people. This was reported by Ermenihaber.am.

According to him, the joint declaration published by four parties of the Turkish Parliament on September 28, 2020, condemning Armenia's attacks, and the participation of Turkish soldiers in the parade held in Baku on December 10 demonstrate the "high level" of Turkish-Azerbaijani relations.

Sentop stated that Turkey's vision regarding the South Caucasus is to establish stability, common security, and a field of cooperation based on the commitments of the region. He highlighted that Turkey supports Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's proposal to establish a platform for regional multilateral cooperation.

Acknowledging the expression of animosity towards Armenia, Sentop stated that Turkey expects Armenia to play a part in the peace process by taking the "right steps" this time. "No one should doubt that if there are positive steps taken by Armenia with sincere and good intentions, we will respond with the same understanding," he said.

Sentop also emphasized the degree of political support extended to Azerbaijan and recalled the joint declaration published by four parties of the Turkish Parliament on November 27, which, according to him, was a response to France's decision to recognize the Republic of Artsakh. This declaration strongly condemned the decision made by the French Senate.

Regarding the recent letter sent to President Biden by 54 members of the U.S. Senate, demanding pressure against Turkey for encouraging violence against Armenians by Azerbaijan during the Karabakh war, Sentop noted that 87 Turkish parliamentary members of the Turkey-U.S. Interparliamentary Friendship Group published a written statement in response to said letter. It should be noted that this statement was filled with anti-Armenian themes of Turkish-Azerbaijani origin.

Sentop also mentioned that the Azerbaijani Parliament recently reacted to that letter, which was welcomed in Turkey.