The president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, held a joint press conference on 26 October with the president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, in which he stated that Armenia should mend ties with Azerbaijan if it wanted better relations with Turkey.
Following a meeting in Zangilan’s Aghaly village, in territories regained by Azerbaijan following the 44-day Karabakh War as part of his one day working visit to Azerbaijan, Erdogan spoke out in favour of lasting peace and comprehensive normalisation of relations in the region. He noted that all the neighbours, including Armenia, Iran and Georgia, would benefit from the transport infrastructure, such as new highway and railway lines. On the issue of border demarcation and delimitation, the Turkish president said that Armenia should display “a sincere will to settle the issues with Azerbaijan”, adding that if such a condition were met, there would be “no obstacles left to the normalization of Turkey’s relations with Armenia”.
He also stated that “Turkey will respond to every positive step that is taken in order to establish lasting peace in the region”.