Foreign

Home page

Foreign

AK Party Deputy Chairman: Nakhchivan is very important center in Azerbaijani-Turkish relations

Kurshat Zorlu, deputy chairman of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) of Türkiye and head of the General Department for Relations with Turkic States

12 September 2025 18:18 (UTC +04:00)

"While taking these steps, we are putting Türkiye-Azerbaijan friendship and alliance first. In other words, the view of the Azerbaijani state is fundamental and important for us," said Kurshat Zorlu, deputy chairman of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) of Türkiye and head of the General Department for Relations with Turkic States, in a statement to journalists in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, APA's local bureau reports.

He stated that the opening of the corridor was the main issue after Azerbaijan's victory in the Karabakh war: "Then again, in the Shusha Declaration, the will of the two states was in this direction. Subsequently, this issue was specifically mentioned in the agreement signed between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Accordingly, we are taking steps towards the implementation of the corridor. One of these is the Kars-Iğdır-Dilucu railway project. When this project is implemented, which will carry 5.5 million people and have a cargo carrying capacity of 2.2 million, a train departing from Azerbaijan will travel to Europe without obstacles across our borders. This railway line will not only expand trade, but we believe that it will also expand relations between our peoples, and will have a positive impact on tourism, the energy sector and many other sectors. With this, we will achieve stability and revival in our region."

The AK Party Deputy Chairman also spoke about his visit to Nakhchivan. He noted that meetings are being held in different regions of Türkiye under the slogan "100 Years of Turkey" and, as a continuation of this, meetings are also taking place in Iğdır: "On this occasion, we wanted to come to Nakhchivan and express our views on Türkiye-Azerbaijan relations and the Turkic world and its states. One of the most important parts of our "100 Years of Türkiye" goal is relations with the Turkic world and their expansion. In this center, Türkiye-Azerbaijan relations are at the highest level and our relations, which are rarely seen in the world, are friendship, brotherhood, and strong alliance. Because we are states that can act with the slogan "we are one nation, two states". Nakhchivan is a very important center both among the Turkic state organizations and in Azerbaijan-Türkiye relations. From now on, we see Nakhchivan as a part of the Turkic state organization. The agreement in 2009 was also signed here. Now is a new era. Because on the one hand, in addition to Türkiye-Azerbaijan relations, together with the project to be implemented between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Inshallah, a corridor connecting Azerbaijan to Nakhchivan will be built, and if this is implemented, Nakhchivan will become one of the most important logistics centers not just of the two countries, but of the entire Turkic world. We, as the AKP, came to Nakhchivan with this goal and belief, and this is part of the importance we attach to the Turkic world. A ministry for relations with the Turkic world was established under our party. Our main goal is to strengthen these relations. In our meetings today, we saw once again that we need to be ready for this. Because we are talking about a trade worth approximately $600 billion. Inshallah, when this corridor opens, all countries and the Caucasus will benefit from this great economy. This place will be an important center of peace, stability, and trust. We believe in this."