Turkey, Azerbaijan seek to unite Turkic world with trade corridor through Armenia

Azerbaijan and Turkey plan to unite the Turkic world by re-opening a trade corridor connecting Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan enclave through Armenia, Azeri President İlham Aliyev said.

“Both Turkey and Azerbaijan will take necessary steps for realisation of the Zangezur Corridor,” Aliyev said at a joint news conference with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency reported. He spoke after an opening ceremony for the Fuzuli International Airport in Nagorno-Karabakh.

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“One day, we will be able to travel (directly) from Zangezur to Istanbul, cementing the region’s position as a transit and logistics hub,” Erdoğan said at the news conference.

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Relations between Turkey and Azerbaijan are at an historic peak following last autumn’s six weeks of clashes in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. Turkish military support proved crucial to Azerbaijan [seizing] control over the territory from Armenian-backed forces.

This week, Erdoğan paid a third visit to Azerbaijan since last year’s war. On a visit to Azerbaijan in June, Erdoğan and Aliyev signed the Shusha Declaration, which foresaw an expansion of…defence ties between the countries.