Erdoğan to visit Azerbaijan for opening of Zangilan airport
President Tayyip Erdoğan and Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev take part in the 6th summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-building Measures in Asia (CICA), in Astana, Kazakhstan Oct. 13, 2022. REUTERS/Turar Kazangapov


President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will pay a one-day working visit to Azerbaijan upon the invitation of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Thursday.

They will attend the opening ceremony of Zangilan International Airport, the second airport built with the contributions of Turkish companies in the liberated lands of Azerbaijan, and will also lay the foundations of new projects initiated for the development of the region.

During the bilateral meetings, the relations between Türkiye and Azerbaijan will be reviewed in all its dimensions, and the steps that can be taken to further develop cooperation will be discussed.

In addition to bilateral relations, it is also envisaged to exchange views on current regional and global issues, according to the statement by Ankara.

Türkiye on Tuesday congratulated Azerbaijan on its 31st anniversary of the restoration of independence.

Azerbaijan first declared independence from the Russian czarist regime but was toppled after almost two years in 1920 by the Soviet Union, and the people of Azerbaijan managed to restore state independence on Oct. 18, 1991.

On Nov. 9, 1991, Türkiye became the first state to recognize the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Following the war with Armenia in 2020 over the Karabakh region, Azerbaijan launched a massive reconstruction initiative in the liberated lands.

Türkiye was a key backer of Azerbaijan during the 44-day Karabakh war between Baku and Yerevan, which erupted on Sept. 27, 2020, and ended with a Russian-brokered cease-fire on Nov. 10. During the faceoff that started in September 2020, Azerbaijan liberated several cities and 300 settlements and villages that were occupied by Armenia for nearly three decades. The peace agreement is celebrated as a triumph in Azerbaijan.