Gabala. Rashad Suleymanov – APA. Establishment of Fund of Turkic Culture Support and Turkic Heritage Protection will have a positive impact on the culture of Turkic-speaking countries, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said addressing the summit of the Cooperation Council of Turkic-Speaking States in Gabala, APA reports.

Highly assessing the activity of TURKSOY in the promotion of the culture of Turkic- speaking countries, the President said it is important that the nations should know one another better. The Head of State said this organization would serve the unity of the Turkic world.

The President said previously, the format of cooperation among the Turkic-speaking states was determined at the meeting in Nakhchivan: ‘Turkic-speaking states always support one another in the international organizations, because fraternal nations must always support each other. In most cases, we share the same position at the UN, OIC and other international organizations. And it increases our strength’.

Azerbaijani President stated that regional security is one of the forthcoming issues for the successful development of the countries: ‘Our countries contribute to regional security issues. This is a very important issue. We should ensure peace, welfare in our region. Unfortunately, for many years Azerbaijan is suffering from Armenian occupation. 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory is under occupation. Our territorial integrity recognized by the international community has been violated, policy of ethnic cleansing was committed against our people, all the norms of international law were violated. Soonest resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict within the framework of international law will contribute to the regional security. This conflict must be solved within the framework of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity. These principles are reflected in the statement that will be adopted today at the summit’.

President spoke about the present and future joint economic projects. Ilham Aliyev said the construction of giant infrastructure projects in the region began in Azerbaijan.
“For the first time in the history Caspian and Mediterranean seas were united. Azerbaijan is playing the role of transit country for our brothers, countries located on the east shore of the Caspian Sea. Both bilateral and trilateral activities are being carried out with the view of improving transport infrastructure. Among them I can name Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway linking Europe and Asia. This railway will serve our countries. I am sure that next year we will mark the operation of this project. Restoration of ancient Silk Road is a reality,” he said.

The President stressed that in comparison with other Islamic countries, different processes are happening in the Turkic world: ‘In different parts of the world, unfortunately, in the Islamic world, the situation is different. Riots, civil wars, unpleasant developments are occurring. However, our Turkish-speaking region is in progress. This is a great wealth. The 21st century should be the century of the Turkic world. We need to reinforce all the positive tendencies.