President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Saturday a solution in Azerbaijan's occupied Karabakh region is the absolute precondition for Turkey to improve ties with Armenia.
Erdoğan visited Azerbaijan on Saturday to attend ceremonies marking the 100th anniversary of the liberation of Baku by the Caucasian Islamic Army, comprised of Azerbaijani and Turkish soldiers.
Addressing top Azerbaijani officials including his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev and other attendees of a ceremony held in Azatliq Square, Erdoğan said: "We want good relations with our neighbors but solving the Karabakh problem is the absolute precondition for Turkey to improve ties with Armenia."
The president added that it is pointless for Armenia to expect Turkey to open its borders while it continues to occupy 20 percent of Azerbaijan's lands and prevent more than 1 million Azerbaijanis to return to their homeland.
Azerbaijan and Armenia remain in dispute over the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region. Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan in 1991 with Armenian military support, and a peace process has yet to be implemented.
Erdoğan arrived in Baku at 12.30 p.m. local time (0830GMT) at Haydar Aliyev Airport, where he was greeted by Azerbaijan's Vice President Yagub Eyyubov, Deputy Foreign Minister Ramiz Hasanov, Azerbaijan's envoy in Ankara Hazar Ibrahim and Turkey's envoy in Baku Erkan Özoral. Defense Minister Hulusi Akar accompanied Erdoğan on his visit.
He then held a bilateral meeting meeting with Aliyev at the Youth Palace.
The two presidents later visited the Baku State Cemetery, where the tombs of Azerbaijan's founding President Heydar Aliyev and the January 20, 1990 massacre victims are located.
Erdoğan and Aliyev also visited the Turkish Cemetery of Baku, where the fallen soldiers of the Caucasian Islamic Army during its 1918 campaign were laid to rest.
During his visit, Erdoğan is expected to discuss with Azeri officials steps to further improve the strategic relations and the cooperation between the two countries.
