"It is evident that several nations who were previously hesitant or opposed have chosen to support Palestine, highlighting the international community's strong resolve to put an end to oppression. Those in favour of Israel must grasp this reality. Nevertheless, this alone is not sufficient. We anticipate that the United States will refrain from impeding any future resolutions made by the United Nations Security Council," Hakan Fidan stressed in his speech on Thursday.
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan held a joint press conference with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Ceyhun Bayramov in Baku.
Key points from Turkish top diplomat Fidan's statements:
"We have a shared responsibility to strengthen our relations in every field. The Shusha Declaration, signed by our Presidents, provides an exceptionally strong foundation. We, along with my brother Bayramov, are working in constant coordination to implement the provisions of this declaration. Maintaining our joint stance is crucial in a period of increasing global instability and unpredictability.
First and foremost, the stability of South Caucasus is crucial in terms of the security of transportation and energy lines. As you know, the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line constitutes a significant component of the Middle Corridor. Opening the line at full capacity is of great importance for solidifying our position in the global supply chain. We desire to strengthen the connectivity between our countries and bring our peoples even closer. The memorandum of understanding for the Kars-Nakhchivan railway project was signed during the visits of our President to Nakhchivan. We aim to implement this project as soon as possible.
We must address the opportunities and risks in the energy sector with a comprehensive strategy based on our common interests. Expanding the capacity of TANAP and transferring Caspian Gas to Türkiye and Europe are crucial elements of this strategy. With the foundation laid during our President's visit, we brought a new dimension to our energy cooperation with the Iğdır-Nakhchivan Natural Gas Pipeline project.
Today, my esteemed colleague and I had the opportunity to discuss significant issues in our region. Firstly, we discussed developments in South Caucasus. With the anti-terrorism operation in September, Azerbaijan established full sovereignty in Karabakh. We congratulate them once again for this.
I extend my condolences to all the heroes who were martyred in the operation and express my condolences to the brotherly Azerbaijani people.
Essentially, we have always said that after the 44-day homeland battle three years ago, a historic opportunity emerged to establish peace in the region. At this stage, we believe that this opportunity has strengthened even more and is now unavoidable. Therefore, we welcome the positive progress of the permanent peace and border delineation agreements between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
A South Caucasus with peace and tranquility is in the interest of all actors. Therefore, all parties should strive for the creation of an environment conducive to peace and normalization. Unfortunately, the organized Armenian diaspora in the West is exploiting the difficult conditions faced by the Armenian people. They are trying to incite some countries against Azerbaijan. Instead of dealing with them, it would be more appropriate to spend energy to create an environment for normal relations between the Armenian people and their neighbors.
All external actors in the region must pursue policies that consider regional balances and promote normalization. We also welcome the decision to take some concrete confidence-building steps between the two countries in recent days. We hope that such steps will continue and pave the way for a comprehensive peace agreement.
We believe that those who try to damage the process with provocative actions should also derive a message from this consensus. We have always said that the momentum achieved in the process between Azerbaijan and Armenia will positively impact the normalization process between Türkiye and Armenia. We are closer to regional stability and peace than ever before. To fully capitalize on this opportunity, we will continue our uninterrupted coordination with our brother Azerbaijan.
The humanitarian tragedy in Gaza unfortunately continues. I informed my brother Ceyhun Bey about the international efforts we are conducting. As you know, at the joint summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Arab League, initiatives were agreed upon at the international level to stop the war and establish permanent peace. As Foreign Ministers, we recently held talks in the United States and Canada. Tomorrow, we will have the opportunity to meet with authorities from Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg in Oslo. We will once again emphasize our commitment to the just cause of Palestine.
As a contact group, we are now not only representing the voices of Islamic countries but also the entire world. We are witnessing significant developments with the contribution of our intensive efforts. In the vote at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, 153 countries voted positively for the resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. As you know, a similar resolution was previously accepted with only 121 votes. There has been a significant increase in the interim.
We saw that many countries that were previously hesitant or voted against have decided to stand by Palestine. This clearly demonstrates the international community's determination to end the oppression. Those supporting Israel need to understand this situation well. However, this is not enough. We expect the United States not to obstruct further decisions of the United Nations Security Council.
At the moment, only and only the United States is standing between a ceasefire and a massacre in Gaza. Our message, as well as that of the international community, is clear. The oppression against the Palestinians must end, an immediate ceasefire must be declared, and the peace process must begin."
