Turkey and Azerbaijan are fraternal countries and Turkey is pleased with Azerbaijan’s development, Vice-Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly Sureyya Sadi Bilgic said.

Axar.az reports that Bilgic made the remarks in Baku at the founding conference of the Baku Parliamentary Platform for Dialogue and Cooperation.

He stressed that no country can remain outside the processes occurring in the world.

“A joint position is required to fight terrorism,” Bilgic said. “Bilateral or multilateral discussions can be held in this sphere. There is Islamophobia in Europe, which is of great concern. Therefore, it must be stopped."

He expressed the hope that the Baku Parliamentary Platform will thoroughly work on this issue and others. ”

Bilgic added that Turkey supports Azerbaijan in the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

"The conflict must be resolved within Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity,” he added. “Turkey is always close to Azerbaijan and supports the steps that it is taking in this direction."

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding districts.