Tatar: Azerbaijan’s victory is our victory

PRESIDENT Ersin Tatar has said that the victory of Azerbaijan last year against Armenia over the Karabakh region was a victory for the “whole Turkish world”.

Mr Tatar made the comments in İstanbul last weekend, where he was invited to speak at the Azerbaijan Associations Federation’s “Karabakh belongs to Azerbaijan” event held to “commemorate the first anniversary of the liberation of Karabakh from Armenian forces”, a statement from his office said.

“The victory of Azerbaijan is also ours, and the victory of the

Republic of Turkey and indeed the victory of the whole Turkish world,” Mr Tatar said, adding that it is necessary to “act with unity” as the people of Azerbaijan are the “sons of the same ancestry and the same nation”.

“We have to develop such a policy in order to be strong together and to be in unity as well as to act in solidarity in the future,” the President said.

Congratulating Azerbaijani President İlham Aliyev in his speech, Mr Tatar continued: “Azerbaijan won a great victory under his presidency. I convey our sincere happiness on the first anniversary of the victory of Azerbaijan. The suffering of oppressed nations should never be forgotten. The Turkish Cypriot people experienced persecution and oppression in Cyprus for many years. . . We must all be united together. Our struggle should be regarded as your struggle as well.

“When we look at the great Turkish world, we all have aspirations and a destination of unity. It is time to be united together and to be stronger.”

Mr Tatar also spoke about Pakistan, saying the TRNC should “become stronger united together with Azerbaijan, the Republic of Turkey, and brother state Pakistan”.

He called for increased cooperation with “our brothers in Azerbaijan and Pakistan and other states of the Turkish world”, especially economically and in tourism.