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27 October 2016

By Orkhan Quluzade – Trend

Republic Day is not only Turkey’s but also Azerbaijan’s holiday, new Turkish ambassador to Azerbaijan Erkan Ozoral said in an exclusive interview with Trend.

His remarks come on the eve of the Republic Day of Turkey celebrated Oct. 29.

“I worked in Azerbaijan in 2005-2009,” the diplomat said. “In those years I observed the rapid development of the country. However, seven years later, I witnessed even greater development in Azerbaijan. In general, for 25 years, the country has made great progress on the path of independence and its strengthening.”

The ambassador also congratulated the people of Azerbaijan on the 25th anniversary of restoration of Azerbaijan’s state independence celebrated Oct. 18.

“On October 29, our republic will celebrate its 93rd anniversary,” the diplomat said. “Independence Day of Azerbaijan is our common holiday, and Turkey’s Republic Day is celebrated both in Azerbaijan and Turkey.”

He added that the Republic Day in Turkey will be mournful this year, because the Turkish nation experienced a strong shock earlier.

“We overcame a big threat thanks to the people, its support to the head of state, political will of Turkey’s president,” said the diplomat. “We faced the greatest betrayal throughout the country’s history.”

“The terrorist organization, which has for many years used the religious factor to seize the power and abused good intentions of people, attempted a military coup on July 15 to achieve its goal, which previously could not be realized in other ways,” he added.

“Of course, that was totally unacceptable for the Turkish people, who on July 15 took to the streets,” noted Ozoral.

The ambassador says that not only Turkey, but also the whole world drew a lesson from the July 15 events.

He also expressed gratitude to Azerbaijan’s government, Azerbaijan’s people led by President Ilham Aliyev and every citizen of Azerbaijan for their support to Turkey.

Ozoral added that flags of Turkey and Azerbaijan were flown together during rallies after the attempted military coup.

“This clearly shows how close are our countries, our states and our peoples to each other,” said the ambassador.