(MENAFN- AzerNews)
Elnur Enveroglu Read more
Historical, cultural, economic and political relations between
Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have developed at a high level as ever.
In modern era, these relations are advancing to a high level in
both traditional and strategic ways.
Besides, Azerbaijanis and Kazakhs are both Turkic-speaking
people and share close historical, religious and cultural ties.
Both are littoral states of the Caspian Sea and possess a common
maritime border. During the great purge in the Soviet Union,
Kazakhstan has been a home for over 150K Azerbaijanis who
immigrated or were deported.
Moreover, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan see each other as main
allies and partners in Central Asia and Transcaucasia. Both
countries are members of Turkic Council and Joint Administration of
Turkic Arts and Culture.
Development of political ties
The development of political relations between Azerbaijan and
Kazakhstan existed even during the Soviet era. The founder of
independent Azerbaijan, the national leader Heydar Aliyev was a
close friend of the former head of Kazakhstan, Nursultan
Nazarbayev, and did not spare his support for Kazakhstan even for a
moment.
Even Nursultan Nazarbayev noted in his memoirs:
We knew each other for decades. When Heydar Aliyev was working
in Kremlin, I was visiting him regularly for to get support. I was
one of the first persons who visited him when he was in hospital in
Moscow. When he had a great loss - in the funeral of his wife, I
was there too. I think Azerbaijani people did the right choice with
choosing him for a president. He was my friend and a politician
that I was respecting a lot. He had carried out number of works
aimed to the strengthening of the many-centurial friendship between
Kazakh and Azerbaijani nations, development of the Republic of
Azerbaijan, CIS.
Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan both reached an agreement on the legal
status of Caspian Sea in a short time. The heads of both states
used to visit each other regularly.
During the Heydar Aliyev's presidency, Azerbaijani-Kazakh
relations mostly covered the legal status of the Caspian Sea and
the fields of agriculture and energy.
These relations still continue, and President Ilham Aliyev, the
successor of the National Leader, continues this path effectively.
In 2004, when President Ilham Aliyev started his new presidency, he
laid the foundation of the strategic partnership between Kazakhstan
and Azerbaijan with his first visit.
A number of bilateral instruments, including the "Strategic
Partnership and Allies' Relations Treaty", were signed. Both
countries closely participated in a number of large-scale projects,
including the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan project.
Of course, strategic relations are continued, and the visit of
Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to Azerbaijan can be
considered exceptionally important in this regard.
“Today we have had extensive discussions on what has already
been done to strengthen our cooperation, and also discussed in
detail our future plans. We attach great importance to the state
visit of the President of Kazakhstan, our brotherly country, our
strategic partner and ally,” President Ilham Aliyev said during his
meeting with the Kazakh President.
The Republic of Kazakhstan, in addition to being an important
country in the economic life of Azerbaijan, can also be considered
a country that supports it in its political and social life. So
Kazajhstan is the founder of the first children's creative center
to be opened in liberated Fuzuli, Garabagh, after the Patriotic
War.
“First of all, I would like to once again express my gratitude
to Kassym-Jomart Kemelevich for his initiative to build the
Kurmangazy Children's Creativity Center in Fuzuli, which has been
liberated from occupation. This is the decision of the President
personally, and although very little time has passed since this
decision was made, we will open this center together tomorrow.
Along with the fact that children of former IDPs will study there,
it will also be the center of our friendship and brotherhood. This
is Kazakhstan's brotherly help to Azerbaijan, it is a gift of
Kazakhstan to Azerbaijan and its support for the restoration of
liberated territories,” President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said
this as he expressed his deep gratitude to brotherly Kazakhstan for
such a generosity of Kazakh people.
The head of state also expressed his gratitude to the leadership
of Kazakhstan for their support in restoring the sovereignty and
territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. As a member of the Union of
Multilingual States, Kazakhstan is one of the countries interested
in the signing of a peace treaty between Azerbaijan and Armenia and
the full restoration of security in the region very soon.
Further to the discussions between President Ilham Aliyev and
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the sides also mulled other issues of
interaction, including joint activities in international bodies,
first of all, the UN and the Organization of Turkic States.
Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are aligned in the view that it is
necessary to further strengthen interaction within the framework of
the Organization of Turkic States, as it is an organization that
unites close, friendly and brotherly countries and has a very great
potential – most importantly, the potential for growth.
Trans-Caspian transport corridor largely determines
level of regional cooperation
President Ilham Aliyev during his meeting also touched on the
aspects of interactions within the framework of the first meeting
of the High-Level Intergovernmental Council. Having mentioned the
sphere of trade and economic interactions, President Ilham Aliyev
underlined the importance of the Trans-Caspian transit
corridor.
“Matters related to the transit and transport sector were
discussed in detail, and we took part in the symbolic welcoming of
the container train, which made its way from the People's Republic
of China through Kazakhstan to Azerbaijan. This is a symbol of the
fact that the Trans-Caspian transport corridor is already a
reality, which itself will largely determine the level of regional
cooperation, because it is impossible to become a transit country
without good relations with your neighbors. In this case, both
Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan have demonstrated their commitment to
regional cooperation and strengthening of relations with
neighbors,” President Ilham Aliyev said.
Azerbaijan has great expectations from cooperation in the field
of COP29 in its relations with Kazakhstan.
“The situation related to cooperation in the oil and gas sector
was also analyzed in detail and new specific projects were
outlined. We discussed preparations for the COP29 climate
conference, and we offered our Kazakh brothers cooperation in
preparing and holding of this most important international
conference,” the head of state added.
As mentioned, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are taking parallel
steps in the field of energy, especially green energy. The
Trans-Caspian transport line is in the foreground for both
countries in terms of transportation and logistics. Both countries
are extremely satisfied with the rapidly and continuously
developing cooperation. This is, of course, a bright result of a
visionary policy and an unshakable unity based on deep historical
roots.
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