Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev expressed support for the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) during the 13th General Assembly of the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic-Speaking Countries (TURKPA), hosted by Azerbaijan.

During a meeting with the parliamentary heads of participating Turkic states, including Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly Numan Kurtulmuş, Speaker of the Kazakh Parliament Yerlan Koşanov, Chairwoman of the Uzbek Senate Tanzila Narbayeva, Speaker of the Kyrgyz Parliament Nurlanbek Şakiev, Speaker of the Republic’s Assembly Zorlu Töre, and Deputy Speaker of the Hungarian Parliament Marta Matrai, President Aliyev emphasized Azerbaijan’s strong support for the TRNC’s full membership in the Turkic Council.

Aliyev underscored the importance of unity among all sectors of society to strengthen the Turkic world, stating, “There will come a day when all the world’s problems will be resolved through consultation with the Turkic Council. We are in favour of cooperation and friendship. Our unity is not against anyone. We are not a source of threat, and we will never be. We defend our rights and support each other.”

Reminding of Azerbaijan’s active diplomatic efforts for the TRNC to become an observer member of the Turkic Council, Aliyev reiterated Azerbaijan’s support for the TRNC’s full membership, stating, “As Azerbaijan, we support the TRNC’s full membership in the Turkic Council. This is very natural because historically, the TRNC is part of the Turkic world. The Turks living there are our brothers.”