Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey Sign Cooperation Declaration
(Civil.Ge) — Foreign Ministers from Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey met on June 8 in Trabzon on Turkey’s Black Sea coast and pledged to further boost “already existing successful cooperation” between the two countries.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and his counterparts from Azerbaijan and Georgia, Elmar Mammadyarov and Grigol Vashadze, respectively, agreed to hold trilateral foreign ministerial meetings on the regular basis.
The meeting resulted into a Trabzon Declaration, which outlines priority areas of cooperation between the three countries ranging from mutual support in international organizations to joint energy and transpiration projects.
Full Text: Trabzon Declaration
Georgian Foreign Minister, Grigol Vashadze, said that this format of cooperation between the three countries “is not directed against anyone.”
“All the issues that are important for us are reflected in this declaration, including, of course, respect towards territorial integrity and sovereignty. This format is not directed against anyone; this is directed towards protection of our countries national interests and towards further deepening of our strategic relations,” Vashadze said.
The declaration says that “protracted conflicts emanating from existing occupations are the main obstacle to peace and stability in the South Caucasus.”
It says that the three countries agree to “promote further development of their relations in every field, especially in the field of trade, energy, transport, finance and banking, environment by means of joint projects and cooperation plans and if needed through trilateral cooperation mechanisms.”
The foreign ministers agreed to hold second trilateral meeting in Georgia in the second half of this year and then in Azerbaijan in the first half of 2013.
Meanwhile in the city of Kars in eastern Turkey a second trilateral Turkish-Azerbaijani-Georgian Business Forum is held on June 9.
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The question that this brings to mind is whether Turkey is more interested in this group being part of NATO or the SCO.