The fourth trilateral meeting of the Azerbaijani, Georgian and Turkish defense ministers has today ended at the Heydar Aliyev Congress Center in Gabala.

Following their private and trilateral talks, defense ministers Zakir Hasanov of Azerbaijan, Tinatin Khidasheli of Georgia and Ismet Yilmaz of Turkey held a joint press conference.

Addressing the conference, Zakir Hasanov highlighted the importance of the meeting.

“The parties reiterated the importance of enhancing the combat readiness of the three countries’ armed forces and holding trilateral joint military exercises in order to achieve mutual interoperability, trilateral development of military education and training, development of cooperation on cyber security, and further improvement of trilateral exercises on the protection of oil and gas pipelines.”

He noted that Azerbaijani, Turkish and Georgian defense ministries are expected to sign a trilateral Memorandum of Understanding.

“The memorandum, which is being prepared, will be the legal base of our cooperation and allow our trilateral activities to enter a new stage,” Hasanov noted.

Hasanov said during the bilateral and trilateral talks, they discussed the military and political situation in the region, as well as security issues.

He added that the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, particularly the recent developments along the line of contact of Armenian and Azerbaijani troops were thoroughly discussed during the talks.

He expressed hope that the military cooperation between Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey will contribute to the strengthening of fraternal and friendly relations between the peoples of the three countries, as well as the restoration of peace and stability and achievement of sustainable development in the region.

Hasanov also thanked his Georgian and Turkish counterparts for sincere and fruitful discussions and the Georgian and Turkish people for supporting Azerbaijan’s fair stance on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the recent developments along the line of contact of Armenian and Azerbaijani troops.