On August 3, Chairman of the State Committee on Religious Associations (SCRA) Mubariz Gurbanli met with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Turkey to Azerbaijan Cahit Bagci.

Congratulating the Ambassador of the brotherly country on his appointment to Azerbaijan, Mubariz Gurbanli noted that the relations between Azerbaijan-Turkey based on high-level cooperation in all spheres are constantly strengthening, relations between the peoples of the two countries who have the same roots, language, religion, culture and several other ties are continuously developing. He said that the two countries have always made and will continue to make efforts aimed at further strengthening fraternal relations that have been shaped historically between Turkey and Azerbaijan, preserving and further developing the cultural and spiritual unity of the Turkish-Islamic world as a whole.

Expressing deep sorrow and grief over the recent wildfires in a number of regions of Turkey, Mr. Gurbanli said that Azerbaijan stands with brotherly Turkey in these difficult days and has expressed his condolences to the families of the victims.

Turkey did not leave our people alone during the 44-day Patriotic War - Azerbaijan’s just struggle that was resulted with the great victory of our country. Turkey stated to the whole world that Karabakh is the ancient land of Azerbaijan, that no any country would be able to hinder Azerbaijan, and stood with our country both morally and politically, by adherent to the principle of "one nation, two states" during the war, the Chairman stressed.

The Chairman of the State Committee spoke about state-religion relations, freedom of conscience enshrined in the Constitution, the atmosphere of tolerance in our country, cooperation between variety of religions and denominations based on mutual respect and trust, as well as religious relations and informed the Ambassador about the State Committee on Religious Associations, which regulates those relations.

The Ambassador thanked to the Chairman of the State Committee for his sincere congratulations. Speaking about the fraternal relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey, sustainable development of those relations, he has mentioned that he will spare no effort for further expansion of those ties during the term of his office. Touching upon the recent wildfires in Turkey, Cahit Bagci stressed that Turkey is a strong state and will pass this test, and has praised the friendly and brotherly support of the Azerbaijani state from the early days to extinguish the fires.

The Ambassador also stressed the importance of President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Azerbaijan and the signing of the historic Shusha Declaration between our countries.

Speaking about the activities of the State Committee, the Ambassador expressed confidence in further expansion of bilateral relations in this sphere.

The Ambassador was presented the books related to multicultural and national-spiritual values of Azerbaijan that published by the State Committee at the end of the meeting.