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Turkish PM vows to defend border from violating

Xinhua, December 4, 2015 Adjust font size:

"Turkey will not allow any step aimed at violating its borders," Turkish Premier Ahmet Davutoglu said on Thursday in Baku during a joint press conference with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev upon the end of their talks.

With tensions riding high between Moscow and Ankara following Turkey's shooting down of a Russian warplane on the Syrian border on Nov. 24, Davutoglu said Turkey respects state borders of all the countries and demands everyone to demonstrate the same respect to its borders.

"Russia has repeatedly violated Turkish borders and the world community was informed about it," said the prime minister.

"Turkey is ready to discuss every topic with Russia. The only things that we will not negotiate are the borders of the Republic of Turkey or its right to independence," he said.

"The borders of Turkey are holy for us. No country is affected so much by the Syrian crisis, like Turkey is," Davutoglu said, adding that a refugee crisis arising from the Syrian conflict has cost Turkey almost 8 billion US dollars. "Turkey has so far spent 8 billion US dollars caring for 2 million Syrians," he said.

Davutoglu said that Turkey was not involved in the economic sanctions against Iran and Russia. "Today, however, we are surprised by unfounded Russian economic embargo on Turkey," he added.

Touching upon the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno Karabakh, the Turkish prime minister said that "Turkey will continue to support Azerbaijan in the settlement of the Karabakh conflict." He said one of the most important issues for Turkey is the liberation of the Azerbaijani territories occupied by Armenia.

It was also announced at the press conference that Turkey has agreed with Azerbaijan to accelerate the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP), with an aim to have the gas project completed before the planned 2018.

Turkish Premier Ahmet Davutoglu on Thursday started a two-day official visit to Azerbaijan.

This is Davutoglu's first official visit to Azerbaijan after the formation of the new cabinet in Turkey.

The rapidly escalating tension between Turkey and Russia after the downing of the Russian jet by the Turkish air force has reached a new level with Kremlin issuing an executive order containing a number of "special economic measures" against Turkey. Enditem