Turkey, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan seek to bolster ties

Foreign ministers of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan on Wednesday exchanged their views on strengthening cooperation among the three countries.

"This trilateral meeting will solidly strengthen the ties between the three countries," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said.

Cavusoglu's remarks came after the fourth trilateral meeting in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku with his counterparts from Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov and Turkmenistan's Rashid Meredov.

He said the foreign ministers exchanged views on both bilateral and regional cooperation and they will continue to have talks on that in upcoming years.

Cavusoglu said there are projects to boost economic ties between the countries and the three countries are "resolute" about enhancing cooperation in the field of energy.

"Test drives of Baku-Tbilisi-Baku railway begins today [on Wednesday]," he said, adding the project was completed and train service will "hopefully" start in autumn.

The Kars-Tblisi-Baku Railway Project is a regional rail project linking Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan. It is expected to increase the flow of containers and other types of cargo from Asia to Europe.

Cavusoglu reiterated Turkey would continue to give support to Azerbaijan and called on Armenia to act under the international law.

"The Upper Karabakh dispute needs to be resolved as soon as possible within the framework of international law and Azerbaijan's sovereignty and territorial integrity," he said.

Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region and some adjacent territory have been under the control of Armenian soldiers and local Armenian forces since a 1994 Russian-mediated ceasefire that ended the six-year war between the parties.