AZERBAIJAN

As a respected member of the international community, Azerbaijan is seen as a favorite investment point in the business and economic circles due to its rich natural resources and economic potential.

The Azerbaijani State was always generous to The Marmara Group Foundation. The Azerbaijani State, which gave the title of honorary doctorate to Dr. Akkan Suver, also gave "Terakki Medal" and "Dostluq Orden" to him. The Azerbaijani State, which gave the Terakki Medal to Şamil Ayrım, also provided to publish three books of Dr. Akkan Suver in Azerbaijani language. The Ministry of Transport of Azerbaijan also made a gesture of printing a special stamp in the 18th Eurasian Economic Summit.

In the relationships of Turkey and Azerbaijan, which excellent cooperation in every subject takes place successfully, The Marmara Group Foundation has a separate place in sivil society. This place originates from our deep-rooted brotherly relations. As The Marmara Group Foundation, we take great care and attention to keep these relations at the level it deserves.

Meanwhile, the distance that Azerbaijan covers in the international arena is applaudable.

As a respected member of the international community, Azerbaijan is seen as a favorite investment point in the business and economic circles due to its rich natural resources and economic potential.

In our youth, they referred to Paris as "ville de lumière - city of light". I suppose that after a while foreigners will adopt this title to Baku. Baku which is known as the city of winds of the country of fire, is now a city of light.

The winds of Baku, the country of the winds of the country of fires, remain in place, but the lights seem to put wind's nose out of joint.

For years, the efforts of Baku's zoning have brought us to a no different atmosphere from any European city today. It is really a city of light when we add the houses which have been restored by adhering to the original, the artistic structures of each carries the traces of unique architectural examples with a distinct meaning to this nice and relatively pleasant atmosphere.

Meanwhile, stores equipped with the world's leading brands that will make Paris, London and Milan jealous, add to the vitality of Baku as a natural part of everyday life. I will not exaggerate if I say Baku became a city that embraces untouchability with its immortal creation Haydar Aliyev Cultural Center done by Zaha Hadid, the world-famous architect which was inspired by the waves of the Caspian River, flame towers the most beautiful examples of modern architecture, stadiums which instill youth to the city, Formula 1 races.

Nowadays, the city's suburbs are overhauled. The bad houses of communism, which were eliminated as a result of large expansions, left their place to new places of life, wide boulevards and green spaces. Baku is a city of greenery. If you can breathe deeply in the depths of Baku with its large parks, beachfront walking areas and large square spaces decorated with large wooded pools, this is the new sign of the city.

We call Azerbaijan as "Can Azerbaycan- Beloved Azerbaijan". This has a historical root.

In the beginning days of the Turkish War of Independence, Mustafa Kemal Pasha wrote a letter to Kazim Karabekir Pasha, who was the commander of the Eastern Front and he said "the state has no money. Also, there are no internal resources. I request you to borrow money from Azerbaijan Government until we reach new sources." Karabekir Pasha conveyed it to the Azerbaijani Government. This was the first official contact among Ankara and Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. Nariman Narimanov first sent 500 kilos of gold to Turkey, and then he also sent 10 million gold rubles gotten from Russia to Ankara. Later, Mustafa Kemal Pasha sent a letter to him saying "as soon as the war is over, we will pay back". When Nariman Narimanov received this, he wrote a letter to Ankara, too. He wrote “dear Pasha, we Turks, do not lend to our brothers. Brothers help each other all the time. We are brothers and we will keep on holding your hand." in the letter.
That is why we call Azerbaijan as "Can Azerbaycan." Now we have an important mission. I think we should not call the project of SOCAR as a foreign investment. It will make more sense if we call it the biggest project that our brother invested in our county. We commemorate once more Haydar Aliyev with his saying "One Nation-Two States" and "I connect Azerbaijan and Turkey with thick ropes on Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline".

Azerbaijan had always great ideals. He prepared the Contract of the Century, but there was not enough money to realize it. On the other hand, Turkey was concerned about the number of tankers that were passing through the Bosphorus. Power transmission lines were needed. He was looking forward this project with a great hope. But Turkey had not money to invest it. Georgia was needed to transfer of Azerbaijan energy to Turkey, but Georgia did not have such an opportunity.

Funds were lacking. But there was an amazing political will to handle this. They were Haydar Aliyev, who believed that he would succeed, Edward Schvarnadze, who was a forward-minded and determined man and Süleyman Demirel, who was going with the truths that he believed. These three will-minded people told Bill Clinton about the miracle of the century in energy they had designed to make it with patience, carefully.

Those were distinguished people who believed in this project. This belief was followed by the project of BP and then Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline entered into life. In the same year, we were about to arrange the first one of Eurasian Economic Summit under the Marmara Group Foundation. We told Süleyman Demirel about the Summit and asked him what the topic of the Summit should be. He said that Haydar Aliyev would come to visit us on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of Turkish Republic. He suggested to ask him. Then Haydar Aliyev came to Turkey. He honoured The Marmara Group Foundation. When we were together with him in the foundation, we have asked which name should be given to the Summit. He told us that I should introduce the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline to the guests. When I told Süleyman Demirel about this, he said it was a great idea, and he also would like to talk about this topic. Indeed, he participated in the 1th Eurasian Economic Summit and he honoured us. He talked about the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline. President Haydar Aliyev also sent a comprehensive message through Prof. Dr. Ali Hasanov. We talked about the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline for three days.

However, in 1998, the written and verbal media underestimated the topics what we talked about at the Summit. The topics within Dr. Akkan Suver's dreams were enabled show as discredited by someone. It was ridiculed with our thoughts, the oil would be loaded from Baku and would be emptied into the ship in the Mediterranean. At the beginning nobody believed it. Every year, we constantly emphasized the significance of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline in Eurasian Economic Summits. In every summit, we brought into agenda this topic with Hon. Ali Hasanov, Hon. Valeh Aleskerov and deceased Hon. Natıq Aliyev.

You all know well. The crude oil shipment made from 2006 to today has reached by 2 billion 800 million tons.

The biggest problem facing brotherly Azerbaijan today, within the country and both regional and international level, is undoubtedly the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. One fifth of the Azerbaijani territories is occupied by the Armenians and the difficulties of this situation keep continue.

As the Marmara Group Foundation, we stand by and continue to stand by with Azerbaijan, his glorious army and President Ilham Aliyev, who has shown an exemplary stance with diplomacy and statesmanship since the first day, and our Azerbaijan brothers, who have preserved their unity like a fist from past to present. we continue.