Turkish President Abdullah Gul visits Azerbaijani regions before ending his visit

President of Turkey Abdullah Gul visited Azerbaijan's Zagatala region as part of his official visit to the country on Aug. 17. The Turkish President was informed about the Zagatala International Airport. The airport covers an area of more than 70 hectares, including a 2,200-meter runway. The airport's capacity is up to 120 passengers per hour. The facility was inaugurated in 2008. President Gul then left for the country's Shaki region.

On his way to Shaki, Turkish President Abdullah Gul visited tombs of poet and Sufi mystic Yunus Emre and his follower Haji Tapdig on Aug. 17. The Turkish leader laid flowers at their tombs.

Yunus Emre (1240–1321) was a Turkish poet and Sufi mystic. He has exercised immense influence on Turkish literature, from his own day until the present. Because Yunus Emre is, after Ahmet Yesevi and Sultan Veled, one of the first known Turkish poets to have composed works in the spoken Turkish of his own age and region rather than in Persian or Arabic, his diction remains very close to the popular speech of his contemporaries in Central and Western Anatolia. This is also the language of a number of anonymous folk-poets, folk-songs, fairy tales, riddles (tekerlemeler), and proverbs.

Upon his arrival in Shaki, President of Turkey Abdullah Gul first laid flowers at a monument to Azerbaijan`s national leader Heydar Aliyev. He then visited a memorial to Turkish soldiers in Orta Zayzid village. President Gul also put flowers at a monument to People's Poet Bakhtiyar Vahabzade in the city's central park. He spoke with local residents here.

The Turkish leader then visited 19th century Shaki Juma mosque and Shaki Islamic Madrasah. President Gul then viewed 18th century Khan's Palace. He signed a guest book here. The Turkish leader ended his Shaki trip by visiting 18th century upper Caravanserai, where he met local intelligentsia. Later the same day Abdullah Gul returned to Zagatala.

At the Zagatala international airport, the Turkish President was seen off by Vice-Premier Abid Sharifov, Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov and other officials.


/AzerTAc/