Turkish President Abdullah Gul is to visit the Nakhichevan autonomous republic, Azerbaijan, late this week. The next Summit of Turkic countries is to be held there on October 2-3, 2009. The Azerbaijani service of the Radio Free Europe reported that the Kyrgyz, Uzbek Presidents are to take part in the Summit, with lower-ranking officials to represent Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

The Turkish and Azerbaijani Presidents are to hold a private meeting during the Summit and discussed the Armenian-Turkish rapprochement and Nagorno-Karabakh peace process.

The Turkish Today’s Zaman reports that a week after the meeting the Armenian and Turkish Foreign Ministers are to sign the Armenian-Turkish protocols. During his visit to Nakhichevan, President Gul plans to convince his Azerbaijani counterpart that Armenian-Turkish ties will not be established to the detriment of the Turkish-Azerbaijani relations.