Azerbaijani and Turkish Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Recep Tayyip Erdogan met Saturday in Istanbul and discussed the development of bilateral relations and the normalization of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, Azerbaijani media reported.

The presidents discussed prospects for further deepening cooperation between Azerbaijan and Turkey in the political, economic, trade, energy, military and military-technical spheres during the conversation. In addition, Aliyev and Erdogan exchanged views on the normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the peace agenda, the information on the Azerbaijani president's website reads.

Aliyev said that Azerbaijan supports Turkey. 

Erdogan, in turn, expressed "gratitude to the head of Azerbaijan for his visit to Turkey, the support and solidarity demonstrated by Azerbaijan from the first day," and also emphasized that "Turkey and Azerbaijan are always close to each other."

Aliyev congratulated Erdogan on his upcoming birthday.