Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova had a meeting with the visiting Turkish delegation led by the Minister for Family and Social Services of the Republic of Turkey Derya Yanık on 19 July.

Having greeted the guests, Mrs Gafarova talked about the importance of reciprocal visits for the progress of the bilateral relations, which, as President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan has said, have no analogues within the global political system. The two-way friendship and fraternity grow and become broader each day while the relationship of the two presidents bearing positively on the observable progress of the inter-state connexions, according to Mrs Gafarova.

It was further said that the mutual trips were not only those of the heads of the states but also went on between individual entities, which could safely be said in view of the arrival of the Turkish minister heading the department responsible for family, women’s and social issues, the steps being taken to intensify this ministry’s linkage with the Azerbaijani counterpart and, finally, the successful relevant projects. The stepping-up of the interaction between separate departments and agencies will, in turn, contribute to the strengthening of the inter-state relations, in the opinion of Sahiba Gafarova.

Azerbaijan has a state committee for family, women’s and children’s problems up and going. Generally speaking, this problem is within the state’s sights permanently and it is no coincidence that the Azerbaijani legislature, too, has an entity responsible for precisely the same matters. This parliamentary committee promotes opinion exchanges and screens appropriate suggestions at the regular hearings. There is a very successful co-operation between the parliamentary and state committees, incidentally, Mrs Gafarova pointed out.

The Milli Majlis keeps legislation about family, women’s and children’s issues in its focus invariably as well; plenty of new relevant laws have been passed and the existing ones have been adjusted to meet the current realia.

Also, there is close co-operation between the Azerbaijani and Turkish legislatures; each has a friendship group in action and the Azerbaijani and Turkish MPs co-operate fruitfully in both the bilateral and multilateral formats. Delegations led by the chairman of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey Mustafa Şentop have visited Azerbaijan repeatedly while Azerbaijani delegations have frequented Turkey.

Mrs Gafarova also talked about Azerbaijan’s victory in the 44-day Patriotic War culminating in the de-occupation of our lands, the current restoration of those lands and Turkey’s moral backing in the context of the Garabagh Victory. The diversely-themed co-operation of the fraternal country with us makes it possible to solidify the unity and solidarity of our nations further, said the leader of the Milli Majlis.

The Turkish Minister for Family and Social Services Derya Yanık voiced satisfaction with her visit to Azerbaijan and the talks held here, and said that her ministry was in close contact with the corresponding Azerbaijani departments – they have been able to implement a number of successful undertakings to date. It is intended to make this collaboration yet more profound in the future, according to Mrs Yanık.

Mrs Yanık emphasised the relevancy of the matters discussed at her meetings in Baku. Azerbaijan’s victory in the 44-day Patriotic War is the victory of the whole Turkic World, Mrs Yanık remarked before saying that she was proud of it as much as any Azerbaijani person was. Turkey and Azerbaijan growing stronger from day to day is growing their international weights as well. Then, Mrs Yanık once again congratulated our nation and Mrs Gafarova on the victory in Garabagh, adding that she was very excited about her forthcoming trip to the liberated Azerbaijani lands in general and our cultural capital of Shusha in particular.

The Turkish minister underscored the importance of the co-operation with the Milli Majlis current parallel to the linkage with the other state agencies of Azerbaijan. She said that that co-operation provided ample opportunities to address family problems and issues of women as well as social matters on the legislative plane. Mrs Yanık lauded the regular contacts of Azerbaijani MPs with their Turkish colleagues to take relevant and necessary practical steps.

Other subjects of shared interest were broached during the conversation as well.

The ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to Azerbaijan Cahit Bağçı and other officials also attended the meeting.

The Press and Public Relations Department

The Milli Majlis