The friendship and bilateral parliamentary contacts groups of Azerbaijan’s Milli Majlis and Lithuania’s Sejm held a videoconference session on 25 February.

Leader of the Azerbaijan-Lithuania Group Nasib Mahamaliyev welcomed the participants and told them that the 29th anniversary of the genocide in Khojali was due on 26 February. The Azerbaijani MP described the merciless murder by Armenian aggressors of the peaceful townsfolk not sparing even old people, children and women as one of the most horrendous crimes committed against humanity.

Armenia’s disregard for the arrangements made in the course of the Highland Garabagh conflict settlement talks and Armenia’s disrespect for the decisions of the influential international organisations inclusive of the pertaining resolutions of the UN Security Council boiled down to the second war for Garabagh that lasted for 44 days and culminated in Azerbaijan’s victory. The trilateral declaration that was signed then put an end to the long-stalled conflict and now guarantees lasting peace in the region whilst also serving as a solid pledge of its future progress.

Leader of the Lithuania-Azerbaijan Group Kazys Starkevičius offered his condolences over the deaths of our compatriots during the Highland Garabagh Conflict and said that he grieved the loss of life.

He proceeded to talk about the current state of the relationship between the two parliaments and highlighted new opportunities to promote the economic ties between Lithuania and Azerbaijan. Besides, Mr Starkevičius told the assembly of the pandemic-related situation in Lithuania, adding that it was necessary to continue the progress of the bilateral interaction after the pandemic’s end – which is where the friendship groups would come into play.

Members of the Azerbaijan-Lithuania Group Tahir Mirkishili, Rasim Musabeyov, Azer Karimli and Kamila Aliyeva pointed out in their turn that for tragedies like the Khojali Genocide never to occur again it was paramount to condemn such crimes and pass correct international legal and political verdicts on them.

The Lithuanian Sejm deputies Pupinis Edmundas, Kęstutis Masiulis and Rimantė Šalaševičiūtė emphasised the need to tap the existing potential of bilateral ties to achieve their on-going progress thanks to the existing positive dynamics once the pandemic would end. The Lithuanian MPs expressed their respect for the grief-laden episodes in the Azerbaijani history and said it was important to intensify the contacts between the two countries as much as it was to learn each other’s history.

The MP of the Milli Majlis Shahin Seyidzade and both countries’ ambassadors Tamerlan Garayev and Egidius Navikas took part in the meeting as well.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis