Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova, currently in Ankara on a working visit for the 12^th plenary of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic States, has had a meeting with Chairman of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye Mustafa Şentop there.

At their meeting, Mr Şentop commented on the preparedness for the event and the significance of the topics lined up for the discussion. The two-way relations are at their peak now; our peoples are always together for better or for worse, he continued. As ever, the Azerbaijani state and people once again there to share the fraternal Türkiye’s burden following the February earthquake of this year, according to the GNAT Leader.

Türkiye, too, has always supported and is supporting Azerbaijan. It is true of the time of the 44 days’ Patriotic War and after it, when our country busied herself with reclaiming and reviving her lands prized from the enemy’s grip. Mr Şentop then condemned strongly the torching of the Azerbaijani flag at the opening ceremony of the European Weightlifting Championships 2023 in Armenia a few days back; that was an act of vandalism, in Mr Şentop’s opinion.

The Chairman of the GNAT also voiced support for the peaceful protest rally of the Azerbaijani civic activists on the Lachin-Khankendi road, saying that Armenia’s abuse of it to carry mines, ordnance and weapons, and to export mineral resources mined in Azerbaijan illegally was utterly intolerable. The Lachin Road only ought to be used for humanitarian purpose, in the opinion of Mr Şentop.

Sahiba Gafarova, in her turn, spoke of the fruitful co-operation between Azerbaijan and Türkiye on all the international platforms and the great role of the personal friendship bonding the two states’ leaders in the growth of our unity and in our strategic alliance’s achievement of the zenith it is at today. The Milli Majlis Leader recalled the signing of the Shusha Declaration by the states’ heads after the Patriotic War. That demonstrated the Azerbaijani-Turkish brotherhood to the world once more whilst the Declaration proper went on to take our relationship to further heights.

Mrs Gafarova mentioned Mr Şentop’s having visited Azerbaijan during the Patriotic War and taken a trip to Ganja where he eye-witnessed the crimes against humanity committed by Armenia.

When the February earthquake shook Türkiye, the state and people of Azerbaijan took their place right next to that country to extend the fraternal hand to her.

Sahiba Gafarova also talked about the large-scale work being done to restore the de-occupied Azerbaijani lands and about also the Armenian provocations devised to hamper efforts to achieve regional peace.

Extensive co-operation is nurtured amongst the legislatures of our countries to match their interaction in all the other areas; the inter-parliamentary collaboration advances bilaterally as well as multilaterally – under the roofs of international organisations. In particular, there are fine ties between the two sides’ parliamentary committees and friendship groups, according to Madam Speaker.

An agreement of co-operation was signed between the Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan and the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye at the meeting. Both speakers agreed that the new document was certain to contribute to the on-going progress of the bilateral relations.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis