Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova who is now in Türkiye on a working visit delivered a speech at the 12^th plenary meeting of the TürkPA themed ‘Parliamentary Diplomacy for a Fairer World: Energy, Migration and Food’ on 28 April.

Greeting the Heads of Parliament and all the delegates of the brotherly Turkic states, Mrs Gafarova spoke of her certainty that this meeting will promote further broadening of co-operation and combined activities.

It is gratifying that the development and expansion of bilateral and multilateral ties between our countries whose friendship has risen to the will of their peoples have been enriched by reciprocal visits at the top and high levels over the past period. In addition, co-operation has deepened in various fields and numerous projects have been implemented successfully, Mrs Gafarova was saying.

We were all shocked by the earthquake in the fraternal Türkiye with its large loss of life and devastation. On the other hand, the joint and timely steps to liquidate its aftermath confirmed that our states remain solidary in times of hardships too. The urgent summit the leaders of the Organisation of Turkic States held in Ankara on 16 March to discuss management of emergencies and humanitarian aid in natural disasters upon the suggestion of President Ilham Aliyev of the Republic of Azerbaijan was another vivid manifestation of mutual support and mutual respect in the Turkic World.

According to Madam Speaker, the strong Turkish State will succeed in liquidating the consequences of the earthquake, which is to be asserted thanks to political, economic, scientific and engineering progress of the Republic of Türkiye, now celebrating its centenary, especially, the progress achieved over the past years. At that, Mrs Gafarova congratulated the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye on the 103th anniversary of its initiation.

The Leader of the Milli Majlis stated confidently that the responsible behaviour of our countries, their initiatives and co-operation had evolved into an important factor behind security, stability and well-being in our region and beyond. The fact that Türkiye gave shelter to over 4 million Syrian refugees in the ten years past figures as a tremendous step demonstrating adherence to humanist principles and the ability to cope with negative consequences of migration processes. Mrs Gafarova also described the Black Sea Initiative of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of the Republic of Türkiye as key in the prevention of an international food crisis.

Going further, Sahiba Gafarova addressed the work done to promote the growth of the region’s transport infrastructure. She said that our countries had contributed importantly to the evolution of the East-West Transport Corridor by constructing the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line and expanding seaports on the western and eastern coasts of the Caspian Sea. The launch of the Zangazur Corridor, poised to reconnect Azerbaijan’s West with Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, is also going to restore geographical linkage amongst various regions of the Turkic World, which, in turn, will add to the importance of the East-West Transport Corridor.

The deliveries of the wealth of our countries’ oil and gas resources to international markets occupy a special place in the upkeep of energy security. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and the South Gas Corridor remapped Europe energy-wise completely. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan is not merely stepping up her gas supplies to Europe acting in accordance with the memorandum of understanding on strategic partnership in energy inked with the European Commission but is also expanding the geography of the supplies. The companies of Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia and the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic recently signed a memorandum of understanding. On another note, Azerbaijan is working on generating and exporting to Europe renewable energy supplies as well.

As she was telling the assembly of the current developments in the South Caucasus, Madam Speaker said that the large-scale construction works which had begun immediately after the liberation of our lands from the Armenian occupation continued at a rapid pace. It is sufficient to bear in mind that about $4 bn was spent on it in 2021-2022 and at least $1.7 billion will be allocated to the same ends this year to comprehend the whole magnitude of the work already done in the de-occupied territories.

The presidents of Azerbaijan and Türkiye jointly graced the launch of the Zanghilan Airport, the second international airport in the liberated lands, in October last year. And now a third international airport is under construction in Lachin! The return of the former internally displaced people to their homeland has already started and is gaining momentum, Mrs Gafarova continued.

She reiterated that the more than a million mines planted by Armenia still seriously impeded the continuation of all that work, adding that approximately 300 our citizens had either died or been injured in those mines’ explosions since the end of the Garabagh War II.

Azerbaijan is making further efforts to ensure long-lasting peace and stability in the region but, sadly, though Armenia did recognise Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and sovereignty officially at the meetings held in Prague and Sochi in October last year, it still is evading the prospect of resuming the negotiations. Instead, Armenia is trying to fool the international community with false claims and continues military provocations along the border and in those Azerbaijani areas where the Russian peace-makers are deployed temporarily.

It was to prevent such provocations that Azerbaijan established a checkpoint on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border at the head of the Lachin-Khankendi Road. This is a legitimate decision taken by Azerbaijan with regard to her own sovereign territory and it is in line with all principles and norms of international law. No one can interfere in this matter, Mrs Gafarova stressed.

Armenia, meanwhile, is spurring up the revanchist forces at home and fomenting hatred as well as racial and ethnic animosity. Azerbaijani and Turkish flags are burned in that country; a monument is erected in Yerevan in memory of the Armenian terrorists who murdered Azerbaijani and Turkish politicians; and atrocities are committed against captured Azerbaijani soldiers.

Armenia should understand that the only way to establish long-term peace, stability and security in the region is to form civilised inter-state relations with Azerbaijan and Türkiye. In order to achieve this, Armenia needs to sign a peace agreement with Azerbaijan that complies with the norms and principles of international law first and foremost.

Mrs Gafarova also pointed out the role of the Turkish co-operation entities in deepening multilateral ties between the TürkPA members. She said those entities had increased their effectiveness over time and covered various areas of co-operation; that was achieved by improvement of their work and its adaptation to the common interests of our countries. At a time when parliamentary diplomacy is gaining importance and impetus, the work done by the TürkPA extends parliamentary support to widening the unity and solidarity between our countries and makes it possible to present a unified position of the Turkic World on this and that issue in the international parliamentary fora. The collaboration within the Assembly brings the contribution of parliamentary diplomacy to the development of political, trade and economic, cultural and humanitarian ties amongst our countries, according to the Speaker of the Milli Majlis.

Sahiba Gafarova then put forward a number of proposals for strengthening the activities of the Assembly. With the pandemic now behind us, the PA will make greater use of its commissions' available capacity to organise more joint activities and mutual visits, in light of which the harmonisation of national legislations and the development of model laws are also of particular relevance.

It is a pleasure to table two new model laws at the present session, Sahiba Gafarova then said, clarifying that one of them, namely, the Reproductive Health Care Model Law, had been drawn up in the Milli Majlis.

Making the work done by the TürkPA’s women and young MPs’ groups more robust, too, is in the common interest, according to Sahiba Gafarova. 

As she was completing her address, the Chair of the Milli Majlis told her audience that our country was celebrating the centenary of the Azerbaijani people’s National Leader Heydar Aliyev this year. There will be a special meeting of the Milli Majlis on the jubilee, Sahiba Gafarova announced before inviting her colleagues to take part in it

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis