Speaker of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova had a meeting with the visiting delegation led by Vice President of the Republic of Türkiye Cevdet Yılmaz on 20 December.

The Milli Majlis Speaker told the guests that the relations between our friendly and brotherly countries are developing in accordance with the principle of Great Leader Heydar Aliyev – "one nation, two states". As President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said, there is no analogue for the relations between Azerbaijan and Türkiye in the world.

It was said also that Azerbaijan and Türkiye stood by each other in joy and grief. We could all witness this once more during the Garabagh War II as well as at the time of the devastating earthquake in Türkiye.

The exceptional role of summit and high-level reciprocal visits in the progress of the bilateral relations was underscored as the meeting went on. It was pointed out in that relation that such visits as well as meetings of the Heads of State at international events provided for a comprehensive advancement of the relations. It was also noted that the Shusha Declaration of Allied Relations between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Türkiye of 15 June 2021 reflects the issues of the bilateral strategic partnership.

Economic co-operation issues are of special importance in the Azerbaijani-Turkish relationship. Our economic ties are being strengthened and trade turnovers are growing year by year as instructed by the Heads of State. The work that the Joint Inter-Governmental Commission is doing matters for the development of the economic co-operation.

The conversation touched on our parliaments’ substantial roles in the progress of the relations between the brotherly countries. An active kind of co-operation is in place in that field, it was said. Speaker Sahiba Gafarova brought up the significance of the Co-operation Agreement between the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye. Besides, she broached the activities of both supreme legislative bodies’ inter-parliamentary relations working group and underlined the need to broaden co-operation amongst the parliamentary committees. Apart from the bilateral co-operation, then, Mrs Gafarova mentioned the interaction between the parliaments of Türkiye and Azerbaijan in the trilateral co-operation format.

Vice President of the Republic of Türkiye Cevdet Yılmaz thanked for the cordial reception before mentioning the centenary of the Great Leader Heydar Aliyev celebrated this year and speaking about his input in the progress of the modern independent Azerbaijan. Mr Yılmaz also underscored the importance of intensifying reciprocal visits and expressed satisfaction with our countries’ close co-operation in international organisations including the Organisation of Turkic States.

Cevdet Yılmaz offered the congratulations on the occasion of Azerbaijan's liberation of its territories from occupation. The guest once again thanked for Azerbaijan's support to Turkey during the earthquake in that country.

At the same time, satisfaction was expressed with the co-operation between Azerbaijan and Turkey in the on-going re-construction and construction works in Garabagh and East Zangazur.

The meeting was also addressed separately by the head of the Azerbaijan-Türkiye inter-parliamentary relations working group Ahliman Amiraslanov, Azerbaijani MP Hikmat Mammadov and the head of the Türkiye-Azerbaijan inter-parliamentary relations friendship group Şamil Ayrım. They shared their thoughts about the present and the future of the relations between the two countries.

The other officials who took part in the meeting were Member of the Milli Majlis Aghalar Valiyev, Chief of the Milli Majlis Staff Farid Hajiyev, Head of the Secretariat Teymur Taghiyev and both countries’ ambassadors – Rashad Mammadov and Cahit Bağçı.

The Press and Public Relations Department

The Milli Majlis