The biased information campaign levelled against Azerbaijan and conducted in certain mass and social media platforms of Türkiye of late as well as the unfounded accusations against our country, voiced by a few MPs of the ruling Justice and Development Party (JDP) and Chief Advisor to the President of the Republic of Türkiye Oktay Saral cause serious concerns and regret within the Azerbaijan-Türkiye Inter-Parliamentary Relations Working Group of the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

The bonds of friendship, brotherhood and strategic alliance exist between Azerbaijan and Türkiye. Azerbaijan is an independent and sovereign state defining its own internal and external policies in accordance with its national interest and the Constitution. The ‘One nation, two states’ principle formulated by the National Leader Heydar Aliyev envisages specifically the existence of two independent and sovereign states. It is inadmissible to distort the essence of that principle, abuse it as a basis for interference in Azerbaijan’s internal affairs and hoisting external political and ideological approaches upon the Azerbaijani society.

The secular state system of Azerbaijan and the freedom of religion are guaranteed by the Constitution. The educational policy in our country rests on the principles of secularity, equality and providing equal opportunities for all the citizens. The rules applied in the educational institutions extend equally to all the citizens and are not directed against any religious affiliation. The politicisation of these issues on the religious and ideological planes is as inadmissible as is the bringing forth of baseless accusations against the constitutional order and educational policy of Azerbaijan.

It is equally as impressible to use insulting and libellous expressions addressed to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Victorious Commander-in-Chief Mr Ilham Aliyev, our people, its history and outstanding personalities; all that causes well-founded discontent in Azerbaijani society. We regret having to remark that the JDP Administration is not taking any steps to avert all of the above-mentioned. Also, a number of questions are summoned by the conduct of provocative actions in front of Azerbaijan’s diplomatic offices in Türkiye and the demonstration of tolerance of corresponding urges.

We consider that the special nature of the Azerbaijani-Turkish relations requires the observance of the principle of political responsibility, mutual respect and non-interference in each other’s internal affairs. Declarations by individual political figures should never cause harm to the relations between the two countries.

We, the Azerbaijan-Türkiye Inter-Parliamentary Relations Working Group of the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan, expect from the appropriate political circles of Türkiye including representatives of the ruling political party represented in the Parliament a responsible approach to the aforementioned sensitive matters, respect for the sovereignty and constitutional order of Azerbaijan and the avoidance of all such statements which could influence our relations adversely.