Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova met on 9 June with Chairman of the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bakir Izetbegović who is in Azerbaijan on an official visit.

First, the guest was shown round the arrangements made at the Houses of the Milli Majlis.

Then, there was a meeting of the two sides where satisfaction with the level of the bilateral relations was stated and the need to expand the co-operation in several areas was underlined.

Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova spoke of the progressing relations between Azerbaijan and Bosnia and Herzegovina, about those relations resting on the principles of friendship and mutual respect and about the visit of Mr Izetbegović going to serve the cause of moving the mutual relations further.

The set of treaties and legal documents that exists between the two countries gives sound opportunities to expand their co-operation. In particular, the humanitarian projects carried into life so far generate the stimuli for the friendly bonds of the two nations to advance, Speaker Gafarova remarked before placing a special emphasis on the relevant undertakings of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation.

The Chair of the Milli Majlis then mentioned the document about the aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan and about the recognition of the Khojali Genocide which the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina passed a few years ago and which expressed the recognition of, and respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Azerbaijan Republic. The adoption of such a fair document was highly appreciated in our country, according to her.

The Chair of the Milli Majlis remarked, as she was informing the visitor of Azerbaijan’s victory in the 44 days’ Patriotic War in 2020, that the leadership of Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev and the valour of our victorious Army made certain that the 30-year-long Armenian occupation was over. Besides, Azerbaijan enforced the four resolutions of the UN Security Council concerning the past conflict on its own as Azerbaijan made its national territory whole again. The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan is history already whereas Azerbaijan has begun restoring and rebuilding the freed territories, Mrs Gafarova stressed.

Armenia had demolished our towns and villages, destroyed our historic and cultural heritage, plundered the national wealth, desecrated religious shrines and mosques during the thirty years of occupation. The whole infrastructure of those provinces had been annihilated. Armenia will not desist from its provocative encroachment now, either, Mrs Gafarova continued. Many of our servicemen and civilians had tripped the mines planted by the Armenian side in the de-occupied provinces after the war had been finished. Armenia is refusing to let Azerbaijan have the minefield maps despite the repeated urges from Azerbaijan. In this way, Armenia is breaching the international humanitarian laws and is committing further war crimes. Three Azerbaijanis were killed by a detonating mine as they went about their service duties on 4 June; two of them were journalists.

Armenia is resorting to provocations as far as delimitation of the borders is concerned, too. The provisions of the trilateral statement of 10 November 2020 are being broken rudely: Armenia continues sending terrorist squads to our freed lands and then tries to make the terrorists apprehended on the Azerbaijani side after the signing date of that trilateral agreement look as ‘prisoners of war’. 

Chair Sahiba Gafarova proceeded to touch on the subject of the relations between the legislative assemblies of our countries. She underlined the significance of parliamentary delegations’ reciprocal visits and a continued progress of the interparliamentary relations. Amongst other things, Mrs Gafarova highlighted the importance of our co-operation under the aegis of the international parliamentary institutions.

The speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament informed the guest of the energy projects implemented at the instance of Azerbaijan, their great importance in maintaining the energy security of Europe, the multiculturalism policy of our country and other subjects.

Chairman of the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bakir Izetbegović thanked for the warm welcome and heartfelt hospitality, and said he was pleased with his visit. The political relations between our countries are setting high standard; Bosnia and Herzegovina is keen on deepening the ties with Azerbaijan further; our high-level political bonds are having a positive effect on the economic, cultural and humanitarian areas, according to Mr Izetbegović.

Bakir Izetbegović recalled coming to Baku in 2012 and mentioned the dynamic development of our country in the years that have passed. The guest voiced satisfaction with Azerbaijan having restored its territorial integrity – which, he added, was also having restored justice. Mr Izetbegović spoke of his trip to Agdam yesterday as part of the current stay in Azerbaijan. There, he noted, he had seen the destruction caused by Armenia with his own eyes. The guest said he hoped that he was going to see Agdam restored and rebuilt fully on his next arrival in our country.

Mr Izetbegović informed the Chair of the Milli Majlis about the work under way in his own country.

Other matters of shared concern were talked over during the conversation, too.

The Press and Public Relations
Department The Milli Majlis