The Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova had a meeting on 19 October with the delegation led by the Chair of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (GNAT – TBMM) Mustafa Şentop on an official visit to Azerbaijan.

The Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova and the Chair of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey Mustafa Şentop had a tete-a-tete meeting before it continued with the participation of the delegation members.

Speaker Gafarova welcomed the guests sincerely. She emphasised that Azerbaijan and Turkey are friendly and brotherly countries and quoted President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan as having said that there are no other two countries in the world to be so close as Turkey and Azerbaijan are.

It was mentioned also that a commendable tradition had been established in the relationship, namely, that the officials of both countries, once elected to elevated positions, would pay their first visits in the new capacities to the respective brotherly countries. Having then recalled her first visit to Turkey as the Chair of the Milli Majlis in September this year, Sahiba Gafarova pointed out that the visit of the delegation led by the Chair of the GNAT Mustafa Şentop was of the same nature and, what is more, occurred in a period very sensitive to Azerbaijan.

‘As you may know, the Armed Forces of Armenia committed yet another provocation in Highland Garabagh on 27 September, to which the Azerbaijani Army responded with a counter-offensive and began the liberation of our lands that had remained captured for almost 30 years. The Azerbaijani people and state have felt the support of the brotherly Turkey invariably from the very first days of the operation. The regular phone-calls between the presidents, ministers of foreign affairs and other governmental officials of the two countries are a clear proof of that. We appreciate it very much that the Chair of the GNAT Mr Mustafa Şentop had paid the matter at hand a special kind of attention and had called me personally to talk about it. I am thanking the Turkish Side for their support as I speak on my own behalf as well as on behalf of the Milli Majlis Members and of our people,’ said the Chair of the Milli Majlis.

Sahiba Gafarova went further to tell that the victorious Azerbaijani Army was liberating the lands of its country from occupation and that, unable to reconcile itself with the defeat in the battlefield, the occupier country would target the civilian population of Azerbaijan instead as can clearly be seen from the assaults on the towns of Ganja and Minghechavir quite distant from the frontline and the heavy artillery shelling of Terter and the other provincial hubs of the country. Such acts by Armenia’s part are a glaring violation of the international humanitarian law and a war crime.

Speaker Gafarova then spoke of the rapid growth of not only the political but also the economic relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey. A reference was made to that the trade turnover between the two countries generated $4.5 bn last year and approached $3 bn in January-September this year. The growing mutual investments have a benevolent effect in increasing the bilateral stream of commerce. The 249 bipartite legal documents concerning various spheres that have been signed to date form a solid foundation for our cooperation.

Having brought up the joint efforts by Azerbaijan and Turkey to carry into life the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil-line and the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas-line projects, Chair Gafarova remarked that such projects as those also bore well on the international reputations of our countries, too.

Speaking of the significant contributions of the two parliaments to the inter-state relations, Mrs Gafarova made a mention of the work done by the friendship groups in both of them and the importance of that work. Besides, it was said that, apart from the bilateral collaboration, the parliaments of the two countries also took identical stances on matters of principle in international organisations as well.

Chair Gafarova then expressed a confidence that the visit of the GNAT delegation to our country was going to make an input of its own to the continued strengthening of the bilateral interparliamentary relations.

The Chairman of the Great National Assembly of Turkey Mustafa Şentop thanked Mrs Gafarova for the sincere reception before voicing his satisfaction with the visit to the friendly and brotherly Azerbaijan. The Turkish Speaker, too, remarked that his visit coincided with a time very crucial to Azerbaijan. He wished the people of Azerbaijan every success in their struggle for liberation of their occupied lands; he also wished that the fallen heroes would rest in peace and the wounded would recover soon. Then, the guest said that the brotherly Turkish State had always stood by Azerbaijan’s side unconditionally and that it supported our righteous cause, given that Turkey is a part of the one nation living in the two states.

The political parties in the GNAT passed a joint statement in support of Azerbaijan back during the border clashes with Armenia along Azerbaijan’s Tovuz Province in July this year.

Continuing, Mustafa Şentop remarked that the Armenian Armed Forces were trying to work off the bitterness of their combat failures on the civilian population, on old people and infants, and that is precisely why they would shell the towns and villages of Azerbaijan located far from the frontline.

‘We strongly condemn such acts of Armenia the occupier. Those are an outright violation of the human rights. It is deplorable that the international community remains indifferent to the Armenian occupation of the Azerbaijani lands that has lasted for almost thirty years and to such acts on the part of Armenia. We trust that the problem will be solved soon and justly, and we are right by Azerbaijan’s side. As President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan said, “Garabagh is Azerbaijan!”,’ Mr Şentop was saying.

A number of matters of mutual interest was also discussed at the meeting.

The Press and Public Relations Department,

The Milli Majlis