President of the Turkish Republic His Excellency Recep Tayyip Erdogan who is visiting in Azerbaijan currently has called at the Milli Majlis on 16 June. Speaker of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova welcomed the distinguished guest.

First, there was a tête-à-tête meeting and then, the President of the Turkish Republic His Excellency Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivered a speech before the House. Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova, the Deputy Chairs of the Milli Majlis Fazail Ibrahimli and Adil Aliyev, the MPs, the members of the visiting Turkish delegation as well as Turkish and Azerbaijani mass media were present at the session.

President Erdogan who had entered the Milli Majlis hall of plenary sittings to the applause greeted all the members of the Milli Majlis on behalf of the 84-million-strong Turkey, a part of the ‘two states – one nation’ arrangement, as he spoke from the parliamentary rostrum. He said that he was happy to be at the Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan that had liberated Garabagh, and enjoyed being in the Azerbaijan Republic marking its thirtieth anniversary this year. Garabagh’s liberation from the Armenian occupation is the biggest highlight of the three decades past, President Erdogan remarked, adding that the brilliant victory of the Azerbaijani people had afforded a remarkable opportunity of securing lasting peace and stability in the region.

Not only Azerbaijan alone but also all the countries of the region – including Armenia – and the whole world will benefit from peace and tranquillity in the South Caucasus, said the leader of the brotherly Turkish State.

Turkey will be directly involved in the forthcoming efforts to develop the liberated provinces and to enhance well-being and tranquillity in them, according to President Erdogan. He then once again voiced his congratulations to Azerbaijan’s Commander-in-Chief and President Ilham Aliyev who had manifested outstanding leadership in the 44 days’ Patriotic War and had won our country both the Victory and peace. President Erdogan also congratulated the people of Azerbaijan who had made a tight fist, whose hearts beat in sync and who had achieved the heights of national unity and solidarity at the time of the sacred Patriotic War. Mr President went further to congratulated the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan who had fought for the freedom of Garabagh heroically and without an instant’s hesitation, having shown wonders of selflessness and valour. Besides, President Erdogan appealed to the Almighty to rest in peace the souls of the fallen warriors and sent his condolences to their families and friends.

Turkey – both as a state and as a people – had taken its place right next to Azerbaijan in the days of the holy battle, said President Erdogan.

The speech also touched on the historical bonds between our countries and peoples. It was said that the two peoples’ representatives had always fought shoulder to shoulder, supported each other and soared to victories in years of severe hardship and on difficult days of history.

‘Azerbaijan’s well-being is that of ours. Its joy is our joy, it’s fate is our fate and its grief is our grief, too,’ President Erdogan emphasised.

Mr President, who had travelled across the liberated lands from Fizuli all the way up to Shusha on 15 June, shared his impressions with what he had seen with the Milli Majlis. He also invited those politicians around the world who adhere to double standards to come and see with their own eyes the destruction that the occupants had wreaked in those parts. That they had come as invaders and left as destroyers makes it rather clear whose motherland Garabagh happens to be, according to President Erdogan who put the atrocities committed in the previously-occupied seven provinces of Azerbaijan as vandalism. It suffices to consider the discrepancy between the condition of those provinces and of Garabagh before and after the occupation to comprehend the difference between culture and vandalism, in his opinion. He also stressed that Turkey would be by Azerbaijan’s side in the labour of restoring the freed lands, either.

A day earlier, President Erdogan mentioned, he, President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and their respective delegations had been in Shusha, President Erdogan told the House how exhilarated he had been to see the flag of Azerbaijan fly proudly in that ancient Azerbaijani town and on that free soil of Garabagh. This town has become a true academy of musical and literary, in particular, poetical, arts since the times of its founder Panahali Khan, according to President Erdogan who mentioned the outstanding Azerbaijani writers, artists and politicians who had lived and worked in Shusha, and touched on the bonds between our peoples in literature in particular and in the arts in general.

The distinguished guest praised highly the declaration of Shusha as the culture capital of Azerbaijan as well as he did the message to the world sent by the Khari Bulbul Festival held in the Jydyr Plain. The Turkish side will be glad to see Shusha the culture capital of the Turkic World next year, according to the Turkish president. Great poets and artists had been nurtured in every corner of Azerbaijan and of the Turkic World. We, President Erdogan added, are capable of taking the Turkic culture to the summits that it does deserve.

He also said confidently that the advantages of the Garabagh Victory for Azerbaijan, the Caucasus and the whole world would become yet clear as time passed. This victory is a triumph of creation, justice and peace, in his opinion. A road back to the homelands opens before the Azerbaijanis whom the occupation had deprived of their native parts.

President Erdogan mentioned the creative work he had witnessed all throughput his trip to Shusha and seized the momentous occasion to call on all our compatriots to return to their homes as soon as their houses would be ready to welcome and embrace them. After all, he added, they had hankered after this day’s arrival for thirty years.

His Excellency Recep Tayyip Erdogan also brought up the subjects of the six-sided (involving Russia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Iran, Georgia and Armenia) platform for the region’s revival, the future opportunities that the opening of the Zangazur Corridor would create, the NATO Summit and other matters. This region requires peace and peace it must be given. Nigh is the day when peace and justice will reign supreme in our region and throughout the world, President Erdogan assured the assembly that Turkey would remain with Azerbaijan with all its heart and capacity – would be, the day it had been yesterday and was today.

The speech of President of the Turkish Republic His Excellency Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan was met with an ovation.

(The speech’s text will be taken out in the press)

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis