The parliamentary delegation of Azerbaijan led by Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova who are in Hungary on an official visit now joined an event arranged at the Hungarian Diplomatic Academy on 30 June.

Mrs Gafarova had a meeting with Hungary’s State Secretary and President of the Diplomatic Academy Orsolya Pacsay-Tomassich first. Then, the Chair of the Milli Majlis delivered a speech at the conference that was held at the Diplomatic Academy.

Madame Chair informed the conference participants of the historical path covered by Azerbaijan and of our millennia-old statehood traditions.

She pointed out as she was talking about the Azerbaijani-Hungarian connexions that Hungary was amongst the first countries to recognise the independence of our country. Our diplomatic ties are due to turn thirty next year. High standards are being set by the bilateral relations between the two peoples who share the historical roots and have the similar historical fates. Our state leaders’ reciprocal visits, their meetings and the documents they have signed to date have laid a firm foundation for the continued progress of our co-operation. As regards the economic contacts, they are expanding from day to day.       

Sahiba Gafarova also brought up the subject of the inter-parliamentary interaction; she said that it made the inter-state bonds stronger still.

‘I trust that that our parliamentarians will continue this tradition of co-operation within the frameworks of the international parliamentary organisations such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the PACE, the OSCE PA, the NATO PA, the European Parliament and Euronest Parliamentary Assembly and other international parliamentary bodies,’ Mrs Gafarova remarked.  

A special emphasis was put on the workings of the TURKPA, in which relation Madame Speaker was pleased to mention Hungary’s collaboration with the Turkic World being fostered via this organisation.

Large-scale inter-continental energy and transport projects have been implemented successfully at Azerbaijan’s instance over the past years. Mrs Gafarova mentioned the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars rail road, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and the Southern Gas Corridor in this regard.

As the speaker of the Azerbaijani parliament told the audience at the conference, the 30-year-long occupation of our territories by Armenia had been the major obstacle for regional development and integration in the Caucasus. Last year, at last, Azerbaijan had to resort to the military-political devices of its own to put an end to nearly 30 years of the Armenian occupation. Continuing, Mrs Gafarova deplored the four resolutions of the UN Security Council that demanded immediate, full and unconditional withdrawal of the Armenian troops from Azerbaijan’s captured territories of Azerbaijan having stayed but on paper for 3 decades until, finally, Azerbaijan ensured their implementation and made its national territory whole again all by itself. The consequences of the 44-day Patriotic War were that Azerbaijan liberated the entire historical Azerbaijani lands of Garabagh and forced Armenia to sign an instrument of capitulation act on 10 November 2020.

Having said that, Madame Speaker thanked the Government of Hungary and the Hungarian colleagues for their support to the fair and righteous stance of Azerbaijan. She also let the Hungarian public know of the damage that the Armenian vandals had dealt to our towns and villages and of destruction of Azerbaijan’s cultural and historical legacy, the sacking of mosques and looting of our national wealth by them. The large-scale programme of restoration and rebuilding that Azerbaijan had brought into action in the freed territories already was mentioned duly as well.

‘We have 1 million refugees and IDPs due to the aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan. They should return home. We must ensure their safety. But there are many obstacles along the way. Firstly, the liberated lands must be cleaned of mines. Armenia is refusing to release the maps of the minefields located in our freed lands. Consequently, Azerbaijani servicemen and civilians not barring journalists have been either wounded or killed by mine explosions,’ Madame Chair went on.

She reiterated her urge to the international community to bring Armenia to release those minefield maps.

The audience were then alerted to the fake claims of Armenia about ‘prisoners of war’: Mrs Gafarova told them about the diversions and war crimes that those ‘prisoners of war’ had committed in the de-occupied lands. The leader of the Azerbaijani parliament noted also that the Armenian side would not go by the Trilateral Statement but would go to borderline provocations.

As President Ilham Aliyev has stated more than once, Azerbaijan wishes peace and tranquillity in the region and is – and will be – taking the necessary steps, Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova concluded her conference speech at the Diplomatic Academy of Hungary.

The Press and Public Relations Department  
The Milli Majlis