The Speaker of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova presided over the scheduled plenary meeting that was held on 20 November.

Madame Speaker said at the start of the meeting that the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Highland Garabagh had been concluded by the joint statement that the presidents of the Azerbaijan Republic and the Russian Federation and the prime minister of the Republic of Armenia had signed on 10 November. The provisions of that statement are being acted upon – the units of the Azerbaijani Army entered the Agdam Province in line with it today.

Sahiba Gafarova congratulated the meeting participants on the occasion before saying that Shusha, Agdam, Lachin, Kalbajar and the other towns and communities destroyed by the occupiers would be fully restored very soon. She said also that the joint statement of 10 November had been hailed and supported by all the states of the region and several other countries. It is very regrettable, though, that there are certain forces alarmed by the statement – quite so much that they would attempt to obstruct its proper implementation now. Amongst them are some political circles of France whose attitude to the conflict is entirely inadmissible.

Madam Speaker mentioned the partial attitude of the French Administration to Azerbaijan’s liberation of its lands in keeping with the international legal standards and principles.

‘A while ago, the leaders of the five biggest political fractions in the Senate of France motioned a draft resolution on recognition of the illegal regime created in the Azerbaijani lands occupied by Armenia. A similar draft was put forth in the Lower House of the French Parliament in October this year. Some French MPs paid illegal visits to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and demonstrated their solidarity with the criminal junta perched there during the active phase of the combat operations,’ Mrs Gafarova continued.

All those facts prove that the political administration of France had taken a biased stance in violation of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship guidelines. Evidently, therefore, the steps taken by some political circles of that country are against the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan. Such moves contradict the specific obligations of France stipulated by the international laws as well as the UN Charter and the Helsinki Final Act of the OSCE. Besides, such acts cast a shade on the neutrality of France as much as they do on France’s intermediary role as a member of the OSCE Minsk Group originally tasked with settling the conflict.

Madam Chair emphasised that an intermediary’s mandate had to conform to the international law principles and that an intermediary should be responsible and reliable. The mediating states ought to respect sovereignty and be objective and fair. All those requirements are laid out clearly in the international legal documents.

At the end of her speech, the Chair of the Milli Majlis stressed the importance of the Working Group for the Azerbaijani-French Interparliamentary Contacts and the parliamentary Committee for International Relations and Interparliamentary Contacts taking this matter into consideration.

The MPs Samad Seyidov, Javanshir Feyziyev, Malahat Ibrahimghizi, Sevil Mikayilova, Nigyar Arpadarai, Fazail Agamali, Arzu Naghiyev, Tural Ganjaliyev, Jeyhun Mammadov, Aydin Mirzazade, Zahid Oruj and Vahid Ahmadov took part in the deliberations upon the current matters. They all criticised the partial stance adopted by France and the majority of them called for initiation of legal procedures to strip France of its mandate due to the inability of this country to stay neutral as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group and because France had sided with Armenia – an occupier and an aggressor state.

Then, the 13-item agenda of the meeting was adopted.

The Deputy Chairman of the parliamentary Committee for Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising Ali Masimli tabled for the second vote the item about the amendments to the Constitutional Law of the Azerbaijan Republic ‘On the Fundamentals of the Economic Independence of the Azerbaijan Republic’. Mr Masimli remarked that, in compliance with Article 156 of the Constitution of Azerbaijan, the Milli Majlis had decided to replace the word ‘disabled’ with the wording ‘persons with disabilities’ and the word ‘of the disabled’ with the wording ‘of the persons with disabilities’ in the law.

Having heard the presented information, the MPs voted for the Bill in the second reading.

The MPs Siyavush Novruzov and Aydin Huseynov spoke of the role and achievements in the independent history of our country of the ‘New Azerbaijan’ Party established by the National Leader Heydar Aliyev: this political party turns 28 on the 21^st of November. The MPs congratulated the NAP members on the occasion and wished them all the best.

The First Deputy Chair of the Milli Majlis and Chairman of the parliamentary Committee for Law Policy and State-Building Ali Huseynli then presented the two most important Bills. One of them contains the draft amendments (in the first reading) to the Law ‘On Founding the Orders and Medals of the Azerbaijan Republic’ that envisage the institution of decorations ‘For the Victory in the Patriotic War’. The other Bill envisages the introduction of the ‘Patriotic War Hero’ title. Mr Huseynli mentioned that Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev and the First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva announced this fine news whilst calling on the servicemen taking treatment at the Clinical Medicine Centre No 1. The President of Azerbaijan had said, ‘I shall decorate all the military personnel who showed heroism in combat during those 44 days, before them and after them. New orders and medals will be founded in Azerbaijan that the servicemen and civilians who have distinguished themselves specifically in the Patriotic War will be decorated with. I have offered the names for those orders and medals and I believe that you and the people of Azerbaijan will like those names.’

Ali Huseynli emphasised that the new orders and medals would unequivocally be bearing the statehood attributes – the military and national ones. There are 10 orders and 64 medals in Azerbaijan as it is. Meanwhile, Mr President has proposed 2 new orders – the Victory Order and the Garabagh Order – and 15 new medals.

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Then, the public address of the President and Commander-in-Chief of Azerbaijan Mr Ilham Aliyev was telecast live at the suggestion of the Speaker Sahiba Gafarova. The MPs listened with great attention and pride to the public address of the Commander-in-Chief that followed the entry of the triumphant Azerbaijani Army in Agdam in keeping with the statement signed after our troops had prevailed in Garabagh.

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Next, the Bills on founding the ‘For the Victory in the Patriotic War’ orders and medals, and on instituting the ‘Patriotic War Hero’ title were put on vote and approved in the first reading separately.

The Parliament next discussed two Bills on renaming the communities in the de-occupied provinces of the country. The Bills ‘On Renaming the Gushchubaba Village in the Khojali Province of the Azerbaijan Republic as Baharli’ and ‘On Renaming the Tsakuri Village in the Khojavend Province of the Azerbaijan Republic as Hunerli’ were presented by the Chairman of the Committee for Regional Affairs Siyavush Novruzov. Mr Novruzov said that both matters had been considered and approved by the Toponymy Commission before mentioning the Armenian vandals’ having destroyed 403 monuments of history and religion of Azerbaijan whilst our lands remained captured. That total includes 67 mosques, 114 temples and 192 shrines.

The Bills were put on vote. The Milli Majlis gave its consent to the renaming of the village of Gushchubaba as Baharli and of the village of Tsakuri as Hunerli.

The Chairman of the Agrarian Policy Committee Tahir Rzayev presented for the third reading the document on amending the Forest, Land and Civil codes of the Azerbaijan Republic as well as the laws ‘On the Land Market’, ‘On Administration of the Municipal Lands’, ‘On the State Duty’, ‘On the State Register of Real Estate’ and ‘On Cession of Land for State Needs.’

The MPs approved the Bill in the third reading.

The Chairman of the Labour and Social Policy Committee Musa Guliyev advised the assembly of the draft amendments (in the third reading) to the Labour and Family codes of the Azerbaijan Republic. Mr Guliyev explained that the tabled Bill was harmonising in nature and had to do with the enforcement of the Law ‘On Amending the “Law on Medical Insurance”’ dated 3 December 2019.

The Bill was approved in the third reading.

The participants of the plenary session heard the Chairman of the Committee for Defence, Security and Counter-Corruption Ziyafet Askerov who provided them with information about the draft amendments (in the third reading) to the laws ‘On the Status of Military Servicemen’, ‘On Protection of the Population Health’, ‘On Motoring Traffic’, ‘On the Social Protection of the Orphaned Children and Children Deprived of Parental Care’, ‘On Motoring Roads’, ‘On the Private Medical Practice’, ‘On the Psychiatric Aid’, ‘On the Oncological Aid’ and ‘On Limiting the Consumption of Tobacco Goods.’

The MPs Fazail Agamali, Malahat Ibrahimghizi, Jala Aliyeva and Siyavush Novruzov who were taking part in the deliberations underlined the necessity of decorating also the Commander-in-Chief who had played an exceptional and irreplaceable part in the Victory and occupied a special place as a saviour and hero in the nation’s hearts. The MPs motioned the establishment of another order specifically for this purpose.

Then, the Bills on the agenda were put on vote and approved in the third reading.

The Chairman of the Health Care Committee Ahliman Amiraslanov who tabled the third reading of the draft amendments to the Law ‘On the Medical Insurance’ told the gathering that the amendments were meant to align the said law with the Law ‘On Protection of the Population Health.’

This Bill, too, was approved in the third reading.

Next on the agenda was the second reading of the draft amendments to the Law ‘On the Civil Service’. Kamal Jafarov, a member of the Committee for Law Policy and State-Building, mentioned that the Committee had had a thorough meeting involving a representative of the State Examinations Centre to discuss the proposals made regarding the first reading of the document in hand. The proposals intended to streamline the Civil Service had been submitted to the State Examinations Centre; they are going to be taken into account when the draft Civil Service Code is drawn up.

The MPs Kamila Aliyeva and Fatma Yildirim stated their views of the amendments during the deliberations. The Bill was put on vote and approved in the second reading in keeping with the procedural rules.

After that, the Chairman of the Committee for Natural Resources, Energy and Ecology Sadig Gurbanov presented detailed information about the draft amendments (in the first reading) to the Law ‘On Protection of the Natural Environment.’ It was said that the Bill was based on the President’s ‘Plan of Minimising the Adverse Environmental Impacts of Discarded Plastic Packaging in Azerbaijan during 2019-2020.’

After the Committee Chairman had given the expansive and statistically founded reference on the harm done to the natural environment by plastic waste, the MPs Razi Nurullayev, Hijran Huseynova, Fazail Agamali, Ali Masimli and Ali Huseynli offered their opinions and suggestions.

The Bill was put on vote and approved in the first reading.

The summary on the first reading of the draft amendments to the Code of Administrative Offences was given by the First Deputy Chair of the Milli Majlis and Chairman of the parliamentary Committee for Law Policy and State-Building Ali Huseynli. He clarified that the document was a harmonising one; serious fines on officeholders and legal entities violating the ecological security are contemplated in it.

The MPs approved the Bill in the first reading.

At the end of the meeting was discussed the issue of amending the Law ‘On the Institution of the Orders and Medals of the Azerbaijan Republic’. The first-reading Bill envisages establishment of the jubilee medal ‘The Centenary (1920-2020) of the Azerbaijan State Oil and Industry University’. After the summary had been given, MP Aydin Mirzazade said the institution of such a jubilee medal was a commendable initiative. Then, the Bill was put on vote and approved.

That concluded the plenary meeting of the Milli Majlis.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis