As we reported earlier, Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova is in Iran on an official visit for the swearing-in ceremony of the newly-elected Iranian President Sayyid Ebrahim Raisi. As part of the visit, Sahiba Gafarova met with Chair of the Islamic Consultative Assembly of Iran Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf on 6 August.

The speaker of the Iranian parliament welcomed the chair of the Milli Majlis as well as the Azerbaijani delegation and said that he was glad to see the representatives of the friendly neighbouring state in Tehran. Iran and Azerbaijan are bound together with solid common geographic, historical, cultural and religious values; Azerbaijan is well-loved in Iran and they in Iran follow developments unfolding in Azerbaijan closely, Mr Ghalibaf told Mrs Gafarova.

Thanking for the sincere welcome, Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova expressed satisfaction with the amiable and good-natured relations with Iran. She underlined the great significance of the two states’ leaders’ reciprocal visits for the establishment of the high-standard bilateral connexions. As for the documents signed during those visits, they constitute the legal frameworks for our interaction. It is good to know that Azerbaijan was able to impose full control of its borders with Iran upon de-occupation of the Azerbaijani lands, Mrs Gafarova remarked.

The chair of the Milli Majlis said as she was talking about the inter-parliamentary relations what substantial contribution the two parliaments made to the progress of the mutual relations. Our MPs exchange visits periodically while the friendship groups active in both legislatures are bridging us, according to Mrs Gafarova.

Madame Chair also pointed out in the course of the conversation that the Highland Garabagh Conflict was history already and that Azerbaijan had initiated a large-scale restoration and rebuilding work in its lands delivered from Armenian occupation. Mrs Gafarova told Mr Ghalibaf of Armenia having destroyed our mosques, cultural legacy and all the buildings in the first place and having annihilated totally all kinds of infrastructure in our territories during their occupation. The enemy had even gone quite as far as desecrating our sanctuaries and mosques, Mrs Gafarova emphasised.

The conflict is over; still, a number of problems beg to be solved yet. One of them is posed by Armenia’s refusal to give up maps of the minefields planted in our lands that had been occupied for thirty years until they were liberated in the course of the Patriotic War. In addition, Armenia is trying to hamper our displaced people’s return to their native parts and is also resorting to provocations in the border delimitation question.

It will be thirty years since the day of the Khojali Genocide next year – to be precise, on 26 February 2022, the speaker of the Milli Majlis said then. It is of paramount importance that there should be a legal and political verdict on such crimes against humanity passed internationally. Madame Speaker then added that the Khojali Genocide had been recognised as such by many countries and international organisations to date, which brings us to the point that the Iranian parliament’s passing a document on the Khojali Genocide, too, would help make sure the humankind will not come up against such events ever again.

Then, the attending Deputy PM Shahin Mustafayev and Deputy FM Fariz Rzayev of the Azerbaijan Republic shared their thoughts on the Azerbaijani-Iranian relations.

Ending the meeting, the speakers of the two parliaments exchanged invitations for each other to pay official visits to their respective countries.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis