The parliamentary delegation led by Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova and currently visiting in the Republic of Kazakhstan for the 10^th plenary sitting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Turkic-Speaking Countries took part in the Memory Day event at the Farab Library in the town of Turkestan on 27 September.

First, there was a minute of silence in memoriam of Azerbaijan’s victims in the 44 days’ Patriotic War.

President of the International Turkic Academy Darkhan Kydyrali who opened the event noted that Azerbaijan had liberated its own lands from occupation in to the Patriotic War that had begun on 27 September – a year ago today. Darkhan Kydyrali reminisced about his visit to the Azerbaijani town of Shusha and mentioned this beautiful town’s role in the culture and arts of Azerbaijan.

Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova spoke at the event. She told of the heroic Azerbaijani soldiers’ having liberated our lands and restored the territorial integrity of our country at the cost of their own lives in the Patriotic War that had begun on 27 September last year. The Azerbaijani Army led by President and Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev had packed crushing punches upon the enemy reducing it to signing an act of capitulation. The people of Azerbaijan treasure the precious memory of our shahids all the time; the names of our heroic sons have been carved into our statehood history, according to Mrs Gafarova.

The chair of the Milli Majlis emphasised that the conflict had become history already whilst Azerbaijan was busy restoring its liberated territories. Armenia had destroyed atrociously our towns and provinces, our villages, the historical and cultural heritage and mosques of our nation that it had held under occupation for thirty years, Mrs Gafarova added.

Madame Speaker drew the attention of her audience to the fact that Armenia impeded establishment of stability in the region and to this day would not halt its provocative encroachments.

The conclusion of the event was marked by the presentation of the Kazakh translations of Nizami Ganjavi’s ‘The Seven Beauties’ and ‘Leyli and Majnun’, prepared by the International Turkic Academy.

The chair of the Milli Majlis expressed gratitude to the ITA leadership for the Kazakh translation and publication as books of those two poems by Nizami Ganjavi. Madame Speaker voiced her belief that the other compositions that make up the ‘Khamsa’ written by the genius Azerbaijani poet, too, would be translated to the Kazakh language eventually, and wished the Academy success.

The Press and Public Relations Department

The Milli Majlis