Chair of Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova Spoke at the 10th Plenary Sitting of the TurkPA
The 10th plenary sitting of the TurkPA held on 28 September began with the opening speech by the Assembly’s Acting Chairman and Chairman of the Mazhilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nurlan Nigmatulin.
Sharing his thoughts about the work of the TurkPA, Mr Nigmatulin mentioned that yesterday the 27th of September was the Memory Day in Azerbaijan and then congratulated the Azerbaijani people and the leaders of the state on the Victory in the Patriotic War. The participants honoured the memory of the Motherland’s son who had sacrificed their lives in the 44-day Patriotic War with a minute of silence at the suggestion of Nurlan Nigmatulin.
That was followed by the speech by Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova.
The Chair of the Milli Majlis thanked the audience for marking the Memory Day of the 27th of September.
She then broached the present-day co-operation of the parliaments of the Turkic peoples and the perspectives of such co-operation. Sahiba Gafarova noted that the TurkPA, which occupies a place of its own amongst the Turkic co-operation organisations, has been acting successfully for 12 years now, making it possible to tap the wealth of potential of parliamentary diplomacy in order to further the political, trading and economic, and cultural and humanitarian relations amongst our countries. Sahiba Gafarova lauded the role of parliamentary diplomacy in the modern world and attributed the role to the representative bodies possessing special political mechanisms.
The current session of the Assembly is occurring ahead of the remarkable dates because Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan regained their state independence thirty years ago. Mrs Gafarova proceeded to talk about the bilateral and multilateral economic projects afoot in the regions that harbour those countries and about also mutual investments, creation of a unified system of transport communication, establishment of energy, financial and banking-credit infrastructures and so forth. Such specimens of regional co-operation serve our peoples’ progress and foster the continued rapprochement of the Turkic countries, according to the Chair of the Milli Majlis.
Sahiba Gafarova highlighted the Victory gained in the 44-day Patriotic War, saying that the lands occupied for thirty years had been freed, the territorial integrity of our country had been restored and a new reality had been formed in the region under the guidance of Azerbaijan’s President and Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev in September-November last year. The historic opportunity to create the Zangazur Corridor to connect the Turkic-speaking countries directly is one of the crucial outcomes of that great Victory; this corridor offers completely new prospects of strengthening the co-operation amongst the Turkic states, said the Chair of the Milli Majlis.
Madame Speaker also told her audience that the TurkPA had constantly been focused on the Armenian occupation of 20 per cent of our territory, recognised as such internationally, and the eviction of 1 million Azerbaijanis from their native parts. The Assembly played a key role in making the global community hear the voice of Azerbaijan; the Assembly was passing documents supporting the righteous stance of Azerbaijan and condemning the occupation of our lands, Mrs Gafarova continued.
For all that, Sahiba Gafarova thanked, on behalf of the Azerbaijani Parliament, the brotherly Republic of Turkey, the other Turkic states and the TurkPA. She went further to tell the participants of the plenary sitting of the large-scale building and restoration work under way in the de-occupied lands of Azerbaijan. The Armenian vandals’ having turned those provinces into a desert, destroyed our towns and villages as well the historical and cultural heritage and plundered our national wealth were mentioned, too.
The roles of the Turkic states in the modern global economy is gaining in importance rapidly; as regards new challenges and problems, it is the imperative of the current time that the Turkic peoples should show unity and act in concert, Mrs Gafarova was saying.
The other speakers at the sitting, Chairman of the GNAT Mustafa Şentop and the representatives of international organisations, congratulated the delegation and people of Azerbaijan on the victory in the Patriotic War and said that they were glad of our country’s achievements. Those who took the floor praised the work done by the TurkPA and the deeds done in that context.
Several draft laws were tabled and household affairs were discussed at the sitting next.
Chairman of the TurkPA Commission for Environment, Natural Resources and Health Care/Chairman of the Milli Majlis committee Ahliman Amiraslanov and Deputy Chairman of the TurkPA Commission on Social, Cultural and Humanitarian Affairs and Azerbaijani MP Nizami Jafarov put forth the reports by their respective Assembly commissions. As the model Bills were talked of, Head of the Social Legislation Department of the Milli Majlis Staff Adil Valiyev tabled the Bill ‘On Cinematography and Overseas Investment Raising for Production of Audio-Visual Pieces’. The Bill drawn up by the Azerbaijani side was put on vote and adopted.
The attending representatives of the Turkic Council, the Parliamentary Union of the OIC Member States, the CIS PA Council, the PABSEC, the International Turkic Academy and other international organisations joined in the deliberations.
The Turkestan Declaration was adopted at the end of the plenary sitting.
The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis
