Speaker of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova announced at the parliamentary plenum held under her chairmanship on 15 October that the sitting was taking place ahead of the historic date, a pivotal point in the life of our country and its people: the thirtieth anniversary of the newfound independence of Azerbaijan would be celebrated on 18 October.

The people of Azerbaijan who had established their independent albeit short-lived (existed for only 23 months) state at the beginning of last century had gained another chance to repeat the feat towards the closure of that same century, Speaker Gafarova was saying. The independence of the Azerbaijan Republic was restored with the national parliament passing the constitutional act ‘On the State Independence’ on 18 October 1991.

But gaining independence was not enough: it had to be preserved, too. Setting political, social and economic pillars for the newly-founded state order and elaborating such governance mechanisms that would be adequate to the changing environment were amongst the topmost tasks that our country was facing at that time.

Any reasonable state arrangement was rather out of the question in the absence of a political leadership capable of keeping pace with the calls of the new times, though. Consequently, our country, which was encountering certain exceptionally complex problems, found itself in a hard place.  The then distractions and struggle for power made certain that the state became uncontrollable; the public and state disintegration tendencies were becoming irreversible whilst the arbitrariness of the illegal armed groups was threatening with a true civil war. The armed forces of Armenia seized on the opportunity and were enlarging their territorial gains at the expense of our land with each passing day.

The very existence of the state and the nation’s futurity became imperilled as a logical consequence of all those developments, Mrs Gafarova continued. The dismal prospect of sharing the fate of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic loomed ahead of the Azerbaijan Republic.

The Chair of the Milli Majlis continued with stress that, evidently, our nation was just fated to see Azerbaijan helmed by such a political genius as the Great Leader Heydar Aliyev. The return of that outstanding politician and statesman to power in June 1993 set the stage for Azerbaijan’s transformation into a proper member of the civilised world. One can safely say in our time that the existence of the independent Azerbaijani State would have come to a sticky end had not Heydar Aliyev become personally involved in what was happening in the country then.

Sahiba Gafarova emphasised that the Great Leader’s comeback to the big politics began with his election as the Chair of the Supreme Council of Azerbaijan on 15 June 1993. Our National Leader had presided over the parliament for four months before being elected President; it was within these walls and in that period that the first moves were made in his salvation mission. Apart from all else, Heydar Aliyev’s election as speaker of the parliament greatly elevated the reputation of the national legislature whilst also clearing the path to forming it as a professional representative body.

The President of the Azerbaijan Republic Mr Ilham Aliyev who is taking further creatively the line of strategic development initiated by the Great Leader has, through his successful policy, made amazing achievements for the nation and the state of Azerbaijan. It was under his leadership that our state solved its biggest problem when it stopped the thirty years’ occupation of its lands and thusly restored its territorial wholeness. Those who were putting territorial claims against Azerbaijan were put back in their place; we answered the bell. Today, the Azerbaijan Republic is a powerful state that looks into the future confidently and whose word matters in this vast region. Doubtless, the forward-thinking policy of our esteemed President will lead the Azerbaijani State to yet greater fortunes; we shall retain its place amongst the world’s more important states and we shall become stronger still.

‘The state independence of Azerbaijan is the most valuable possession of every citizen of this country, of each of us. I am certain that everyone will live up to his or her responsibilities so as to preserve and enhance this asset,’ Madame Speaker summed up.

Next, Sahiba Gafarova cordially congratulated the House on the thirtieth anniversary of the Newfound Independence of the Azerbaijan Republic and suggested letters should be composed on behalf of the Milli Majlis on the occasion to both the esteemed President Ilham Aliyev and First Vice President Mrs Mehriban Aliyeva. In those letters, both should be wished more achievements in strengthening and developing our state further and improving the prosperity of the people continuously.

Sahiba Gafarova went forth with her speech to tell the House of our parliamentary delegation’s visit to St Petersburg in the Russian Federation paid to take part in the Third Eurasian Women’s Forum. Convened since 2015, that forum has evolved into a large international site for discussions about the role of women in the modern world and for elaboration of a common approach to tackling global problems. The conventions are co-organised by the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of Russia and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Member Nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

This once, the role of women in building a stable and secure future was the main topic of the forum though a number of other subjects were discussed during it as well, according to Madame Speaker.

Sahiba Gafarova had told about the history and achievements of the Azerbaijani policy on women as she spoke at the forum’s plenary session. She had informed her audience that the work on implementing that policy under the leadership of the president of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev had ensured considerable advances in all the encompassed areas. The systematic reforms implemented in the country and the extensive socio-economic development programmes targeting its provinces bore influenced the women’s lives positively, according to Mrs Gafarova.

Madame Speaker had highlighted the outstanding contribution to the cause from Azerbaijan’s First Vice President Mrs Mehriban Aliyev – the contribution, she had clarified, that provided for yet bigger achievements in protecting women’s rights and empowering them in both state and public realms. The First Lady of Azerbaijan inspired our women to tap into their potentials with greater resolve through her multi-faceted and successful activities, Sahiba Gafarova made a point of saying in her speech at the plenum in St Petersburg.

The Garabagh Conflict that is committed to the history annals now had interrupted the lives of many citizens of Azerbaijan including women in the thirty years past. The problems stemming from the consequences of this conflict including the hardships of the refugees and the internally displaced people were a grave burden on the women’s shoulders, too, according to Mrs Gafarova.

The trilateral statement that the presidents of Azerbaijan and Russia and the prime minister of Armenia signed in November last year put a full stop to the Garabagh Conflict. The victory of Azerbaijan in the 44 days’ Patriotic War brought a new reality to the region – the one that opens the broadest prospects for a yet more lively involvement of our women in all the segments of public life, Sahiba Gafarova was saying in St Petersburg.

Madame Speaker told the House at the plenum then that the members of our delegation Hijran Huseynova, Sevinj Fataliyeva, Parvin Karimzade, Ulviya Hamzayeva and Fatma Yildirim had been very active at the forum and spoken on various subjects.

The continued account by Sahiba Gafarova included her meetings, held on the further days of the forum, with Chair of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Valentina Matviyenko and with Alia El-Yassir, Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. Apart from the other subjects referenced at those meetings, they had talked over the Patriotic War and the liberation of our formerly occupied lands – both Mrs Matviyenko and Mrs El-Yassir were put in the full picture. Also there, the Chair of the Milli Majlis had pointed out that that the Army of Azerbaijan, led by its courage and guided by President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Ilham Aliyev, had terminated the thirty-year-long occupation of our lands by Armenia. It had been underlined that the trilateral statement signed by the Azerbaijani and Russia as well as the prime minister of Armenia had made the bygone Garabagh Conflict a bygone once and for all, that the situation in the South Caucasus was completely different now and that Azerbaijan had begun to restore its lands released from captivity.

Armenia had wholly destroyed the towns and villages of Azerbaijan it had captured and is resorting to provocations now in an attempt to undermine the establishment of peace and security in the region – especially, by refusing to release the maps of the minefields spudded in the liberated lands of our country.

At her meetings in St Petersburg the leader of the Azerbaijani parliament had said also that the borders of Azerbaijan’s economic regions had been redrawn with the two new economic regions of Garabagh and East Zangazur created pursuant to the decree that President Ilham Aliyev had signed in July this year. A great contribution will be made to the development of the region and fostering peace and security across it by reopening the transport communications and launching the Zangazur Corridor, Sahiba Gafarova had stressed during those conversations.

In conclusion of her account of the parliamentary delegation’s trip to St Petersburg, the Chair of the Milli Majlis described it as a successful one. She thanked the members of the delegation for the favourable outcome of the visit then.

The ten-item agenda of the plenum was adopted then.

The MPs Zahid Oruj, Sahib Aliyev, Fazil Mustafa, Nizami Safarov, Igbal Mammadov, Kamila Aliyeva, Etibar Aliyev, Javid Osmanov, Soltan Mammadov, Ziyafet Asgarov and Bahrouz Maharramov touched on a number of serious topics as the issues du jour were talked of. They also mentioned the enormous amount of work that Ilham Aliyev who was elected President of Azerbaijan on 15 October, that is, eighteen years ago today, had done on strengthening the national independence, and that Azerbaijan had grown to be one of the stronger countries of the world in that period. The speakers underscored the liberation of the previously captured provinces of the country and the restored territorial integrity of the Motherland. They also commented on a number of significant international and domestic issues.

The proceedings as per the agenda started with the consideration of the Independence Day Bill in the third reading. It was tabled by First Deputy Chairman of the Milli Majlis/Chairman of the Law Policy and State-Building Committee Ali Huseynli. Mr Huseynli completed his overview by saying that the gist of the Bill submitted by President Ilham Aliyev had been communicated to the public with abundant clarity in the course of the first and the second readings as well as through the MPs’ media appearances. When enacted, the law will be the greatest donation to our society, to our nation ahead of the thirtieth anniversary of the newfound independence. In addition, this time, the celebration will go in a country the territory of which is fully intact and the celebration will be done by the nation who won.

The Independence Day Bill was put on vote and adopted in the third reading.

It was Chairman of the Agrarian Policy Committee Tahir Rzayev who presented the draft amendments to the Law ‘On Corn’. He said that the proposed changes in Article 8 were on the concretising side and had to do with the transfer of the State Corn Fund to the remit of the State Reserves Agency pursuant to the presidential decree ‘On the Establishment of the State Reserves Agency of the Azerbaijan Republic’ dated 7 October 2021.

MP Ali Masimli made his opinion and suggestions be known before the legislators voted those amendments in.

Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova said then that the next four items on the agenda were the Bills coming up for the second reading. Those draft laws, too, were processed in accordance with the second-reading procedure.

Chairman of the Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising Committee Tahir Mirkishili said as he was tabling the draft set of amendments to the Customs Code of the Azerbaijan Republic in the second reading that it was proposed to change the provision of a collateral against placement of goods set for processing in the country in the special customs procedure from compulsory to optional. This alteration is expected to promote business enterprising, step up domestic outputs and clear all the business hurdles encountered in this industry as it is out of the way.

The House voted the draft amendments to the Customs Code through the second reading subsequently.

Mahir Abbaszade of the Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising Committee tabled the second-reading Bill containing amendments to the laws ‘On Currency Regulation’, ‘On Credit Unions’, ‘On Banks’, ‘On the Post’, ‘On Accountancy’, ‘On the Insurance Practice’, ‘On Non-Bank Credit Organisations’, ‘On Investment Funds’, ‘On the Securities Market’ and ‘On Credit Bureaux’. The intent was to regulate the matters issuing from the 4 May 2018 amendments to the Accountancy Law; the amendments embrace the matters related to the accountancy of the financial market institutions as well as composition, submission and publication of financial reports by them.

Having heard the explanations, the MPs voted the amendments through the second reading, again.

Chairman of the Committee of Health Ahliman Amiraslanov described the second-reading amendments to the Law ‘On Protection of the Population Health’.

Comments about the health care came from the MPs Razi Nurullayev, Vugar Bayramov, Aydin Huseynov, Rufat Guliyev, Musa Guliyev, Rashad Mahmudov, Malahat Ibrahimghizi and Gudrat Hasanguliyev. Ahliman Amiraslanov answered their questions and offered his own comments in response to theirs.

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

Ahliman Amiraslanov also tabled the next item of the plenum agenda, namely, the second reading of the draft set of amendments to the Civil Code of the Azerbaijan Republic and to the laws ‘On Insolvency and Bankruptcy’, ‘On Execution’, ‘On Banks’, ‘On Theatre and Theatrical Activities’, ‘On the Insurance Practice’, ‘On the Special Economic Treatment of the Export-Oriented Petroleum Operations’ and ‘On Employment’. Six parliamentary committees had discussed the amendments which are concerned with the introduction of the compulsory medical insurance facility to the health care system of the country.

That Bill, too, was approved in the second reading, after which the consideration of four Bills lined up for the first reading began.

As he was giving a detailed overview of the draft amendments (the first reading) to the Law ‘On the State Duty’, Chairman of the Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising Committee Tahir Mirkishili mentioned the dissolution of as many as 2,032 collective and Soviet farms subject to the 1996 Land Reform Law in Azerbaijan. The lands formerly controlled by the disbanded kolkhozes and sovkhozes were distributed in plots amongst thousands of households instead. That was the first ever land reform in the CIS, incidentally, and it was carried into life by the Great Leader Heydar Aliyev. That move was very momentous in terms of promoting business enterprising, food security and employment in the country. However, certain studies have unveiled a number of shortcomings in the performance of reforms over the twenty-five years past.

The amendments to the State Duty Law envisage that those land-owners who were given during the land reform but had not been issued with appropriate legal documents are to be exempted from the state duty for the affirmation of their rights of ownership. This exemption will apply to the sums charged for extracts from the state register of real estate in attestation to the right of ownership’s registration by the State (the state duty of AZN 30) and for issuing technical documentation (AZN 50). That is to say, it will be the State Budget and not the eligible citizen who will pay those sums.

Tahir Mirkishili answered the questions of the MPs Musa Guliyev and Razi Nurullayev following the deliberations. Then, the Bill was voted through the first reading.

Kamal Jafarov of the Law Policy and State-Building Committee then came up with a set of draft amendments to the Code of Administrative Offences of the Azerbaijan Republic in the first reading, saying that the set was intended to make administrative inquests associated with the countering of unlawful business enterprising more efficient. It is proposed to extend the periods after which culprits are relieved of administrative penalties for unlawful business-making; it is also suggested that the offence in question be added to those the discovery of any of which will mandatory entail an administrative inquest.

The Bill was put on vote and went through the first reading successfully.

Chairman of the Sciences and Education Committee Bakhtiyar Aliyev covered the next two agenda items. The interrelated sets of draft amendments, both in the first reading, are concerned with the laws ‘On Education’ and ‘On Vocational Education’. The Bills, whilst containing concretising elements, also address a number of progressive issues. The higher technical vocational education and the secondary special education both correspond to the fifth tier of the table of national educational qualifications in effect in the country; by the national education standards, then, the fifth tier qualifies as reduced-duration higher education. Thus, Mr Aliyev continued, both the technical vocational education and the secondary special education are classified as the equipotent baccalaureate facilities in the law in question.

Of the Bills brought before the House, the amendments to the Education Law specifically will lead to the implementation of a system of credits in the higher technical vocational education system, in a manner prescribed by the appropriate executive authority and with the subsequent recognition by tertiary education institutions of what credits the subbachelors at that educational tier collect. As regards the amendments to the Vocational Education Law, they envisage that the universities will take into account the credits pertaining to relevant baccalaureate specialities accumulated by the graduates (subbachelors) who complete their higher technical vocational education successfully. Going further, the same amendments will have the state-issued certificates of completion of higher vocational technical education entitle their holders to admission to the universities. The certificates are to be deemed as sufficient grounds for completion of tertiary education at the next tier of the tuition system.

The MPs Fazil Mustafa, Razi Nurullayev, Etibar Aliyev, Sahib Aliyev, Konul Nurullayeva, Aydin Mirzazade, Jeyhun Mammadov, Elshad Mirbashir oglu and Emin Hajiyev put forth their opinions and proposals as the Bills were deliberated upon.

Then, each Bill was voted through the first reading.  

And with that, the scheduled sitting of the Milli Majlis came to a conclusion.

The Press and Public Relations Department

The Milli Majlis