The Milli Majlis Ratifies the Presidential Decree Lifting Martial Law
A scheduled sitting of the autumn session of the Milli Majlis was held on 11 December.
Opening the sitting, the Milli Majlis Chair Sahiba Gafarova spoke of the splendid Victory Parade in the Freedom Square in Baku yesterday. In her opinion, that parade that the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Azerbaijan Republic Ilham Aliyev and the President of the Turkish Republic Recep Tayyip Erdogan had been watching had become a brilliant milestone in the history of Azerbaijan already.
‘Having made good execution of the armed forces of Armenia the occupier in the course of the Patriotic War, having restored the territorial integrity of the country and shown in the battlefield what it is capable of, the Azerbaijani Army again showed its will and might to the world yesterday.
‘The festive mood was all the higher for the Turkish Republic’s politicians and statemen, soldiers and officers taking part in the parade. As you know, Turkey, the brotherly country, was right by Azerbaijan’s side giving us political, diplomatic and moral support from the very first hours of the liberation war for Garabagh.
‘That Turkey had joined us at that remarkable event sends a profound message: Azerbaijan and Turkey are the friendly and brotherly countries whose relationship is that of the one and the same nation living in two states. As our most respected president said, “The unity of Azerbaijan and Turkey is a reality already.”
‘The cutting-edge equipment including missile and artillery units, air-defence systems, aircraft and naval vessels demonstrated at the parade emphasised not only the military power of the Azerbaijani State but also made it abundantly clear that no-one can talk to Azerbaijan in terms of force and pressure anymore. We have a wise leader upon whom our valiant Army, our professional soldiers and officers, and our nation rely.
‘Long live the victorious Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev!
‘Long live our heroic Army!
‘Garabagh is Azerbaijan!’
Then, Madame Chair told the MPs that President Ilham Aliyev had issued a decree a few days back establishing the YAŞAT Foundation in support of those wounded in the Patriotic War as well as of the households of the servicemen who had died defending the territorial integrity of our country.
The emergence of the new foundation will further consolidate our society and strengthen yet more the feeling of solidarity and the spirit of mutual assistance that reign in it. The Milli Majlis has always taken an active part in such humanitarian initiatives, Madame Speaker remarked before calling on the MPs as well as on the employees of the Milli Majlis Staff and Affairs Department to join this noble undertaking and transfer funds to the new foundation voluntarily.
Chair Gafarova mentioned after the agenda had been approved that its first two items had to do with draft resolutions of the Milli Majlis.
‘As you know,’ Mrs Gafarova continued, ‘the President of the Azerbaijan Republic Mr Ilham Aliyev has signed a decree lifting the state of martial law effective 00:00 on 12 December 2020. The decree has been submitted to the Milli Majlis for ratification.’
The Chairman of the Milli Majlis Committee for Defence, Security and Counter-Corruption Ziyafet Asgarov read out the information about this agenda item. The draft ratification decree was then put on vote and approved.
The next item in order was the appointment of the Chairman of the Chamber of Accounts. Madame Chair commented on it by saying that Vugar Gulmammadov who had helmed the Chamber successfully for 7 years now had been nominated as the candidate in keeping with the laws.
The Chairman of the parliamentary Committee for Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising Tahir Mirkishili provided the relevant brief. Once he had been heard, the draft resolution appointing Vugar Gulmammadov as Chairman of the Chamber of Accounts was put on vote and approved.
Mr Gulmammadov spoke at the sitting thanking for the confidence placed in him and voicing his resolve to justify it amain.
Then, Madame Chair announced that the remaining 10 items on the agenda dealt with the Bills coming up for the first reading.
The First Deputy Chair of the Milli Majlis and Chairman of the parliamentary Committee for Law Policy and State-Building Ali Huseynli briefed the assembly on the first reading of the draft amendment to the Civil Code of the Azerbaijan Republic. The amendment, he specified, would serve the cause of developing the banking system while also providing for operation of both state-owned and private banks in the identical competitive environment. The Bill was put on vote and approved in the first reading.
Next, the Chairman of the Milli Majlis Committee for Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising Tahir Mirkishili commented on two agenda items concerning the draft amendments (both in the first reading) to the laws ‘On the Complete Insurance of Deposits’ and ‘On the Insurance of Deposits’. Mr Mirkishili remarked that the complete insurance of deposits introduced in March 2016 had played a significant part in maintaining financial stability, ensuring the complete endurance of the banking system of the country and boosting the depositors’ confidence in the banking system – all against the background of the current global economic processes. The effective term of the Law that had held in force for 4 years and 9 months now has been extended twice; the latest extension period expired on 4 December. Meanwhile, the tabled Bill envisages a term extension until 5 April 2021.
According to the Committee Chairman, the international experience clearly shows the importance of having an effective strategy of an exit from a complete deposit insurance system. Therefore, the Deposit Insurance Bill contemplates the increase of the covered retail deposit compensation from AZN 30,000 to AZN 100,000 (to the equivalent of AZN 1,000 for foreign-currency deposits) effective 5 April 2021. It is also proposed to provide insurance coverage of the physical persons engaged in unincorporated business enterprising (with the sum of compensation to be set at AZN 20,000).
Furthermore, the new Bill envisage the complete insurance of the physical-person account balances in notary depository accounts with the purpose of strengthening the protection of financial service consumers’ rights in notarised sales-and-purchase transactions and especially so in the residence sales-and-purchase ones. The MPs Ali Masimli, Vugar Bayramov, Zahid Oruj, Aydin Mirzazade, Gudrat Hasanguliyev and Rufat Guliyev commented on the tabled issues. Then, Mr Mirkishili stated his view on them. Both Bills were put on vote and approved in the first reading.
The draft amendments (the first reading) to the Labour Code were advised on by the Chairman of the parliamentary Committee for Labour and Social Policy Musa Guliyev who said that the Azerbaijani Army had won our nation an unforgettable victory in the 44-day war that had begun on 27 September. The purpose of the proposed Labour Code amendments was to perpetuate that triumph, Mr Guliyev added.
The amendments ensue from the presidential decrees ‘On Instituting the Memorial Day in the Azerbaijan Republic (the Decree dated 2 December 2020) and ‘On Instituting the Victory Day in the Azerbaijan Republic’ (the Decree dated 3 December 2020). One amendment adds to the list of red-letter days contained in Article 105 of the Labour Code the 8th of November as the Victory Day; it is to be a holiday. As regards the other amendment, it is an addendum – the new Article 106.1 that is to be included in the Labour Code and reads, ‘The 27th of September of each year is the day of commemoration of the shahids who fell whilst effecting the cause of liberating the lands of the Azerbaijan Republic from the occupation – “The Memorial Day in the Azerbaijan Republic”. This day shall be deemed a working day.’
The Bill was approved in the first reading.
The first reading of the draft amendments to the laws ‘On Education’, ‘On Physical Education and Sports’, ‘On Vocational Education’ and ‘On Basic Education’ was presented by the Chairman of the parliamentary Science and Education Committee Bakhtiyar Aliyev. Mr Aliyev specified that the first Bill was on the technical side and was intended to concretise the terminology to be employed in the corresponding law. Besides, it envisaged the introduction of digital data systems to the issues of the state education documents.
Speaking of the draft amendments to the laws ‘On Physical Education and Sports’, ‘On Vocational Education’ and ‘On Basic Education’, the Committee Chairman explained that they had been aimed to streamline the legislation in the concerned areas and have the state documents of professional and basic education generated with the aid of the ‘Centralised Education Information System.’
Both Bills were put on vote and approved in the first reading separately.
The draft amendments (the first reading) to the Customs and Tax codes of the Azerbaijan Republic were introduced by Aydin Huseynov of the Milli Majlis Committee for Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising.
According to Mr Huseynov, the amendments are intended to minimise the time that customs registration of goods takes as well as to optimise this process for the greater progress of trade in the country. The amendments would reduce the time required to pay the road use tax when motor-vehicles registered abroad enter the country.
The two Bills were put on vote and approved in the first reading one by one.
The two last items on the agenda, namely, the draft amendments to the ‘Milli Majlis Internal Charter’, which Charter was enacted subject to the Law No 74-IQ dated 17 May 1996, and to the Law ‘On the Committees of the Milli Majlis of the Azerbaijan Republic’, were introduced for the first reading by the First Deputy Chair of the Milli Majlis and Chairman of the parliamentary Committee for Law Policy and State-Building Ali Huseynli.
While briefing the MPs on the draft amendments, Mr Huseynli pointed out that they were concerned with the sittings of the Milli Majlis and the meetings of its committees and commissions to be conducted online, as real-time video conferences, for a certain amount of time in view of the quarantine regime introduction and the sanitary and epidemiological and other similar measures undertaken in the country.
Both Bills were put on vote and approved in the first reading individually after the MPs Fazil Mustafa, Elshan Musayev and Hikmet Mammadov had commented on them.
That concluded the sitting of the Milli Majlis.
The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis
