Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova met on 19 January with the delegation including Secretary General of the Cooperation Council of Turkic-Speaking States (Turkic Council) Baghdad Amreyev, Secretary General of the International Organisation of Turkic Culture (TURKSOY) Dusen Kasseinov and President of the Turkic Culture and Heritage Foundation Gunay Efendiyeva.

Madame Chair welcomed the guests cordially and told them that she was glad to see the envoys of the entities that represent the Turkic World and work with distinction on furthering and intensifying the relations between our nations. Established to promote co-operation amongst the Turkic-speaking states, the Turkic Council is making purposeful and successful endeavours to reach the goals set before it, she pointed out.

The Turkic states’ leaders have built the exemplary ties of friendship to date; their political will, the mutual respect based on the shared roots and the mutual care are exceedingly praiseworthy whilst also setting an example for everyone, according to Mrs Gafarova.

Mrs Gafarova commended on the delegation members having visited the de-occupied provinces of Azerbaijan. She remarked that the recovery of those lands by our victorious Army led by Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev within 44 days was a historic highlight. With this victory, Mrs Gafarova emphasised, the Azerbaijani Army had also enforced the legal documents about the conflict’s resolution passed by a number of international organisations – including the relevant resolutions of the UN. Besides, the territorial wholeness of Azerbaijan was thusly restored.

Madame Chair then thanked the Secretary General of the Turkic Council for the support extended to Azerbaijan while the Patriotic War was being waged.

She went further to say that the Turkic Council did not limit itself to bringing the Turkic states together but, rather, served as a bridge connecting other states and even regions. The Milli Majlis as a legislative body will continue helping intensify the integration processes within the Council further because the latter’s work is both based on and guided by the common history, language, identity and culture. Next, Mrs Gafarova mentioned the Council’s contribution to countering the coronavirus as she recalled its extraordinary meeting called at the suggestion of President Ilham Aliyev in April last year.

The combined efforts of the Turkic Council and of such organisations as the TurkPA, TURKSOY and the Turkic Culture and Heritage Foundation to preserve our national spiritual values and hand them down to future generations were brought up next. All those organisations’ hands-on involvement in the collaboration of the Turkic states in economics, sciences, education, cultural affairs and other areas was mentioned, too.

Secretary General of the Cooperation Council of Turkic-Speaking States Baghdad Amreyev spoke on behalf of the whole delegation as he said the thanks for the warm welcome and congratulated the Chair of the Milli Majlis as well as the people of Azerbaijan on the victory in the Patriotic War. Mr Amreyev described it as a triumph uniting the whole Turkic World.

He mentioned the trips to the Agdam and Fizuli provinces of Azerbaijan during the current visit of the delegation; there, Mr Amreyev stressed, they could see for themselves the aftermath of the Armenian occupiers’ vandalism. The Turkic Council intends to contribute to the restoration of the reconquered territories.

At the same time, the Turkic Council is going to broaden further its international activities for the good of the Turkic-speaking peoples. According to Mr Amreyev, more than 10 states have the intentions to strike up closer co-operation with the Council.

The TURKSOY Secretary General Dusen Kasseinov and the President of the International Turkic Culture and Heritage Foundation Gunay Efendiyeva informed Mrs Gafarova in detail of their respective organisations’ current affairs and work areas. They stated their views of the plans of further expansion of the co-operation with our country, too.

The participants of the meeting also discussed the outlook upon the co-operation with the organisations representing the Turkic World and the other matters of interest to all the parties concerned.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis