The Milli Majlis Committee Defence, Security and Counter-Corruption Committee held its first spring-session meeting (in the videoconferencing mode) on 26 January.

Committee Chairman Ziyafet Asgarov presented at the meeting the 2020 Autumn Session Work Report of the Defence, Security and Counter-Corruption Committee. But first, Mr Asgarov mentioned that the Patriotic War had begun during the past session and that the decree of the President of the Azerbaijan Republic ‘On Declaring the State of Law’ had both arrived at the Milli Majlis and been ratified at a parliamentary sitting on 27 September, the day on which the 44-day Patriotic War that would end in a remarkable triumph had started. Mr Asgarov once again congratulated the people and all the MPs with the esteemed President and Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev at their head on that Victory. Then, the Committee Chairman asked the Almighty to grant rest to the souls of the fallen and wished good health to the warriors handicapped at the war.

Next, Mr Asgarov remarked that the war had ended with Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia signing a trilateral statement on 10 November. And then, the state of war was lifted pursuant to the relevant presidential decree at 00:00 hours on 12 December 2020.

It was said at the meeting that the Committee had had to look at those and other draft laws during the reported period. Having held 12 meetings and considered 13 items altogether, the Committee had recommended for submission to the Milli Majlis the Bills most of which had gone through all the three readings and were enacted ultimately. Besides, the Committee members had been closely involved in the deliberations upon the 2021 State Budget of the Azerbaijan Republic Bill and the whole Budgetary Parcel for the current year.

According to Mr Asgarov, the Azerbaijani MPs representing the victorious state also joined the online seminar organised by the NATO Parliamentary Assembly to review the state of affairs in the Caucasus. Reliant upon the international laws, they gave top-notch speeches and made the Armenians lapse into silence.

The wishes of the electorate remained in the focus during the whole session, too. Most of the problems stated in the applications that the electors had submitted were resolved to their satisfaction; the Committee considered all the 108 submitted applications and complaints having forwarded 78 of them to the concerned authorities and departments.

Deputy Chairman of the Committee Hikmat Mammadov and the MPs Elman Mammadov and Arzu Naghiyev praised the work done during the autumn session. The report was approved following an exchange of opinions.

Next came up the 2021 spring session work plan encompassing the law-making work of the Committee and its other intended activities. Mr Asgarov gave a thorough description of the Bills ‘On the Military Servicemen’s Status’ and ‘On the Internal Troops’ that are both on the working agenda of the Committee. He said that both drafts had been circulated amongst various ministries to collate their conclusions and opinions back during the autumn session of last year. Such a highlight of the national military history as the Patriotic War fought and won last year had made it necessary to add certain innovations in the Bill ‘On the Military Servicemen’s Status’, Mr Asgarov added.

Head of the State-Building and Military Legislation Department of the Milli Majlis Staff Haji Mirhashim Seyid told of the work done to streamline that Bill in view of the new situation. Then, MP Nizami Safarov commented on the document.

The spring session work plan of the Committee was approved in the end.

The draft amendments to the Law ‘On Military Duty and Military Service’ were tabled at the same meeting. Speaking about them, Mr Asgarov said that they had arrived at the Milli Majlis in the context of the legislative initiative of the President of Azerbaijan. The document was very humanist on the whole; the proposed new Article 21.1.4-1 would grant a one-time 3-month conscription deferment to those perspective conscripts who pass their first doctor’s studies enrolment examinations.

The MPs Aydin Mirzazade and Arzu Naghiyev stated their views on the document and the relevant proposals as the discussions followed. It was then recommended that the draft amendments should be tabled at a plenary sitting of the Milli Majlis.

The MPs Bakhtiyar Sadigov, Amina Agazade and Elshad Mirbashiroglu took part in the online meeting of the Committee as well.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis