Starting the first meeting of the Milli Majlis Culture Committee in the spring parliamentary session on 26 January, Committee Chair Ganira Pashayeva wished the MPs success during the session.

She also said that she bowed in awe before President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and the triumphant Azerbaijani Army for the liberation of the national territories that had been under the occupiers’ heel for 30 years. She congratulated the colleagues on the victory before asking the Almighty to rest the souls of the fallen in peace and to give soon recovery to the men injured in the battles.

Then, Mrs Pashayeva reported to the Committee on its work done during the autumn session of 2020; in so doing, she mentioned that the Committee had had 2 meetings and had considered 3 matters the most important of which had been the draft amendments to the Law ‘On the Legal Protection of Folklore Pieces’. Mrs Pashayeva informed the participants of the meeting of the past-session deeds in detail. She also praised the MPs’ energetic approach to telling the world community the truth about the developments in our country as well as about the destruction of our monuments of culture, also tangible and intangible heritage in the previously-captured provinces. The MPs reported such facts to the influential international organisations including the UNESCO more than once during the Patriotic War, according to Mrs Pashayeva.

The Committee received 1,389 letters, offers, applications and complaints all in all during the autumn session; 1,145 of them were forwarded to the concerned authorities for sorting-out while the Committee itself examined almost 200 letters from creative organisations and people. The matters raised in those last ones had been resolved to the writers’ satisfaction already, Mrs Pashayeva remarked.

The approval of the performance report was followed by the consideration of the 2021 spring session work plan, and it was mentioned there that it was intended to draw up a Bill ‘On the Protection and Promotion of the Azerbaijani Mugam Art’ as well as to continue the work on the other important documents. As Mrs Pashayeva noted, an especially large amount of work befell the Committee this spring session. Namely, there are fundamental drafts in the making in connection with President Ilham Aliyev having declared the de-occupied town of Shusha the Cultural Capital of Azerbaijan, the earmarked conduct of the Khari Bulbul Mugam Festival in Shusha in either May or June this year, the planned Molla Panah Vaghif Poetry Days due in the autumn months and, last, with that the year 2021 was declared The Nizami Year. Then, Mrs Pashayeva outlined the work that the Committee was going to have to do in relation to all those projections.

The work plan of the Committee was approved at that.

The Bill on ratification of the Memorandum of Understanding ‘Of Strategic Media Co-operation between the Azerbaijan Republic and the Turkish Republic’ was tabled next. The draft was highlighted as a very important one as it would make possible the emergence of a common media platform with the brotherly country. Besides, the memorandum is crucial for the bilateral co-operation in the press.

The next item in the order of business was the first reading of the draft amendments to the Law ‘On the Copyright and the Neighbouring Rights. As Ganira Pashayeva said, the draft envisages creation of a state registration mechanism for the Azerbaijani folklore pieces in the public domain, the introduction of certification of the already-registered folklore pieces and the application of the royalties for their use to implementing the state policy concerning the copyright and the neighbouring rights.

The Committee members Sabir Rustamkhanli, Nizami Jafarov, Aziz Alakbarov, Javanshir Feyziyev, Ulviya Agayeva, Fazil Mustafa, Ulviya Hamzayeva and Mikhail Zabelin commented on both drafts. They also voiced their proposals about promotion of cinema, theatre and visual arts and that creative people should be given more care.

Then, both drafts were recommended for tabling at a plenary sitting of the Milli Majlis. 

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis