Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova had a meeting on 25 May with the participants of the ‘Protecting Human Rights in the TurkPA Member States’ conference and, greeting them, said she hoped that there were going to be useful discussions during the event arranged at the Azerbaijani parliament to mark the twentieth anniversary of the Azerbaijani institute of the human rights commissioner (ombudsman).

Sahiba Gafarova wished the conference participants success.

The fruitful collaboration between the Milli Majlis and the TurkPA in the realm of parliamentary diplomacy and in drawing up model laws was mentioned. The human rights ombudsmen are together again – this time, in Baku – following the signing in Bursa, Turkey of the memorandum of understanding about establishing the Association of Human Rights Ombudsmen and National Institutes of the Turkic-Speaking States. The continued co-operation amongst the entities of the Turkic countries is bringing to the table a driving input in their inter-state relations, too, Sahiba Gafarova was saying.

As she addressed the importance of the conference co-conducted together with the Milli Majlis Human Rights Committee, Mrs Gafarova said that the congress of the Turkic World’s human rights ombudsmen in Baku was itself a certain message to the world – one about the importance that the Turkic states attach to protecting human rights and freedoms.

The ombudsmen’s joint trip to Azerbaijan’s cultural capital of Shusha was mentioned, too. During it, the guests had eye-witnessed the destruction of communities, historical artefacts and cultural heritage during the occupation, according to Mrs Gafarova. Everything had been destroyed in those parts during the three decades of occupation; temples, heritage and history monuments had been vandalised. Now that those lands are free again, then, the Azerbaijani Government is making large efforts to restore infrastructure and, in general, to revive them with the ultimate goal of taking the displaced people back to their homelands and of repairing their violated constitutional rights.

Our towns, provinces and civil infrastructure situated rather far from the frontlines had come under enemy fire as well during the 44-day Patriotic War. The residential buildings had been damaged seriously and so had been non-residential facilities; the civil population had been suffering from military aggression, Sahiba Gafarova continued. The crimes committed by Armenia during both the 1^st and the 2^nd Garabagh Wars are recorded by the concerned offices. There were reports and declarations. It would help the impartial assessment of the human rights violations committed by Armenia if the above-said Association could send a fact-finding mission to the de-occupied lands, incidentally.

Mrs Gafarova said she hoped that the exchange of opinions to be conducted and the proposals and ideas to be made during the conference in Baku would prove useful for the cause of protecting human rights in the Turkic World.

The human rights commissioner (ombudsman) of the Azerbaijan Republic Sabina Aliyeva thanked Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova for the arrangement to conduct the conference on the parliamentary premises. Mrs Aliyeva said also that the conference pursued the goal of striking up co-operation amongst the TurkPA countries in defending human rights and of exchanging the relevant experience and information.

The conference participants are under the gross influence of their visit to Shusha and the trip across the lands freed from invaders. Proper reports will be written up about the destruction caused by Armenians and about the Armenian vandalism – to be submitted for consideration of important international organisations. This work is meant to be continued, too, according to Mrs Aliyeva.

The MPs and human rights ombudsmen of the TurkPA countries spoke their minds about the visit to our country and the current events next.

Among the meeting participants were General Ombudsman of the Republic of Turkey Şeref Malkoç, the Ombudsman of the Republic of Kazakhstan Elvira Azimova, her colleague from the Kyrgyz Republic Atır Abrahmatova, the Chair of Turkey’s Human Rights and Equality Institution Müharrem Kılıç, the Ombudsman of the Republic of Uzbekistan Feruza Eshmatova, the TurkPA Secretary General Mehmet Süreyya Er, the parliamentarians of Turkey, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, and Chief of Staff of the Milli Majlis Farid Hajiyev.

The Press and Public Relations Department  
The Milli Majlis