Speaker of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova met with a visiting delegation led by Chairman of the Defence Committee of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye (GNAT) Hulusi Akar on 29 January.

Expressing joy at the opportunity to welcome the guest to the Parliament, the Speaker of the Milli Majlis mentioned his visits to Azerbaijan in his former capacity as the Minister of National Defence of the Republic of Türkiye, both during and after the 44 days’ Patriotic War. Today the guest is in Azerbaijan as an MP, Mrs Gafarova remarked before voicing the confidence that Hulusi Akar will continue contributing to the development of the two countries’ co-operation acting as a parliamentarian

The Speaker of the Milli Majlis was saying that the relationship of Azerbaijan and Türkiye who are guided by the Great Leader Heydar Aliyev’s principle ‘One nation – two states’ are unparalleled worldwide as President Ilham Aliyev had commented. The brotherly ties between the Heads of State, their political will and resolve have made certain that our inter-state relations have evolved into the alliance that we enjoy today. Not only are our countries in linguistic, religious, cultural and spiritual value-wise kinship, but they are also allies. The new goals and vectors of the continued progress of the relations defined in the Shusha Declaration signed by the two countries were mentioned in this context. It is paramount to fulfil that item of the document in question which is concerned with inter-parliamentary co-operation and implementing the Azerbaijani-Turkish alliance on the parliamentary plane, too. Trilateral and multilateral co-operation is afoot between the Milli Majlis and the GNAT alongside their bilateral interaction today.

The Speaker of the Milli Majlis remarked that the subject of the two countries’ unity held the pride of place in the speech that Head of the Turkish State Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivered in the Milli Majlis following the signing of the Shusha Declaration.

Also, Sahiba Gafarova informed the guests of the suspension of activity of Azerbaijan’s delegation to the PACE and of other matters.

As he thanked for the cordial reception, Chairman of the Defence Committee of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye Hulusi Akar shared impressions of the meeting he had had with President Ilham Aliyev earlier today. He turned to the brotherhood and friendship of the two states then, saying that the Garabagh Triumph in the 44 days’ Patriotic War had been crowned with Azerbaijan having de-occupied her lands under the supreme command of President Ilham Aliyev. That Azerbaijan had restored her sovereignty and that her flags are flown all over her sovereign territory are the matters of pride with Türkiye. Mr Akar also talked about the self-sacrifice of the Azerbaijani military in the course of our lands’ liberation. He proceeded to lay down his ideas about the military development and building in our countries. It is necessary to promote relations not merely between Türkiye and Azerbaijan but also amongst all the Turkic states, the guest pointed out, mentioning the significance of parliamentary diplomacy in this regard. He recalled the visits of the GNAT Chairman Numan Kurtulmuş to Azerbaijan and the Milli Majlis Speaker Sahiba Gafarova to Türkiye and underscored the importance of reciprocal visits for the advancement of the inter-legislature connexions.

Hulusi Akar said he was certain that Armenia would soon accept the hand extended by Azerbaijan and a peace treaty would be signed between the two countries equally as soon. As for the Zangazur Corridor, its launch would bring tremendous benefits to the regional and other countries alike, according to the Chairman of the GNAT Committee.

There was then an exchange of opinions about other matters of shared interest at this meeting.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis