Verkhovna Rada Committee chairman: Ukraine and Azerbaijan have the same goal to liberate their territories - INTERVIEW

Baku. 22 November. REPORT.AZ/ Report’s interview with Artur Palatny, chairman of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada (parliament) committee on youth and sport policy.

- How do you evaluate the current interparliamentary ties between Azerbaijan and Ukraine?

I want to say that today we have very warm relations between Azerbaijani and Ukrainian deputies. Especially after we signed a document on cooperation between the two committees – the youth and sport of Ukraine and youth and sport of Azerbaijan. It was thanks to Fuad Muradov that we signed that document. After signing we had a number of joint meetings, negotiations, we contacted on phone and in person. After that we visited Baku with a team of deputies from various factions of the Ukrainian parliament. The football team came. We were welcomed very greatly. We were fond of the hospitality in Baku. The deputies and the Minister of Youth and Sport of Azerbaijan were present following the football match. We loved this cordial reception. Even before the military conflict, in the past I took the team to Moscow on the right of a profile committee. That is we have something to compare with and we can note that this is on the level of cordial and right relations. Azerbaijanis are very hospitable and we were pleasantly surprised.

- Are any joint projects in youth sphere planned with Azerbaijan in the future?

We exchange experience. Naturally, it is very interesting for us. Because we are all coming from the former USSR, our mentality is close to each other, we understand each and we try to study, analyze these or those draft laws, present in our Ukrainian parliament. We have something to compare, share experience, because there are very many things that we could assimilate from Azerbaijan. And I am sure that it would also be interesting for our friends and colleagues in Azerbaijan to analyze, consider and study what is going on in our country.

- How do you evaluate the level of relations and ties between Azerbaijani and Ukrainian youth at the moment?

This is what we analyze being in Ukraine. Naturally, not on the level of diplomats, not on the level of ministers and not on the level of deputies. We have very many Azerbaijani acquaintances, we have a very strong Azerbaijani diaspora. Kiev mayor Vitaliy Klichko is a friend of the Azerbaijani ambassador and, as far as I know, is also familiar with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. And today he spares no effort to create a park symbolizing the Ukrainian-Azerbaijani friendship. As for Kiev, we really have a very big Azerbaijani Diaspora, very many representatives of Azerbaijan work here, there are already mixed Azerbaijani-Ukrainian families with children and even grandchildren. That is in fact I view it as very good and right relations between our peoples.

- How do you evaluate the activity of the youth movement in Ukraine?

I believe that, naturally, the movement of youth who want to get a status not only as a separate group, separate people who come from Azerbaijan to Ukraine, must be socialized on the state level. I think there is always something to strive for, something to be done. I know that we actively hold the days of Azerbaijan in Ukraine. I know that the top officials of the state and mayor Klichko and many people’s deputies mark them together with the diaspora representatives. One of the biggest and influential networks – SOCAR- has entered the Ukrainian market today. When we drive past SOCAR petrol stations, we see Azerbaijani flags hanging and remind all Kiev residents that days of Azerbaijan are held in Ukraine.

- Do you think that Azerbaijani youth is more active in the Ukrainian political and publicist sphere today that Armenian and Georgian?

You see, today it is very hard to compare, because the social status in the state sphere is today not marked either among Azerbaijani representatives, or among Georgian representatives or among Armenian representatives. I think that the number of Azerbaijani and Georgian representatives is higher than Armenians. Again, we have no exact figures since this task was not set on the state level. I think that this issue must be studied by the diaspora head and the Azerbaijani ambassador jointly with the Ukrainian representative. I am ready, as the head of the youth committee, to do it on the state level.

- What youth projects would you like to implement between Azerbaijan and Ukraine?

I would tell you that since I work in the family of the youth policy of sport and tourism, I am ready to work with the same committee led by Ulvi Guliyev in Azerbaijan. I think we will get acquainted and communicate. We have already signed a memorandum between the two committees and we will move further. As for projects, I think this will mainly be youth and sport projects.

- Do you, as a deputy and politician, see the youth of Azerbaijani origin at the upcoming elections to the Ukrainian Parliament?

I would say: why not? After all, in order to become a parliamentarian, a politician or a deputy, you need a Ukrainian citizenship and five years of permanent residence. As I have already said, there are very many representatives of Azerbaijan, who came here long ago. I think it will happen in the future, since there is active youth that is fond of Ukrainian policy. If a young people is interested, if he wants to become a politician, I think there will be no obstacles. Our laws do not limit people by nationalities.

- Is any quota presented to Diaspora representatives in the Ukrainian parliament?

We have no quotas on national minorities. That is, if an Azerbaijani wants to engage in politics, and he has no restrictions residing here, he is a citizen of Ukraine, then he can be elected to the parliament like me and engage in politics.

We have a precedent when a Hungarian community representative became a Ukrainian citizen, gained influence on the local level, was elected to the parliament as a Ukrainian citizen, and today he represents the interests of both Ukrainians and Hungarian Diaspora.

- What is your attitude towards mixed marriages when Azerbaijani young men marry Ukrainian women and mix blood?

I think we are a very democratic state and there are no unspoken bans on such marriages like it was in the Soviet union. In fact, I do not see any obstacles.

- Is this a development?

Certainly, it is the development of Ukrainian-Azerbaijani relations. We are absolutely positive on such things.

- After the USSR collapse, very many young people sacrificed their lives for the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and Ukraine? Do you think the present-day youth of Azerbaijan and Ukraine is more patriotic that in the Soviet times? Azerbaijan faces the problem of Nagorno-Karabakh and Ukraine has the problem of Donbass. War is underway, young people die every day.

We know, we heard it. We really have one common problem, and, unfortunately, if we can say so, a common enemy of both Azerbaijan and Ukraine – this is the Russian Federation which supports this or other side. I would like to note that this is the government of the Russian Federation. Because I always say that we have no Russian enemies, since Kiev is a melting pot. The matter is that we do not have a problem with Russians, we have a problem with the Putin’s regime today. And I want to say that your problem started before our problem and, naturally, I think that though it is a bad example, a bad motivator, but in Ukraine it gave a great impetus to development of patriotic spirit and a feeling of pride for our country. We understand it well: I would like to repeat that this is a bad motivator, because people die every day, the conflict does not calm down, but, unfortunately, this is the reality, but patriotism in Ukraine always exists. As an athlete in the past and a head of the committee, I can state that athletes are mainly patriots of their country, because they are used to the fact that thanks to him the Ukrainian flag is raised, Ukrainian anthem is sounded, when Ukrainian athletes win, therefore, they automatically become patriots. The patriotic spirit rose after Maidan, after the Revolution, the dignity in the country rose dramatically. In fact, we are very proud that our young people feel more pride for their country, respect their country, love their country and are ready to defend their country.

- Do you think that the Ukrainian and Azerbaijani young people are ready to support each other now and in the future?

I think that we are united by a similar situation – yours in Nagorno-Karabakh and ours in Donbas – and the confidence that today our young people communicate with each other and I do not rule out that our people will stop dying at some stage, ancient Ukrainian territories will be returned, we will clear them from occupants and from bandits who are there at the moment, presenting themselves as LPR and DPR. I am sure that this will happen in the nearest future, in one or two years – I do not rule out that Ukrainian and Azerbaijani youth may join efforts. We share the same goal to liberate our lands and defend the sovereignty of our state.

- How do you assess the level of mutual support of the Ukrainian and Azerbaijani deputies within the international organizations, such as  OSCE and PACE?

I believe that politics is a very thin ice. The activity of our committees, which I lead, which Fuad Muradov once led (former head of the parliamentary commission on youth and sport – ed.), the activity of the profile committees has the full understanding and support of the two countries. The problem is that this cadence which lasts for a year involves too many people who I think are far from real policy and rather close to cheap populism and protection of their interests. People who do not understand what creation is and can only destroy. I am sure that the next cadence, the next elections due in late October of 2019 will change the picture in the parliament. We will have a more constructive, more creative parliament. As the well-known saying goes: “If you do not agree, then criticize, if you criticize, then offer an alternative.”

Along with the devastating war with occupants and with those who seized our lands, we also face internal tensions. I believe in such a situation when Ukraine faces the external, very powerful aggressor, when we curb the external aggressor, we must not fight from inside, with the internal aggressor, which today exists in the parliament too. As to what you were talking about, misunderstanding could be with the deputies from one side and Ukraine and Azerbaijan from another side. In the same Brussels, in the same OSCE we can come across the deputies of the Ukrainian parliament, who come ‘from fool to cool’, as the saying goes. I admit that there can be some misunderstanding, though if we take the main mass of the Ukrainian and Azerbaijani parliaments, it would be the right, correct and warm relations.