Sahiba Gafarova: Azerbaijan is ready for peace

Speaker of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova who is in the Czech Republic on an official visit currently has met with the President of the House of Deputies of the Czech Parliament Markéta Pekarová Adamová, Report informs, citing the Press and Public Relations Department of the Milli Majlis.

The President of the House of Deputies expressed satisfaction with the arrival of the Speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament to Czechia and underlined the importance of the cooperation between the legislative assemblies – not only between their speakers but also among their committees and friendship groups.

The significance of the interaction between our legislatures in international organizations was underscored as well.

It was said at the meeting that Azerbaijan is an especially important exporter of gas to Europe. Also, as Ms Pekarová pointed out, Azerbaijan is the second most important supplier of oil to the Czech Republic. It was further said that there are sound opportunities for the development of relations in the energy, trade and economic areas, and that co-operation in the field of renewable energy is also one of the important interaction areas.

The diplomatic relations are turning thirty years in 2023, it was mentioned as the conversation went on, with the two legislature heads agreeing that the inter-state relations have been advancing throughout the past period.

Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova pointed at the exceptional role of political contacts including visits and meetings at the high levels in the progress of the bilateral relations.

As she spoke of the importance of inter-parliamentary interaction as one of the principal positive influence factors for bilateral and multilateral relations, Sahiba Gafarova said it was required to make the inter-legislature interaction stronger still for the sake of continued growth of cooperation and mutual support in inter-parliamentary organizations. Besides, Mrs Gafarova highlighted the weight of the friendship groups’ joint activities, what with those groups bridging our parliaments.

Sahiba Gafarova told the Czech colleague about the present-day situation in the region, the consequences of the almost 30-year-long occupation of Azerbaijani territories by Armenia, one million of Azerbaijanis having been evicted from their homelands as a result of the invasion and the utter destruction of infrastructure and installations in the captured territories not barring artifacts of heritage, history, and religion. Saying that Azerbaijan had liberated her lands from the Armenian occupation all by herself and had then begun a large-scale reclamation of those lands relying only on her own devices and resources, the Chair of the Milli Majlis added that though it had been Azerbaijan that had suffered occupation, it had also been Azerbaijan that followed up the conclusion of the 44 days’ Patriotic War with an invitation to Armenia to sign a peace treaty on the basis of 5 principles of international law for the sake of lasting stability in the region. It is also Azerbaijan that is and has been taking great pains to attain peace.

Sahiba Gafarova informed Markéta Pekarová Adamová of the political and military provocations of Armenia, Armenia’s failure over the 3 years past to honor its assumed obligations, the anti-terrorist measures in Azerbaijan’s Garabagh Region and the outcomes of those measures. Speaker Gafarova emphasized that the measures had fully conformed to international law standards and there had been no civilian casualties. Mrs Gafarova stressed then that the mine threats posed by Armenia created hurdles to the restoration work afoot in the liberated territories of Azerbaijan. Once again, Sahiba Gafarova said that certain circles would accuse Azerbaijan of ethnic cleansing but there was not a single factual evidence to that, which the UN missions that had visited the region had confirmed.
Azerbaijan wishes lasting peace in the region, Sahiba Gafarova remarked, adding that there were no obstacles of any manner for the peace treaty between Azerbaijan and Armenia to be signed. Azerbaijan is ready for peace, Sahiba Gafarova said.

President of the House of Deputies Marketa Pekarová Adamová voiced Czechia’s support for the peace talks and underlined the importance of ensuring constant peace in the region.

The Speaker of the Milli Majlis left an entry in the memorable book then.

The meeting was followed by an official ceremony of the Czech Parliament’s House of Deputies greeting the head of the legislative assembly of Azerbaijan.

The members of the Azerbaijani parliamentary delegation familiarised themselves with the office building of the House of Deputies.