Azerbaijan’s speaker highlights TURKPA’s growing role as presidency transfers to Kazakhstan at 14th Plenary Session / Photo

Azerbaijan’s Milli Majlis (parliament) Speaker, Sahiba Gafarova, stated at a press conference following the 14th plenary session in Astana that TURKPA (Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic States) is evolving into a vital platform for interparliamentary cooperation.

Speaking after formally transferring the TURKPA rotating presidency from Azerbaijan’s Milli Majlis to Kazakhstan’s Mazhilis, Gafarova expressed confidence that the new chairmanship would further strengthen the organisation and deepen collaborative efforts among member states, Caliber.Az reports per local media.

“Azerbaijan attaches great importance to its work within TURKPA,” Gafarova said, underscoring that the country’s engagement with fellow Turkic parliaments—both bilaterally and multilaterally—is guided by President Ilham Aliyev’s principle that “the Turkic World is our family. We have no other family.”

Gafarova described the growing sense of unity among Turkic nations—linked by shared cultural, linguistic and historical roots—as both natural and progressive. She pointed to deepening political, economic, and cultural cooperation across the region as evidence of that solidarity.

She also highlighted the role of Turkic cooperation institutions in fostering integration, including the Organisation of Turkic States (OTS), and cited regular summits and informal meetings among heads of state as key drivers of cohesion.

These informal summits, initiated by President Aliyev, first convened in Shusha in July 2023, followed most recently by a meeting in Budapest in May this year.

Emphasising the role of legislative bodies in promoting unity, Gafarova praised TURKPA as a maturing and effective mechanism for regional parliamentary collaboration. Over the years, she said, the assembly has grown in influence and capacity, helping align legislative agendas among member states.

She concluded by describing the Astana Declaration—adopted at the plenary—as a unified expression of the member states’ shared positions and a testament to the trust and solidarity that underpin TURKPA’s work.

By Aghakazim Guliyev