Azerbaijan hosts 13th General Assembly of Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic States

By Ali Kemal Akan and Ruslan Rehimov

BAKU, Azerbaijan (AA) - Azerbaijan on Thursday hosted the 13th General Assembly of the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic States (TURKPA).

The meeting held under the theme, Green Horizons for the Turkic World: Role of Parliaments in Achieving a Green Agenda, was held in Baku with the participation of the speakers of the Turkish, Azerbaijani, Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Kazakh, Hungarian and Turkish Cypriot parliaments.

"I am very pleased to see that TURKPA, which brings us together under the same roof as the heads of the national assemblies of independent Turkic states, is getting stronger every year," Turkish parliament speaker Numan Kurtulmus said in his address.

Expressing that TURKPA has gained a unique place among cooperation institutions in the Turkic world, Kurtulmus said relations between their states and societies have progressed, strengthened and become deeply rooted in every field.

Kurtulmus said that they are witnessing an increase in the influence of Turkic states "in a period where there are serious changes in world politics and world economy," and that the Turkic world has begun standing out as a "new geopolitical power and center of attraction."

"At the same time, the way to maintain our claim to civilization in a geography where major conflicts and fractures are experienced is to strengthen our friendship and alliance. If the Turkic world establishes cooperation in language, work and ideas, there is no problem it cannot overcome or solve," he added.

He said their greatest wish is for Hungary and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus to participate in TURKPA's work as full members, and expect Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan to also gain full member status as soon as possible.

Following his speech, Kurtulmus handed over TURKPA's term presidency to his Azerbaijani counterpart Sahiba Gafarova.

* Writing by Burc Eruygur in Istanbul