The 14th Plenary Session of the Parliamentary Union of Organization of Islamic Cooperation Member States (PUIC) began at Rabat, Morocco on March 11.
Kuwaiti Parliament Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim and his delegation participated in the Plenary Session, in the coordination meeting of the Arab Group, Standing Committee of Palestine, Committee of Political Affairs and External Relations, Commission on Human Rights and Women, Eight Session of the Conference of Women Parliamentarians and the Second Meeting of the Assembly of Secretaries.
Speaker of Pakistan’s National Assembly Asad Qaiser has nominated a parliamentary delegation under the leadership of Syed Fakhar Imam, Chairman of Kashmir Committee, to participate. Under instructions of Speaker Qaiser, two Resolutions – one on the situation in India Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, and the other on protecting Muslim women and children in areas under occupation and conflict – has been included in the agenda items.
PUIC is a 54-member body founded on June 17, 1999 created to provide a framework for comprehensive and fruitful cooperation and coordination among parliaments of Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states.
The Rabat Declaration, Final Communique, and full list of participants will be released on March 14, when the Plenary Session comes to a close.
PHOTO: Anadolu Agency. Turkish Parliament Speaker Mustafa Sentop (left) with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev (right).
On March 6, Turkish Parliament Speaker Mustafa Sentop paid an official visit to Azerbaijan’s capital. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev received Speaker Sentop and congratulated him on his election as speaker of Turkish Parliament. He then expressed appreciation for Sentop making his first official visit as parliament speaker to Azerbaijan.
Emphasizing the Azerbaijan and Turkey supported each other in all matters, President Aliyev said regularized mutual high-level visits after elections is a clear example of the “brotherhood” between the two countries, recalling that they had entered critical joint projects including the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) and STAR Refinery.
TANAP, the longest part of the Southern Gas Corridor, is expected to carry 6 billion cubic meters of the Caspian gas per annum, and is set to connect to Europe through the Trans Adriatic Pipeline which will transport 10 billion meters of gas per year to southeast Europe.
Turkey’s biggest oil refinery, STAR, is a subsidiary of Azerbaijani energy company SOCAR’s Turkish branch, SOCAR Turkey, and is expected to meet more than 25% of Turkey’s processed oil product needs upon start-up.
Speaker Sentop responded that he was honored to visit Azerbaijan, conveyed the greetings of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Aliyev, and reiterated that Turkey supports the rightful cause of Azerbaijan on a resolution of the Karabakh dispute.
PHOTO: MOHSEN NOROUZI-FARD/ICANA
Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani (right) shakes hands with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov (left) in Tehran on March 10, 2019.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani also visited Azerbaijan and met with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov. Speaker Larijani hailed Tehran-Baku ties as cordial and said there was a positive view about Azerbaijan in the Iranian Parliament.
“We have no restriction for economic activities with neighboring countries, including Azerbaijan”, Speaker Larijani said. He also added that “now that [Iran] has lifted the visa requirements for the citizens of Azerbaijan, we want [Azerbaijan] to remove visa requirements for Iranians, like Turkey, to facilitate the travels.”
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said that there is no problem in political and cultural relations between the two countries, adding that economic cooperation should develop accordingly.
PHOTO: Total Croatia News. Croatian Speaker Gordon Jandrokovic answers reporters’ questions.
On March 8, the Catholic Church in Carinthia, Austria rejected a request to hold an annual mass because they feared it would be used to promote nationalistic ideas. The interim administrator of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gurk said in a letter explaining the decision that the mass “has become part of a manifestation that is political instrumentalized and is part of a political-nationalistic ritual that serves a selective experience and interpretation of history.”
The mass was organized by Croatian Bishops’ Conference, and commemorates tens of thousands of Nazi-allied Croatian troops and civilians who were killed in 1945 by Yugoslav Partisans. Crotian Parliament Speaker Gordon Jandrokovic was deeply upset by the decision, and told the press on March 9 that “Not allowing the possibility to pray for the victims of that great tragedy of the Croat people means disrespect for the victims and lack of sensitivity for the suffering of the innocent.”
The Croatian Parliament started to sponsor the event again in 2016 after it had previously withdrawn its support for the event in 2012 for fear of restoring Ustaša, a WWII fascist group, in the country.
Speaker Jandrokovic said that the Organization Committee, Croatian parliament, and the Austrian regional government has already taken all steps to prevent any display of Ustaša insignia at the commemoration, and said that the commemorations are held in tribute to tens of thousands of Croatian civilians and soldiers of the defeated Nazi-allied Independent State of Croatia who surrendered to allied forces there in May 1945, but were handed over by British troops to Yugoslav forces, with many being executed on the spot and many more perishing during the so-called death marches back to Yugoslavia.
BY MSEAP Cyber Secretariat (mseap@assembly.go.kr)
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