Kazakhstan took over TurkPA presidency

As reported earlier, Astana held the 6 th Plenary Session of the Turkic-Speaking States Parliamentary Assembly. Parliamentary delegations of Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey arrived in Astana for the plenary session. Besides, the event is attended by the parliamentarians of the National Assembly of Hungary, who received an observer status during the previous 5th TurkPA meeting.

As the Majilis’ press service informs, the session started with the International Conference on “Statehood and Parliamentarism in the Great Steppe” held in the International Turkic Academy.

Ahead of the conference there was held a ceremony of opening a copy of Mangi Tas Monument in Mongolia.

Secretary of State Gulshara Abdykalikova, Chairman of the Majilis Kabibulla Dzhakupov, speaker of the Milli Majlis Oktay Assadov, Deputy Chairman of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey Akhmet Aydin, Vice Speaker of the National Assembly of Hungary Márta Mátrai participated in the ceremony.

Chairman of the Majilis Kabibulla Dzhakupov delivered a speech of welcome and noted that democratic traditions of the Kazakh people in new history of our country got a new development in the Constitution of Kazakhstan.

“Now we are laying the foundation of the new Kazakhstan which will provide new opportunities and will open new prospects for our multi-ethnic and multi-confessional people. Our country is an authoritative member of the global community. The public initiatives of President Nursultan Nazarbayev in ensuring peace and stability are widely known. The ideas of the people of the Great Steppe and Mangilik el (Eternal Country) have become unchanging principles of Kazakhstan,” noted he.

Secretary of State Gulshara Abdykalikova, heads of parliamentary delegations, scholars and representatives of intelligentsia took the floor too.

During the session of the TurkPA Council, the chairmanship in this Parliamentary organization was handed over from Azerbaijan to Kazakhstan.

Kabibulla Dzhakupov thanked Azerbaijani parliamentarians for the work conducted during their chairmanship in the TurkPA. “TurkPA is an important dialogue platform among the Turkic-speaking countries, whose status rises year by year. TurkPA is a parliamentary dimension of the Turkic integration. The Assembly functions actively and renders all-round support to the decisions of our countries within the Turkic Council,” he stressed.

The Majilis Speaker congratulated his colleagues on successful parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey.

The participants heard the reports about the activity of the TurkPA in 2014 and on utilization of the budget of the Secretariat last year. They discussed also the organization’s draft budget for 2016 as well as the date and the place of holding the next plenary session.

During the meeting, Chairman of the Kazakh Majilis Kabibulla Dzhakupov, Speaker of the Jogorku Kenesh of Kyrgyzstan Asylbek Zheenbekov, Chairman of the Grand National Assembly Ismet Kahraman and Speaker of the Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan Oktay Assadov were awarded the medals for their contribution to strengthening cooperation among the peoples of the Turkic-speaking countries.

On the first day of the 6th TurkPA parliamentary session, the members of the delegations attended the events reflecting commonality of cultural traditions of the Turkic-speaking states. The delegates watched Abai Opera in the Astana Opera Theater and attended the exhibition devoted to the history and culture of the Turkic-speaking countries in the National Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The leaders of the parliamentary delegations surveyed also the exhibitions dedicated to the Day of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan and expositions about the initiatives of Nursultan Nazarbayev.