Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Baku hosted the fifth meeting of the Council of the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic-speaking Countries (TURKPA).

The meeting was held at Azerbaijan's parliament attended by chairmen of the parliaments of Azerbaijan, Turkey, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, AzerTag news agency reported.

Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, TURKPA Chairman-in-Office Cemil Cicek opened the event speaking about the activities of the organization.

Cicek noted that important events have been held in Turkic world in the last two weeks.

He noted that the fourth Summit of the Cooperation Council of Turkic-speaking States (CCTS) was held in Bodrum last week.

Cicek hailed such events as a sign of fraternal and friendly ties between the member states.

Then Azerbaijan's Parliament took over TURKPA from the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.

Azerbaijani Parliament Speaker Ogtay Asadov thanked Cicek for fruitful activities during the past period.

He noted that the TURKPA became an influential organization and contributed to the establishment of economic, cultural and political ties among the countries.

Ogtay Asadov then gave information about the works to be carried out during Azerbaijani Parliament's TURKPA Chairmanship period.

TURKPA was established on November 21, 2008, according to anagreement signed by the Heads of parliaments of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey in the "Dolmabakhche Saray" located in Istanbul city of Turkey.

In 2009, the first plenary session of TURKPA was held in Baku. The TURKPA Regulations, Articles of Secretariat, Baku Declaration, and Statement regarding the permanent accommodation of the Secretariat in Baku city were adopted at the plenary session.

The TURKPA chairmanship is annually handed over from one country to another by means of rotation in the English alphabetical order.