Parliament news

MPs LEAVE FOR STRASBOURG

Two MPs are expected to leave for Strasbourg Friday to attend a meeting of the PA CE committee on human rights, according to the chairman of the Milli Mejlis commission on international relations and inter-parliamentary ties Samad Seyidov.

According to him, MPs Gultakin Hajiyeva (non-partisan) and Gulamhussein Aliyev (PFPA) will lobby for recognition of the Khojali genocide.

DRAFT LAW ON GENOCIDE OF TURKS BEING PREPARED

Turkey is currently working on a draft law on genocide of Turks, which dwells upon the genocide of Turks on part of Armenians in Turkish provinces of Kars and Ardakhan in 1915. This was announced Tuesday by the chairman of the Civil Solidarity Party, MP Sabir Rustamkhanli who had returned from Turkey a day earlier. He indicated that his delegation had done its best to include the issue of Azeri Turks in Khojali into the document. It remains to be seen whether the endeavors will yield fruit.

MPs TO TRAVEL TO BRITAIN

Chairman of the Milli Mejlis commission on international relations and inter-parliamentary ties Samad Seyidov has told Azernews that he, together with three other MPs, will visit Great Britain March 15-20. The visit is being organized by British "Lings" organization.

According to Mr. Seyidov, the meeting, also to be attended by MPs from Georgia and Armenia, will discuss the Caucasus problems. A host of other meetings are on the agenda, through which Azeri parliamentarians will try to inform the international community of the truth about Azerbaijan, Mr. Seyidov said.

DRAFT BILL ON SCIENCE READY FOR THIRD HEARING

The meeting of the permanent parliamentary commission on science and education issues decided Thursday to include the draft law "On science and science policy" into the Milli Mejlis agenda for the third hearing.

Under the draft bill, professional and scientific growth is to be achieved through post-graduate courses, clinical studies, bachelor's and doctor's courses under academic institutions.

Besides members of the commission, working on the draft bill were specialists of the Academy of Sciences, Baku State University and other science and educational institutions.

MILLI MEJLIS ADDRESSES UN, OSCE

Speaker of the Milli Mejlis Murtuz Alasgarov told a parliament session Tuesday that the MM had prepared appeals to the UN and OSCE demanding the enforcement of 4 UN SC resolutions concerning the Garabagh conflict settlement.

The appeals have been adopted following the discussion in the Milli Mejlis on February 23-24.

SHIFT FOR LATIN SCRIPT DUE OVERNIGHT

Although the reform of the alphabet started 9 years ago, a lot of books are still being published in Cyrillic alphabet. Most of the national documents are also being prepared in this version of Azeri alphabet. If things are left as they are, we may end up with a very difficult situation. It is necessary to announce a mandatory transition to the Latin graphics, MP Mubariz Gurbanli told Azernews Tuesday. He was opposed by the head of the national television Nizami Khudiyev and professor of Baku State University Nizami Jafarov. They indicated that it will be difficult to carry out this transition, which requires some time and agitation.

The speaker supported the need for a mandatory transition to Latin graphics. "It has to be done overnight", he said and recommended to MP Gurbanli to prepare a corresponding draft bill.