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Final declaration of PABSEC IstanbulÂ summit does not include paragraph on al-QudsÂ

16 May 2018 13:37 (UTC +04:00)

The final declaration adopted at the summit of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Parliamentary Assembly (PABSEC) in Istanbul on May 16 does not include a paragraph on al-Quds (Jerusalem).

Chairman of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) Ismail Kahraman said that there is no indifference to the current events in the region.

"Therefore, we wanted a paragraph on al-Quds to be included in the final declaration of the Summit. However, representatives of some states have said they will discuss the issue with their foreign ministries and can not sign a final statement without the consent of diplomatic bodies. We respect their position, but we strongly believe that the governments of the member states will not be indifferent to the events in al-Quds and will state their position on the final statement to the General Secretariat in the coming days. We will sign the final declaration after learning their official position,” he said.

Asaf Hajiyev, Secretary General of the PABSEC said that he was convinced that the heads of the delegations would receive answers within 10 days. He underlined that if the amendment proposed by Turkey is supported by the majority of member countries, it will be included in the final declaration.

Declaration of the 25th anniversary summit of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Parliamentary Assembly (PABSEC) was adopted by member states on May 11. After the beginning of the summit on May 16, Chairman of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey Ismail Kahraman offered to add a paragraph to the document on the last events that took place in al-Quds. Heads of Serbian, Bulgarian and Russian delegations opposed the offer of Ismail Kahraman. Despite Kahraman’s insistence, Chairperson of the Bulgarian National Assembly Tsveta Karayancheva opposed the offer.

Ukrainian delegation expressed wish to add an article on “Russia's aggressive policy” to the document. In his turn, Head of Russian delegation, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma, Pyotr Tolstoy accused the Ukrainian state of genocide.

Joining the discussions, Speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament Ogtay Asadov said that in this case, other issues will also reveal.

“Then we must bring to the agenda the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict, the issue of the occupation of the Azerbaijani territories by Armenia. We have adopted a final declaration. Time was given for Turkey’s proposal on al-Quds. We will express our thoughts to the Secretariat, and if there are majority of votes, a new article will be added to the document,” the speaker noted.

Ogtay Asadov was awarded order for his services in the Assembly’s activity at the end of the 25th anniversary summit of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Parliamentary Assembly held in Istanbul.

The summit was ended.