Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 27 /Trend, A.Akhundov/
Committee on foreign affairs of Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA) is working on a draft law approving the agreement on strategic partnership and mutual assistance between Azerbaijan and Turkey, signed on August 16, 2010 and ratified by the Parliament of Azerbaijan on Dec. 22, 2010, a source at the Turkish Parliament told Trend.
The committee began consideration of a draft law on ratification of the agreement on Dec. 24, it was received by the Parliament on Dec. 8.
"After passing through the committee, the draft law on ratification of the agreement will be submitted to the General Assembly of the Great National Assembly, then it must be ratified by the President. The laws related to Azerbaijan are prepared at the Parliament quite easily, disagreements among MPs on this issue do not happen. The exact date of the project preparation by committee on foreign affairs is difficult to name, but after passing through it, the agreement can come into force within a month," said the Parliament.
As reported at the Parliament, the question of ratifying the agreement on military and financial cooperation between the governments of Azerbaijan and Turkey, signed on Dec. 16, 2010 in Ankara and approved by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev in January, has not yet been raised at the Turkish parliament.
"Not every agreement must be approved at the Parliament. Some agreements come into force after passing through Parliament, some directly," said the Parliament.
Currently the Turkish Parliament considers eight Turkish-Azerbaijani inter-governmental agreements, the draft laws on ratification of the two of them have already been prepared and submitted to the General Assembly, the draft laws on ratification of the six agreements are developed by the committee on foreign affairs.
At the last meeting of the committee held Jan. 5, 2011, the committee presented the final version of draft laws on the approval of the agreement on cooperation between the governments of Turkey and Azerbaijan in the field of copyright and intellectual property rights, signed on June 30, 2005, as well as a supplementary agreement to the agreement on social security, signed between the governments of Turkey and Azerbaijan on July 17, 1998, and submitted them to the General Assembly.
In addition to the draft law on ratification of the agreement on strategic partnership and mutual assistance between Azerbaijan and Turkey, the committee on foreign affairs is considering draft laws on ratification of other five agreements:
- Agreement between the Ministry of Women's Affairs and Family of Turkey and the State Committee on Family, Women and Children of Azerbaijan, signed on Nov. 6, 2007;
- Program of long-term economic and trade cooperation between Turkey and Azerbaijan and its implementation plan, signed Nov. 6, 2007;
- Agreement on joint cooperation between the governments of Turkey and Azerbaijan signed on Nov. 6, 2007;
- Protocol on cooperation between the Turkish Agency for Cooperation and Development under the Office of the Prime Minister of Turkey and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and the National Council on Television and Radio in the area of broadcasting, as well as the service agreement, signed Jan. 24, 2008;
- Protocol to improve and support the management of public employees between Turkey and Azerbaijan signed on June 3, 2008.