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| Members of Parliament from Urmia, West Azerbaijan Province |
Recently, Tabriz MP Shehabaddin Bimiqdar announced that a new project had been brought to the agenda instead of the Turkish Regions Faction. However, despite the sensitivity towards the Turkish Faction, the MPs from Urmia have expressed that they will continue their work.
The Yol Press media group, based in Urmia, contacted all three Urmia MPs, and conservative MP Nadir Qazipur confirmed the faction is still active.
Conservative MP Ruhollah Hazratpour stated there is no sensitivity regarding the "Turkish" name in parliament, while reformist MP Hadi Bahadiri acknowledged the sensitivity but emphasized their efforts to keep the faction alive.
"The name of the faction is the Turkish Regions Faction. We stand by our word," Hadi Bahadiri said.
After these statements, reformist MP from Tabriz Bimiqdar said, "The parliamentary leadership has not allowed the faction to continue its activities. Therefore, some MPs are proposing that the faction be renamed the Northwest Provinces Faction to alleviate the sensitivities. Of course, I do not accept this."
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| Shehabaddin Bimiqdar, MP |
However, conservative MP Ruhollah Hazratpour argued that the leadership has allowed the Turkish Faction to continue its activities.
While contradictory statements regarding the Turkish Regions Faction have been released, the faction’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, and spokesperson Zahra Saei have not provided any explanations thus far.
The MPs from Urmia also discussed the new list of ministers presented by President Hassan Rouhani to the parliament. According to Hazratpour, "There are no Turkish politicians from the border provinces of Azerbaijan in the new cabinet, but there are several Turkish ministers from other provinces on the list."
Link to the original text in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
"Parlamentdə türk adına həssaslıq var amma biz sözümüzün üstündəyik."