A notable proposal was put forward at yesterday's parliamentary session. Specifically, Rafael Huseynov, Vice-Speaker of the Milli Majlis, proposed changing the name of the Milli Majlis to Millət Məclisi.
According to him, the grammar of the Azerbaijani language requires the use of the phrase "Millət Məclisi" instead of "Milli Məclis".
Regarding the issue, historian and deputy Vasif Gafarov stated in a statement to Modern.az that when approaching the issue from a historian's perspective, it needs to be evaluated in both historical-semantic and legal-political contexts.
“Firstly, the term “Milli Məclis” is already a concept that has been formed and gained institutional meaning in the history of Azerbaijani statehood. The supreme legislative p of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, established in 1918, was officially called “Majlisi-Mabusian”, but in modern times, the adopted term “Milli Məclis” has stabilized as a political-legal concept expressing both national sovereignty and the tradition of statehood. This term was enshrined in the 1995 Constitution and gained normative force”.
According to him, the phrase “Millət Məclisi” is semantically understandable from a linguistic point of view, and analogous terms (for example, “Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi”) exist. The word “millət” expresses ethnic-political identity and the self-identification of the people. In a historical context, the concept of “millət” was closely linked to the ideology of national awakening and independence in the late 19th - early 20th centuries.
“However, the main issue here is not terminological romanticism, but legal stability and political tradition. The word “milli” in the phrase “Milli Məclis” also comes from the same root and indicates that the state is based on national sovereignty. Legal terms should be evaluated not only from a lexical point of view but also from the perspective of institutional continuity. Terminological stability is an important principle in statehood, and changing a long-standing constitutional concept should be linked not only to historical justification but also to serious legal and political necessity”.
Vasif Gafarov stated that while the phrase “Millət Məclisi” might be a subject of historical-romantic and linguistic debate, the term “Milli Məclis” has already acquired a constitutional-legal identity, and its alteration would be largely symbolic. In the tradition of statehood, stability and legal consistency should be prioritized.
