BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 22. The Azerbaijani delegation led by Speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament Sahiba Gafarova is in Georgia to attend the funeral of Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia His Holiness Ilia II, Trend reports.
At the funeral liturgy held at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in
Tbilisi in the early hours of 22 March, the Azerbaijani delegation
led by Speaker of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova expressed to the
people of Georgia the profound grief and reverence of the people of
Azerbaijan.
The Ecumenical Patriarch as well as the President of Georgia,
the Speaker of Parliament, the Prime Minister and the Honorary
Chairman of The Georgian Dream addressed those gathered at the
event in the cathedral.
The funeral procession to accompany the Patriarch on his final
journey set out from the Holy Trinity Cathedral, and the
Patriarch’s coffin was conveyed with special reverence to the Sioni
Cathedral. Funeral bells tolled in all churches across the country
and hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to pay
their last respects to the Patriarch.
The Azerbaijani delegation includes Chairman of the Caucasus
Muslim Board, Sheikh of All the Caucasus Allahshukur Pashazade,
Deputy Prime Minister Samir Sharifov and a group of Members of the
Milli Majlis.