Today.Az»Politics» Azerbaijani President attends International Conference "Shaping the Geopolitics of Greater Eurasia: from Past to Present to Future" in Shusha [PHOTOS/VIDEO]
The 4th International Conference themed "Shaping the Geopolitics of Greater Eurasia: from Past to Present to Future", dedicated to the centennial anniversary of the national leader Heydar Aliyev, has kicked off in Shusha, Azerbaijan, Azernews reports.
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev attended the conference.
Opening the conference, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said:
- Good Morning. Dear guests, welcome to Karabakh. Welcome to Shusha. Very glad to see you here.
First of all I want to express gratitude to ADA University for organizing this conference dedicated to the memory of the architect of independent Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev. I was invited, and decided to meet here in Karabakh.
I've been at many events organized by ADA University, meeting with international experts, public figures in Baku, and first time here. I hope you will enjoy your visit to Azerbaijan, your trip to Shusha. Shusha has a special place in the history of Azerbaijan. And now Shusha is being rebuilt almost from scratch.
This year was announced the “Year of Heydar Aliyev” in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of our Great Leader. And throughout the year, we organize numerous events, conferences in Azerbaijan and abroad, paying respect to the memory of the founder of independent Azerbaijan, and at the same time addressing the important issues of our domestic politics, regional development, international affairs. We wanted to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Heydar Aliyev not by kind of a formal events, but by addressing real issues, which need a special attention, because the geo-politics in the region has changed, and the topic of the conference also is covering this issue.
Heydar Aliyev was always a person who was protecting the interests of the people of Azerbaijan. Regardless of the time, regardless of the political situation, during the times of Soviet Azerbaijan, when he was for more than ten years the leader of the Soviet Azerbaijan even in the framework of those ideological barriers, he was defending the interests of the Azerbaijani people. He was trying to do everything so that we keep our identity. And many steps he took during the times of 1970s and beginning of 1980s. Now we see that they were targeted to the time when Azerbaijan would be independent. So, throughout the year, and of course the events dedicated to his memory will continue until the end of the year. We wanted to fill this space with practical steps, with exchange of views, ideas, mainly with respect to the future development of Azerbaijan and also regional development. Because we cannot ignore situation in our region and though, we don’t have any risks anymore after liberation of Karabakh inside the country, but we are not living on an island. Meeting here in Shusha, has of course a special meaning for all of us. Last year, by the way, I announced the “Year of Shusha”, because it was the 270th anniversary of the foundation of the city by Karabakh khan Panah Ali, and Shusha always was the Azerbaijani city. Only during the times of occupation, for more than 28 years, Shusha was under foreign domination, but I know that you will be making a city tour after our meeting and you will see that during the times of occupation Shusha was almost totally destroyed. Though it once again demonstrates that Shusha has never been a native city for Armenians.
If it was, they would have kept it, they wouldn't have destroyed it. They would have developed it. All what you've seen or what you will see, most of what you will see - the buildings are either been renovated during the last two years and a half, or built from scratch. Heydar Aliyev’s biggest dream was to see Shusha free and we made his dream come true. So, we are proud of that. We are happy, all Azerbaijanis, not only citizens of Azerbaijan, but all Azerbaijanis of the world are proud of our victory. That was a victory of justice, historical justice, victory of international law. So, once again, thank you for making a trip here. The weather is not very friendly, but this is how Shusha is, as we can never predict. It can be storming, raining and then sunshine comes all of a sudden and I hope you will enjoy your trip. Thank you.
