The ceremony devoted to the 91st anniversary of national leader Heydar Aliyev and 10th jubilee of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation
On May 10, a ceremony devoted to the 91st anniversary of Azerbaijani people’s national leader Heydar Aliyev and 10th jubilee of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation took place.
Azerbaijan’s First Lady, President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Mehriban Aliyeva attended the ceremony.
Mehriban Aliyeva addressed the ceremony.
Address by Mehriban Aliyeva:
- Dear Mister President.
Ladies and Gentlemen.
Dear Guests.
I would like to welcome all of you to this jubilee evening.
Today we have gathered here to mark the jubilee of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and, first of all, Mister President, I would like to express my deep gratitude on behalf of all employees of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation for the high appreciation You gave to our activities.
Ten years ago, on May 10, 2004, the Heydar Aliyev Foundation commenced its activities. The Foundation is named after the person who has laid the foundation of the contemporary Azerbaijani state, and ensured its economic and spiritual progress. Since the very beginning of our activities, we have endeavoured to be worthy of this name, by steps we made and works we did. For the past ten years, we have reached a great deal of achievements. Our most significant achievement and success was that we gained the trust and confidence of the Azerbaijani people. This is a matchless award.
We have concentrated on solving such issues in the country that had remained unsolved for long. Relying on the traditions of benevolence and mercy dating back to many centuries ago in Azerbaijan, we have tried to reach out to everyone who needed help. Taking care of children deprived of parental care, the elderly, refugees and IDPs and people suffering from a variety of diseases and morally supporting them have always been, as a priority matter, a focus of attention of us. Complete reconstruction of children’s homes and boarding schools in the country, forming a family environment in them, creation of normal conditions for the disabled to integrate them into the society, and construction of residential blocks for young people that have left children’s homes, refugee and IDP families have proved that taking care of such people and reaching a helping hand to them have been the priority directions in our activities.
Dear guests, you have just seen a documentary about the Foundation’s activities. While making the film, we have encountered certain difficulties. Because projects and programmes implemented for these 10 years have covered a number of spheres of our country’s life, and the outcome is so extensive that it was not easy to reflect all the works done in one documentary.
Today we see the outcome of the large-scale projects implemented by the Foundation – “New schools for new Azerbaijan”, “Development of children’s homes and boarding schools”, “Support for education” , “Highest care for children with diabetes”, “For life without thalassemia”, “Justice for Khojaly”, “Conveying the truth about Azerbaijan to the world” , “Azerbaijan – address of tolerance” etc., and, indeed, all these works have become a part and parcel of Azerbaijan’s general development strategy.
Mister President, You absolutely correctly stated that, in a number of cases, projects launched and initiatives put forward by the Foundation were supported by the state and more widely implemented in the country. In 2005, the Foundation embarked on implementation of the project “New schools for new Azerbaijan” and, within the framework of this project, 412 new schools were constructed in the country with the Foundation’s support. Later, this programme was supported by the state, and over 3 thousand schools in the country were repaired or reconstructed.
A few years earlier, the Foundation embarked on implementation of the program “For life without thalassemia” in order to prevent dissemination of genetic diseases in our country, and, within the framework of this programme, we built the biggest Thalassemia Centre in the region, which is the largest in the region. Today, a special program is being developed by the state to combat these diseases.
Another very significant direction of our activity has been preservation and promotion of Azerbaijan’s rich historical and cultural heritage, and introducing them to the world society. Tens of historical and religious monuments have been restored with the Foundation’s support. Mosques, churches and synagogues have been repaired and restored. Just due to the Foundation’s initiative, the International Mugham Centre was built in the capital, and mugham contests are held here each year. The Gabala International Music Festival, Rostropovich and Shostakovich festivals have already become a tradition and gained their own audience. Azerbaijan’s ancient carpet-weaving art has been entered on UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List, and our carpets are demonstrated in the most famous museums of the world.
By holding Days of Azerbaijan and Evenings of Azerbaijan in various countries of the world, we aim to introduce the past, present, history, culture, and achievements of independent Azerbaijan, as well as the environment of tolerance to the whole world. During such meetings, people rediscover Azerbaijan for themselves. Old Azerbaijani mugham is performed in the most grandiose halls of the world, and historical artefacts are demonstrated at exhibitions through works of modern Azerbaijan’s persons of art.
At the same time, we accept every nation’s cultural heritage as a universal treasure. We have been contributing to preservation of this heritage also abroad. By the support of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, the stained-glass ceiling of the Strasbourg Cathedral, monuments at Versailles Palace, churches located in various regions of France, the Berlin Castle, Roman catacombs, and valuable folios being preserved at the Vatican library are restored.
During the past 10 years, we have built partnership relations with a number of very influential organizations, having extended our activities and implemented joint projects. Our partners include influential organizations such as UNESCO, ISESCO, UNICEF, UN Development Fund. Foundation’s representative offices in Russia, Turkey, Romania and the United States have been operating very successfully.
It is a pleasing fact that recently the Azerbaijani youth have quite extensively participated in the Foundation’s initiative. Programmes and initiatives prepared by the Foundation in protecting the environment have already become a new youth movement in the country, and within the framework of IDEA’s campaign, over 3 million trees were planted in Azerbaijan.
We have, at the same time, held a number of campaigns to convey the truth about the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Daghlyg Garabagh conflict to the world society. Each year, the Foundation prepares hundreds of publications in various languages and disseminates them throughout the world. Today, we see the positive outcome of the campaign “Justice for Khojaly”.
In short, dear guests, number of works done for these 10 years is enormous. And the results are very pleasing. The factors that unite the employees of our Foundation is very simple – patriotism, mercy, benevolence and serving our homeland and people. Taking this opportunity, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all employees of the Foundation, our team, for their efficient work, professionalism, humanism and patriotism. I would also like to thank every entity, every organization, every person that have built cooperation with us, supported us and assisted us in our activities.
New calls, new goals and new victories are expecting us, and I’m confident we will be able to overcome all challenges we may face, and will reach new achievements.
Please accept my sincere gratitude for being with us this evening. Thank you very much. Enjoy your evening.