As part of her current official visit to Kazakhstan, Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova took part in the event dedicated to the 25^th anniversary of the Lev Gumilyov Eurasian National University in the Kazakh capital city of Nursultan on 29 September.

The L Gumilyov ENU Rector, PhD History, Academician, Vice President of the National Academy of Sciences of Kazakhstan Yerlan Sidikov introduced the Chair of the Milli Majlis to the audience and supplied a detailed account of Professor Sahiba Gafarova’s academic and pedagogic work as well as her public and political activities.

The floor was turned over to Sahiba Gafarova eventually. She pointed out that she considered it an honour to read a lecture at the anniversary jubilation of the university of which President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan is Honorary Professor.

Sahiba Gafarova proceeded to talk about the academic work of Lev Gumilyov, an outstanding Eurasian student of the 20^th century who told the world the truth about the Turkic civilisation and shed light on the ethnogenesis, ethnic history and culture of the Eurasian peoples. The ideology of Gumilyov that encapsulates the idea of the Eurasianism, of the unity of the Turkic peoples and of the comprehensive integration of the Turkic civilisation takes on the increased import in the new geopolitical reality established in the modern epoch. Over the 25 years past, the Eurasian University has gone on to occupy its dignified place in the international educational community and to acquire authority in education as well as thanks to its fundamental academic research.

Madame Speaker congratulated the teaching staff and the students of the University on its 25^th anniversary then.

The dialogue between the West and the East, its significance are once again on the agenda in the globalisation circumstances. The disintegration of the USSR in the waning years of the twentieth century brought about dramatic changes on the political map of the world. Such prominent persons as the National Leader of the Azerbaijani people Heydar Aliyev and the esteemed Elbasy Nursultan Nazarbayev standing at the helm of statehood in both Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan when national states had regained their sovereignties on the international legal plane allowed the two states to become important political factors – regionally as much as globally.

Sahiba Gafarova noted as she spoke of the statehood traditions of Azerbaijan dating back over many centuries that powerful states had existed on the Azerbaijani soil since time immemorial. They were replaced with the others – the heirs to those traditions.

Sahiba Gafarova put in her detailed narration about the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic established in 1918 that that parliamentary republic had left a discernible footprint in the history of our national statehood. It was back in that year 1918 that the ADR gave women the suffrage and the right to be elected; this was done not only for the first time in the East ever but also sooner than in a good many Western countries.

The epoch of the Soviet rule was touched on, too: Sahiba Gafarova said that our country had been making a sizeable contribution to the progress and general state affairs of the colossal Soviet Union and that the petroleum industry of Azerbaijan was the locomotive for the victory over the fascism in the war of 1941-1945. The Azerbaijani oilers were supplying up to 80 per cent of all fuel produced across the country, having provided 75 million tonnes of crude oil for military needs. More than 130 sons of Azerbaijan became Soviet Union Heroes and amongst them there were those who had been thusly decorated twice. Thirty people held all the three degrees of the Glory Order and more than 170 warriors were awarded various other orders and medals.

Going further to the Heydar Aliyev Stage in the history of Azerbaijan, the Chair of the Milli Majlis told the audience that Azerbaijan had been transformed into an advanced industrial state with the national revenue having risen 2.5 times within 14 years whilst that outstanding statesman governed the country. Numerous factories and plants as well as production and processing facilities of other sorts had been built and put in operation; the new Constitution made Azerbaijani the national language.

Back in power once again at the most difficult of times since Azerbaijan had gained independence in 1991, Heydar Aliyev heaved on his shoulders the burden of responsibility for the future fate of his country. It was during those years that Azerbaijan made unprecedented achievements in all the development areas, incidentally. President of the Azerbaijan Republic Mr Ilham Aliyev is now furthering successfully the national development strategy wrought by the National Leader, according to Mrs Gafarova.

Such energy and transport projects implemented in the period of independence as, amongst others, Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, the South Gas Corridor, TANAP, TAP, Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum and Baku-Tbilisi-Kars are of great importance for the progress of not Azerbaijan alone but of the whole region, too.

Going further, Sahiba Gafarova emphasised that the resolution of the armed conflict that had lasted for close to thirty years and had been stemmed in the territorial claims of Azerbaijan was the biggest achievement made under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev. Armenia, having not merely made it impossible to resolve the conflict peacefully but also resorted to provocations all those years, made another provocation on 27 September last year. Well, Azerbaijan, acting in line with the Charter of the United Nations and using its right of self-defence, was able to make its national territory whole again in the 44 days’ Patriotic War.

Madame Speaker reminded her audience that all hostilities had gone on in the territory of Azerbaijan whilst Armenia had been bombarding the towns of Ganja, Terter, Minghechavir, Barda and Khizi situated rather far from the frontline in defiance of the Geneva Convention. Wars against humanity were committed by Armenia in that manner. The combat operations of the Armenian side targeting civilians and civic infrastructure resulted in the deaths of peaceful people and the demolition of thousands of residential buildings.

Azerbaijan executed the certain four resolutions of the UN Security Council and affirmed the supremacy of the international law during the 44-day Patriotic War. The truly Azerbaijani lands captured thirty years back were recovered; in this way, Azerbaijan restored its territorial integrity. The leaders of Azerbaijan, Russia and Armenia signed a joint statement on 10 November 2020 – the one that made it possible to move life in the region into the peace realm.

Sahiba Gafarova underscored the role of the brotherly Turkey’s moral and political support in securing the Victory in the Patriotic War; she also mentioned the principal standpoint and friendly support of Kazakhstan on the subject of restoring the territorial wholeness of Azerbaijan. The Honorary Chairman of the Turkic Council Nursultan Nazarbayev congratulated the President of Azerbaijan on the Victory during the informal summit that the Council held online, Mrs Gafarova recalled.

Furthermore, Sahiba Gafarova told the participants of the anniversary assembly of the destructions in the de-occupied lands; the region was ‘the Hiroshima of the Caucasus’, she pointed out, going further to tell of Armenia’s having mined those provinces and Armenia’s refusal to give out the minefield maps. That is a war crime, according to the Chair of the Milli Majlis.

Azerbaijan is a multi-ethnic state: representatives of more than 90 ethnic groups, peoples and nations live there; traditions and customs of all the peoples are treated with respect; there is no xenophobia and intolerance in the country. National and religious tolerance constitutes one of the priority vectors in Azerbaijan’s state policy, Madame Speaker was saying.

She went further to talk about the remarkable scientists and people of the arts that our country has gifted the world with, and about the country having become a site for international events over the past years.

A strategic co-operation is established between Azerbaijan and the Eurasian countries. It rests on good neighbourhood, non-interference, equality, reciprocal respect and mutually beneficial connexions. Azerbaijan is working on maintaining sustainable peace and security in the region, both in bilateral formats and as a member of the Co-operation Council of Turkic-Speaking Countries, the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation, the International Turkic Culture and Heritage Foundation and the Non-Aligned Movement. Besides, our country is contributing across the board to the implementation of global-scale ventures.

Expanding the mutually advantageous collaboration with the Central Asian countries is one of the foreign political priorities of Azerbaijan and it is in its context that Azerbaijan is furthering the bilateral ties with Kazakhstan, its important strategic partner, Sahiba Gafarova went on. She cited specific facts and gave economic indicators regarding the work of the Inter-State Commission, operations of companies from Kazakhstan in Azerbaijan, the periodical business forums and the strengthening connexions in the petroleum sector.

Our diplomatic relations are turning thirty in August next year; the bilateral ties were deepened and evolved to the extent of strategic co-operation thanks to the efforts of President Ilham Aliyev. Having said that, Sahiba Gafarova said she was certain that the Azerbaijani-Kazakh accord would be growing stronger from day to day and that its new contents would serve to ensure the thrift of the fraternal states.

The audience received the lecture by Sahiba Gafarova with intent interest.

Rector Yerlan Sidikov who spoke after her announced that Professor Sahiba Gafarova had been made Honorary Professor per curiam the Academic Council of the L Gumilyov ENU.

The memorable presents from the Milli Majlis were given over next.

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After the jubilee event, the Chair of the Milli Majlis went to the ‘Heydar Aliyev Lecture-Room’ at the University to meet the teachers and students of that influential academic institutions assembled there. She put to them her thoughts about education and gave the youth advice. Memorable photographs were taken. The ‘Heydar Aliyev Lecture-Room’ was presented with a gift from the Milli Majlis consisting of books and paintings.

Next still, Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova gave an interview to the local mass media and shared her impressions from the visit to Kazakhstan.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis