The Milli Majlis Defence, Security and Counter-Corruption Committee together with the Lankaran State University held a videoconference ‘One Year of Our Victory in the Patriotic War’ on 26 October.

At the suggestion of the aforementioned parliamentary committee’s Chairman Ziyafet Asgarov, the event began with a minute of silence in memoriam the shahids who had sacrificed their lives for the Motherland. The videoconference participants appealed to the Almighty to rest the fallen heroes’ souls in peace and wished the gazies speedy recovery.

Then, Ziyafet Asgarov said that all the conferences dedicated to the first anniversary of the Victory were held at the suggestion of Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova. Mr Asgarov went on to talk about the forthcoming Victory Day on the 8^th of November and its significance for the state and the people of Azerbaijan. The Triumph celebrated after almost thirty years of occupation thanks to the adamant stance of the victorious Commander-in-Chief, the courage, high combat readiness and excellent logistics of the glorious Azerbaijani Army as well as our soldiers’ and officers’ tenacity and patriotism is an event of exceptional import in the Azerbaijani history in the first place, Mr Asgarov emphasised.

Continuing his speech, Ziyafet Asgarov referred to the path our country has covered since regaining the state independence on 18 October 1991. He talked about such momentous matters as the progress areas and vectors of the nation, the petroleum contracts inked thanks to the wise political course of the Great Leader Heydar Aliyev and the subsequent as well as consequent economic progress, the expansion of our international connexions, the building and strengthening of the National Army.

As regards the former occupation of the Azerbaijani lands by the armed forces of Armenia, the attitude to it taken within the international legal realm had been a rather passive one. The four resolutions of the UN Security Council as well as the relevant documents issued by a number of other international institutions had remained merely pieces of paper for years on end, Mr Asgarov remarked. Intent on disruption of the peace settlement in Garabagh, Armenia had been resorting to endless provocations. The April 2016 combat saw the aggressor receive a heavy blow but only to commit a provocation as soon as in July 2020 – yet again! And, finally, the counter-offensive that Azerbaijan began on 27 September 2020 culminated in the restoration of the territorial integrity of our country. Turkey and Pakistan were both providing our country with their moral and political support throughout the Patriotic War. Now, restoration and building work is afoot on the liberated soil. And as regards the inauguration of the international airport of Fuzuli today, honoured by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, it is a historic day indeed, Mr Asgarov pointed out.

Rector of the Lankaran State University Professor Natig Ibrahimov spoke to take a glance, as it were, over the path that had brought our nation to the Victory. Professor Ibrahimov talked about the unity of the army and the nation, the importance of educating our youth in the military-patriotic spirit and the prowess of our triumphant Army that had delivered the much-deserved punch to the enemy and made the world as a whole see the Azerbaijanis as a nation of victors. Professor Ibrahimov also mentioned our nation’s wartime rallying to President and Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev to form one fist that had crushed the enemy and clinched the Victory.

Then spoke the heads of the LSU departments. Dean of the Historical-Geographical Sciences and Arts Faculty Associate Professor Kamal Mahmudov, Dean of the Philology and Primary Education AP Gadim Rufullayev, Head of the Financial Management and Audit Chair AP Alikhan Badalov and Head of the Chemistry and Physics Chair AP Isa Huseynov broached the history of the Triumph and the chronology of the victories celebrated during the Patriotic War. They also talked about the Head of State having been full of political will power and resolve in resisting the international pressures. The department heads went on to touch on the economic potentials of the reconquered lands, the subject of Garabagh in the Azerbaijani literature as well as the restoration and building work going on in the freed lands with considerable dispatch.

The speakers congratulated all the participants of the conference and our people on the Victory holiday. They told proudly of the LSU people having fought in the Patriotic War – including those who had joined the host of shahids, been decorated or become gazies.

Next, an LSU master’s student Aytaj Tajibzade rose to talk about the youth policy in Azerbaijan – the one the correctness of which, she pointed out, had been proven by the youth who had fought in the Patriotic War. Today, the youth of Azerbaijan enjoy the deserved and dignified representation in more than thirty international organisations the world over, according to Aytaj Tajibzade.

Ziyafet Asgarov summed up the videoconference by saying that our lands were free of occupation, our people had vanquished the ominous enemy and had gained the Victory thanks to the endurance, erudition and policy of Ilham Aliyev, President and Commander-in-Chief of Azerbaijan, the man who had fought for the cause skilfully not only on the battlefield but also in the information field and in the diplomatic dimension.

The Press and Public Relations Department

The Milli Majlis