Congress of World Azerbaijanis focuses on pressing issues

Conveying Azerbaijani realities to the world was named among the priorities for Azerbaijani Diaspora organizations.

President Ilham Aliyev announced about this while addressing the opening ceremony of the fourth Congress of World Azerbaijanis at the Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku on June 3.

The fourth Congress of World Azerbaijanis focused on the challenges in informing the world community about the Azerbaijani realities, application of advanced methods and information technologies in awareness-raising, protection of the rights and freedoms of Azerbaijanis abroad.

Speaking about the history of the Congress, President Aliyev mentioned that from that time to the present day, a lot has been done in Azerbaijan and the country has become stronger.

Azerbaijani Diaspora organizations come a long way both in qualitative and in quantitative terms. And today, the Azerbaijanis and the organizations they represent play an important role on a global scale, the president emphasized.

Noting that the activities of Diaspora organizations are constantly in the spotlight, President Aliyev named the priority areas for the future activities of Diaspora organizations.

“First and foremost, of course, we want the Azerbaijanis living in the world never to interrupt relations with their historical homeland, always to be in touch with it and to be attached to Azerbaijan,” the president said, adding that the growing young generation should also be connected with Azerbaijan.

“First of all, it must speak the Azerbaijani language. I am glad that there are more than 160 Sunday schools operating in different countries. We probably need to increase the number of these schools, and the state of Azerbaijan will continue its efforts in this direction,” the president said.

Reminding the necessity to carry out coordination work among Diaspora organizations abroad, the president emphasized that the strength lies in unity. “Today, civil society in Azerbaijan demonstrates unity. We work for the sake of a common goal. There is no disagreement in our society regarding the country's future and strategic direction. There is a consensus is society on issues of state independence, economic independence, solution of social problems, restoration of our territorial integrity and other issues. Of course, I would like the Diaspora organizations operating abroad to be united and consolidated.”

The president also noted the necessity of stronger contacts of the Azerbaijani Diaspora organizations with the government agencies.

President Aliyev further called on the Azerbaijani businessmen living abroad to invest in Azerbaijan.

“Today, the investment climate in Azerbaijan is very positive. This is acknowledged by all influential international financial institutions. Over the past 20 years, from 1995 to the present, more than $200 billion has been invested in the country's economy. Approximately half of these funds is foreign investment,” the president said further elaborating that business environment is improving by the day.

Azerbaijan is one of the most attractive countries for investment in the world, emphasized the president. “Where there is no stability, there will be no investment. In Azerbaijan, there is stability. The guarantor of this stability is the people of Azerbaijan. This creates a perfect environment for business. So I want to say again and address the Azerbaijani businessmen with extensive financial opportunities in particular: invest in Azerbaijan, in various spheres, especially in the real sector of the economy, agriculture, industry, tourism, high technologies,” the president added.

The president also spoke about the importance of tourism sector, urging the Azerbaijanis living abroad to contribute to the development of this sector.

President Aliyev further noted the importance of brining the Azerbaijani realities to the wider world community.“I believe that one of our weaknesses, as I have already noted, is the low level of representation in governments and legislative bodies of foreign countries. Secondly, work with foreign media organizations is not very well organized,” the president said, noting a need to further improve work in this direction.

“First of all, we should work with the media. We must try to train Azerbaijani journalists who will be presented in various media organs. They will defend our homeland. They will communicate the truth, because the 21st century is a century of information,” the president said, adding that the state of Azerbaijan is ready to provide its support in this matter in one way or another.

President Aliyev mentioned that the world community should be provided with a wide range of information about Azerbaijani realities.

“We must communicate the truth, the truth that, firstly, NagornoKarabakh is historical and native Azerbaijani land. The Azerbaijani people have lived on these lands for centuries. Armenians were resettled to Karabakh from Eastern Anatolia and Iran in the early 19th century,” the president said. He added that the second important issue is to inform that Azerbaijan has been subjected to aggression, 20 percent of its lands are under Armenian occupation and a policy of ethnic cleansing has been carried out against the nation.

There should be newspapers in Azerbaijani and foreign languages, so that the Azerbaijanis, their children, could read in their native language and so that the public of these countries could learn about Azerbaijan, the president noted.

“Azerbaijan is a state that resolves and can resolve many problems, can and does provide support to others. This work should be carried out in a focused and effective manner. This will help us circulate accurate information about Azerbaijani realities,” he said.

Touching upon the April fighting, President Aliyev said that no matter how hard Armenia tried to circulate false information about these battles, it failed to do so.

“But it failed. Why? Because, first of all, we already have extensive opportunities! Secondly, we also have a say. Everyone knows what happened. Everyone knows the result of the April fighting,” the president said.

President Aliyev voiced surprise how the leadership of Armenia is trying to deceive its own people and the world community in this situation.

“As the latest example, we can refer to the words of the Armenian president at a recent summit of the Eurasian Economic Union. He suggested that Azerbaijan committed these acts in April, the "NagornoKarabakh army" took the situation under control and Azerbaijan had to ask Russia for the fighting to be stopped. This man lied four times in just one sentence,” the president said.

“First, the April battles were provoked by Armenia. Why? I have already talked about this and want to note once again briefly: because Armenia does not want peace. Seeing that pressure on them to resolve the issue peacefully is mounting and statements are made about the need to change the status quo, which would mean a withdrawal of occupying from our lands, they resort to provocations.

The second lie is that "the army of Nagorno-Karabakh" took the situation under control. First, what kind of control is it if, by their own admission, they lost 800 hectares of land? This is a very strange control. I should note that the Azerbaijani army freed not 800, but more than 2,000 hectares of land from the occupiers.

The third lie is that there is no "Nagorno-Karabakh army". It is a myth intended to mislead the international community. The people serving in the Armenian armed forces in Nagorno-Karabakh are citizens of Armenia. 80 per cent of them are citizens of Armenia born in Armenia. The "Nagorno-Karabakh army" is a myth. This is a third lie.

And the fourth lie is that Azerbaijan allegedly asked Russia for the fighting to be stopped. This is a lie. Azerbaijan did not make such a request,” the president said, adding that Yerevan turned to Russia to help to restore the ceasefire.

“I do not know of any other president who would lie four times in just one sentence. This clearly deserves to be included in the "Guinness Book of Records", but as an anti-record,” the president said, mentioning that at least this is an area in which Armenia can get the world leadership.

President Aliyev concluded his speech emphasizing that the April fighting demonstrated the power of Azerbaijan and the strength of the army once again.

After the official opening ceremony the congress featured panel sessions, meetings between diaspora representatives and heads of Azerbaijani state and government bodies, who discussed the government’s role in solving the problems facing Azerbaijanis abroad.

The final session of the fourth Congress of the World Azerbaijanis ended with adoption of important decisions. It was decided that a meeting of the Coordinating Council of the World Azerbaijanis, chaired by President Ilham Aliyev, will be held every year.

President Aliyev was re-elected chairman of the Coordinating Council of the World Azerbaijanis at the final meeting held on June 4.

Nazim Ibrahimov, chairman of the State Committee on Work with Diaspora, was re-elected executive secretary of the Coordinating Council.

The first Congress of World Azerbaijanis was held on the initiative of national leader Heydar Aliyev in 2001. The second and third congresses took place in accordance with the orders of President Ilham Aliyev in 2006 and 2011 respectively.