President Aliyev: Azerbaijan pursues consistent policy to ensure equal rights, opportunities for women
The 5th Women’s Forum dedicated to the centenary of granting suffrage to Azerbaijani women kicked off at the Baku Convention Center on May 30.
Head of the Department for Humanitarian Policy Issues of the Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan Farah Aliyeva read out the letter of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to the participants of the forum.
“Holding the forum in connection with the 100th anniversary of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic is rather symbolic. Having obtained the right to elect and be elected long before the women of many advanced countries during the period of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, which was the first democratic republic in the Muslim East, the Azerbaijani women began to actively participate in the socio-political, socio-economic, scientific and cultural life of the country,” the letter said.
They have worked hard, particularly, in the field of creating education, healthcare and culture systems based on modern principles, they have passed a path full of achievements, according to President Aliyev.
“The fact that the Azerbaijani women took the first steps in a number of spheres among the women of the East is the result of the traditional great respect shown for them in our society, creation of the necessary conditions for the implementation of their knowledge and abilities,” the letter said.
Azerbaijani women, who showed heroism and courage in the name of the sovereignty, territorial integrity of the country after the restoration of Azerbaijan’s state independence, demonstrated patriotism, determination and loyalty to the ideals of independence during the difficult events of those years, the head of state noted.
“Today they preserve our centuries-old national and spiritual values, sacred family traditions, make every effort to enhance Azerbaijan’s socio-economic, scientific and cultural potential, preserve multiculturalism and tolerance environment. The consistent policy, which eliminated all forms of discrimination, and which is pursued by Azerbaijan towards women is aimed at ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women,” the President noted.
“I express confidence that the decisions to be made at your Forum will contribute to the improvement of this policy. I believe that the forum will evaluate the work carried out in recent years in Azerbaijan to implement the policy of gender equality, having set the priorities for the forthcoming period, will put forward important tasks and encourage women to further enhance their activity for the sake of Azerbaijan’s development,” Ilham Aliyev said in his letter.
During the event, Hijran Huseynova, chairwoman of the State Committee for Family, Women and Children Affairs, read out the congratulatory letter of Azerbaijan's First Vice President Mehriban Aliyeva.
“The forum is taking place during the days which are very significant for Azerbaijan. Our country celebrates the centenary of a great historic event. One hundred years ago, on May 28, 1918, leading political and public figures of our country, adopting the Declaration on the Independence of Azerbaijan announced the establishment of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic,” she said.
All the attributes of the statehood - the coat of arms, the flag, the anthem, the national army and the monetary unit - were established in the young republic, the letter said.
“Such values of our people as love of freedom, dignity, tolerance and respect for women were reflected in the state-building in the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. For the first time in the Muslim East, a democratic republic with a multi-national and multi-party parliament was created. Namely then, 100 years ago, a very progressive decision was made ahead of time in the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic - for the first time in the Muslim East, much earlier than in the US and many European countries, women, along with men, received the right to elect and be elected in the independent Azerbaijan,” Mehriban Aliyeva noted.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev received ambassadors and heads of diplomatic missions of Muslim countries to Azerbaijan on the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan on May 31.
“Our meetings in the holy month of Ramadan are of a traditional nature. I would like to take this opportunity to convey my greetings to the heads of state and government of the countries you represent. There are very close friendly ties between the countries you represent and our country. My visits to your countries, the visits of the heads of state and government of your countries to Azerbaijan are vivid proof of this,” President Aliyev said while addressing the meeting.
As you know, we successfully cooperate and support each other within international organizations, he noted.
“In particular, I would like to mention the cooperation in the UN. Our cooperation through the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is very successful. We successfully cooperate and constantly support each other in other international organizations as well,” the head of state said.
Strengthening of Islamic solidarity is one of the main priority issues of foreign policy for Azerbaijan, said the President.
He stressed that Azerbaijan provides support in international organizations for decisions and resolutions that protect the interests of all Muslim countries, and initiated many of them.
“The Organization of Islamic Cooperation rightfully highly appreciates the activity of Azerbaijan in this direction, and repeatedly stated that Azerbaijan plays a very important role in the issues of Islamic solidarity,” he said. “We are active members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. As you know, last year was announced in Azerbaijan as the “Year of Islamic Solidarity”. With the participation of your countries, grandiose 4th Islamic Solidarity Games were held in Baku. These Games are not just a sports competition, they also demonstrated the unity of the Islamic world, and we must try to fully ensure the unity of the Islamic world.”
The Azerbaijani president reminded that the ancient Azerbaijani city of Nakhchivan was declared the capital of Islamic culture this year.
“This is the second time that an Azerbaijani city is awarded this honorary title,” Ilham Aliyev noted. “The first time this title was awarded to Baku. This shows that the entire Muslim world recognizes Nakhchivan as the ancient Azerbaijani land, the Muslim land. Our monuments important for the entire Muslim community located in Nakhchivan are monuments of global significance. As you know, Azerbaijan plays an important role in introducing Islamic culture in the world. Exhibitions, presentations, other cultural events held in many European countries promote Islamic culture and embody Islamic values. We will continue this policy in the future.”
Our friendly countries, Muslim countries, support Azerbaijan’s fair position on the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Ilham Aliyev said.
“I am grateful to you for this support. As you know, all leading international organizations adopted decisions and resolutions that require settlement of this conflict within Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity,” he added.
The President recalled that the UN Security Council adopted four resolutions regarding the conflict.
The UN General Assembly, the OSCE, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the European Parliament, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) and other organizations also adopted similar decisions and resolutions, he noted.
These decisions and resolutions create legal framework for resolving the conflict, President Aliyev said, adding that the Muslim countries in these organizations participate in the adoption of these decisions and resolutions and support the settlement of the conflict.
“As you know, Azerbaijan’s historical lands recognized by the world community have been under Armenian occupation for many years. As a result of this occupation, more than one million Azerbaijanis became refugees and IDPs. Our cities and villages were destroyed by Armenians. Our museums were looted. Our historical, religious monuments and mosques were destroyed by Armenians. This is an unprecedented vandalism. Armenians committed the Khojaly genocide against our people. More than ten countries officially recognized this genocide,” he said.
President Aliyev went on to say that in order to resolve the conflict as soon as possible, first of all, Armenia must immediately and unconditionally withdraw its forces from the occupied lands and implement the resolutions of the UN Security Council, which is the supreme international body.
“Once again, I express my gratitude to your countries and to you for the fair position on this issue,” he concluded.
Such meetings became traditional as President Ilham Aliyev holds them each year during the holy month of Ramadan. Ramadan is the most sacred month of the year in Islamic culture. This year, the holiday has started on May 16 and will last for 30 days until Thursday, June 14.