“Germans will do their best to restore Azerbaijan’s sovereignty”

States Hans-Dietrich Henscher

Orkhan Sattarov, head of the European bureau of Vestnik Kavkaza

The economic forum devoted to the 90th anniversary of Heydar Aliyev’s birth and prospects of economic cooperation between Europe and Azerbaijan took place on May 7th in Berlin. It was organized by the embassy of Azerbaijan in Germany, the German-Azerbaijan Forum and SOCAR.

Iimportant German politicians such as the foreign minister of Germany Gido Westerwelle, the EU Commissionaire on Energy Hunter Ettinger, and the former minister of foreign affairs Hans-Dietrich Henscher participated in the Forum.

Azerbaijani ambassador in Germany Parviz Shakhbazov described in detail the major economic direction of the economic, foreign and internal political conceptions of the country, which was developed by Heydar Aliyev in the 1990s. He also touched on prospects of further improvement of the energy partnership between Azerbaijan and European countries, including Germany. The event included an informal meeting between the Azerbaijani Ambassador and the Foreign Minister of Germany, who officially visited in March.

The member of German Bundestag Helga Daub who represented the German-Azerbaijani Forum emphasized Heydar Aliyev’s role in the development of ties between Azerbaijan and Europe; she spoke about economic successes and the tourist potential of the republic. She drew a parallel between the restoration of Azerbaijan’s independence and the unifying of Germany and noted that unlike GDR which had support from the Western partners, Azerbaijan had to make it on its own. The deputy paid special attention to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The former foreign minister of FRG Hans-Dietrich Henscher took the floor as well. Speaking about the historic role played by Heydar Aliyev in establishing of the Azerbaijani state, Henscher noted that Heydar Aliyev cared about the improvement of Azerbaijanis’ ethnic and cultural identity and historic consciousness. It played a big role in the successful development of the young state.

According to Henschner, one of the major Azerbaijani achievements for 20 years was that “Azerbaijan decided to provide the policy of responsibility, dialogue, and cooperation.” “This decision wasn’t easy, considering the occupation of a part of the country’s territory. However, today we can satisfactorily state that Azerbaijan has turned into a factor of stability and responsibility of the foreign policy in the region,” the politician stated. Touching on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Henscher esxpressed Germany’s support to Azerbaijan: “We, the Germans, will do our best for Azerbaijan, our close partner, will manage to provide its rights in its territory, according to norms of the international law.” The former minister is sure that Germany will clearly state its position on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict within the EU. “Estimating the current German-Azerbaijani relations, we can say that they have turned into a strategic partnership. The same is fair for relations between Azerbaijan and the EU,” Henscher said.

The event caused interest of not only politicians, diplomats, scientists, and experts, but also the German mass media. Journalists of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Die Zeit, Der Spiegel, Business & Diplomacy Diplomatisches Magazin were among the participants.