Author: Interview by Ramin Naziev, Baku, exclusively to VK
The 90th anniversary of the birth of Heydar Aliyev is marked on May 10th. The deputy of Milli Medzhlis, the chairman of the parliamentary committee on regional affairs, the head of the working group on Azerbaijani-Russian interparliamentary ties, Arif Ragimzade, told Vestnik Kavkaza about Heydar Aliyev.
Continuation. See Heydar Aliyev always prepared Azerbaijan for independent life
- In 1994, Azerbaijan signed the petroleum contract of the century, mostly initiated by Heydar Aliyev. How do you assess this event?
- The oil contract was signed in a very challenging environment. All the neighboring countries had a certain claim to Azerbaijan to a greater or lesser extent. And on the eve of the signing of the oil contract everything was done in order not to allow signing it. But Heydar Aliyev with his inherent wisdom made it so that after the signing of the contract there were no obstacles to its implementation. It was done in order to secure the participation of all countries concerned in this contract, and the tension was largely eliminated. Both the interests of Russia and the interests of other countries were met.
On the eve of signing one of the Vice-Ministers of Foreign Affairs said: "The Caspian Sea is not divided, no work on oil can be made. If tomorrow we will post the floating drilling rig in place that Azerbaijan considers its territorial waters, there will be war. " It was a provocative statement intended to stop the implementation of the project. But Heydar Aliyev foresaw the following actions and took preventive measures. Due to the fact that the interests of many countries were taken into account, the contract was signed and became the engine of our economic development. The subsequent implementation of the pipeline project, the currently implemented contracts for the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars – railroad – all of this is well-thought-out projects with good infrastructure, which gave opportunity for Azerbaijan to build a self-sufficient state and ensure its independence.
- How did the leaders of other countries treat Heydar Aliyev?
- Few people like the leader of a neighboring state having an impact on regional and international developments. But officially, many prominent politicians recognized his talent, his genius in politics. We have recently presented a book dedicated to the 90th anniversary of Heydar Aliyev - there is just one section devoted to the statements by world politics in his address. They all admired his talent.
- Could Aliyev rule a larger state?
- Of course! When he was first deputy chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers, not only in Azerbaijan, but also in other republics people recognized his talent, his attitude towards people of different nationalities. This applies to Ukraine, and Belarus, and Moldova, and the Central Asian republics.
- What are your most vivid memories of Heydar Aliyev?
- In June 1993, he arrived in Baku at the request of the leadership of the country to help the country out of the difficult situation. Then there was in fact a civil war, the Armenian armed forces occupied a large part of our territory, there were many refugees, each neighboring country had territorial claims against us, they wanted to grab something from Azerbaijan. There were even such options to divide Azerbaijan between the neighboring countries after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Proponents of this option were the heads of some post-Soviet countries.
Speech by Heydar Aliyev during his election as President of the Supreme Council of Azerbaijan has made a strong impression on everyone. After a series of weak-willed leaders in Azerbaijan, who could not take personal responsibility for a decision, the emergence of Heydar Aliyev on the political scene was a revelation to many people.
He saved Azerbaijan, when the fate of the people was determined, and the dignity of every individual and the nation as a whole was at stake, when the country was on the verge of collapse. Heydar Aliyev managed to normalize the situation, to lay the foundation for further development. We now have a normal economy, despite the global crisis; we reduce every year the number of unemployed and poor, and the level of life increases. People understand that this is due to the political course of Heydar Aliyev, and all of this is being implemented by the State which he had built.
