Azerbaijan marked National Salvation Day on July 15. On this day in 1993 Heydar Aliyev headed the country’s government, thus saving Azerbaijan from civil war. Azerbaijani MP Mubariz Gurbanli told VK why
this date is so important for all Azerbaijani people.
- Mr Gurbanli, what’s the history of the “National Salvation Day” celebration?
- Azerbaijan regained its statehood on October 18, 1991. Back then, our young state faced a number of equally serious concerns: strengthening our sovereignty, fighting back Armenian aggression, social and economic reforms. Unfortunately, those who governed Azerbaijan at that time were not up to the challenge and the country fell into chaos, while the Armenians kept advancing into our territory.
Internal political strife brought the country to the edge of civil war. Colonel Surat Huseynov ordered his troops to move from Ganja towards Baku. The situation was critical. That is when the parliament and the people of our country turned to national leader Heydar Aliyev, who came from Nakhichevan to Baku. He accepted the post of Azerbaijani Parliamentary Speaker on June 15.
Aliyev came to power (he was elected President on October 3 the same year) when Azerbaijan was facing the prospect of total disintegration. Therefore, his political strategy was aimed at preventing civil war and state collapse – and he succeeded. That is why all Azerbaijani people honour the day of June 15 as the Day of National Salvation. Of course, the official celebration wasn’t established right away, only in 1997. The Day of National Salvation symbolizes not only the salvation of Azerbaijan from civil war and disintegration, but also the end of chaos and the advance of Armenian troops and the birth of a new development strategy that brought us present success.
- What steps did Heydar Aliyev take to stabilize the harsh situation at that time?
- The main task was to restore stability in the country and thus open a path to economic progress. To this end, Heydar Aliyev had to introduce some changes to the legislative system of Azerbaijan. He also had to confront some political forces opposed to the unity of our country and which had some military units at their disposal. Aliyev managed to survive two coup d’état attempts, but after 1995 military power was finally ruled out of our political picture. On November 12, 1995, the new truly democratic Constitution of an independent Azerbaijan was introduced under the initiative of President Aliyev.
As for the economic aspect of state rebuilding, Heydar Aliyev inspired the oil ‘contract of the century’, signed in September 1994. This contract demonstrated to the world that Azerbaijan possesses extremely
rich natural resourses and is ready for fair trade, thus laying the foundation for the future economic success of Azerbaijan. In its turn, the economic stability introduced by the contract resulted in increasing the level of social and political stability. As you see, Heydar Aliyev managed to achieve considerable progress in all fields, economic, political and social.
- What if Heydar Aliyev hadn't entered the Azeri political stage at this time? What would have happened to the state?
- Of course, History doesn’t know the words "what if". All I can say for sure is that Azerbaijan would have had to have gone through harsh times. Heydar Aliyev possessed a number of extraordinary characteristics: he was a person of great indispensible experience, he was known in political milieus in the world and he was an influential political figure in the CIS. He had good relations with Russia and had a deep understanding of its political course. It was only after Aliyev’s ascent to power that Azerbaijan entered the CIS. Heydar Aliyev disagreed with our previous leaders and considered CIS membership to be a valuable asset. Aliyev was a very resolute as well as humane, just and resourceful person. The people trusted him as he proved himself capable of solving serious problems. I think that the Azerbaijani people would have had to endure a very hard time if not for him.
- So how do the Azerbaijani people remember their leader?
- Of course his image is alive in the hearts of all Azerbaijani people. Every year, on the dates of his birth and death, hundreds of thousands of people come to his grave to commemorate his deeds. We will always remember him as our national leader and saviour.
- What festivities are planned for this Day of National Salvation?
- Our party, ‘New Azerbaijan’, was created by Aliyev in 1992. Every year we organize state celebrations on June 14-16. This year we organized charity concerts in various regions of Azerbaijan. We also had some events connected to our project for studying the heritage of Heydar Aliyev.
- Azerbaijan has been independent for 20 years now. What changes has it gone through?
- We will celebrate this date this autumn. President Ilham Aliyev already signed some papers concerning the festivities. We have some ideas to implement and some planning to do: we are truly independent now, our people believe in their strength. We have achieved great economic problems. For example, today our military budget is twice that of Armenia’s. Azerbaijan is a leader in the region; our rates of growth are high compared to many other countries of the world. Our state is an active player on the international scene; we have economic relations with 145 countries. We have literally made a hundred-year's-worth of progress in these past 20 years.
- What political course does the present Azerbaijani government choose to follow?
- We will guard the interests of the Azerbaijani people and we won’t join any political blocs. Our main goal is to catch up with the world’s most industrially-developed countries. We are working to make our country one of the world’s most developed states.
Interview by Ramin Naziyev, exclusively to VK.
