By Vestnik Kavkaza
Today the International Forum of Victors ‘Great Victory Gained by Unity’ will be held in the Central Museum of the Great Patriotic War. About 500 delegates from 16 countries, including 50 veterans of the Great Patriotic War, will take part in it. A participant of the Azerbaijani delegation, the Executive Director of the ‘Azerbaijan’ Publishing House, Agabei Askerov, told Vestnik Kavkaza about the attitude of the leadership and residents of Azerbaijan to the Great Victory, Russian-Azerbaijani relations, and contacts between the two countries in the publishing sphere.
- How is Victory Day treated in Azerbaijan today?
- Victory Day is an official public holiday of the Azerbaijani Republic, a day off. Not only the government, but also society has always treated veterans of the war attentively, carefully, as there is almost no family in Azerbaijan whose members didn’t participate in the war.
In 1941 the population of Azerbaijan was 3.4 million people; 650 thousand of them went to the front, and more than half didn’t come back. Human losses are human losses, but we should treat this objectively: the USA lost 220 thousand people, while small Azerbaijan lost 300 thousand. Who contributed more to the victory over fascism? I don’t even mention that 80 percent of the fuel delivered to the front was from Baku. 8 out of 10 tanks operated on Baku fuel. 8 out of 10 planes operated on Baku fuel.
So when some Western countries want to exaggerate their contribution to the Victory, it causes righteous indignation of the Russians, Azerbaijanis, and other people of the former USSR.
When the German Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel signed the capitulation and among the representatives of the USSR saw Americans, Englishmen and French, he was surprised and said: “Did France defeat us too?”
My father ‘forged the sword of Victory’ in the home front. My stepfather, my uncles, husbands of my aunts fought and contributed to the Victory. A brother of my mother was awarded a Hero of the Soviet Union post-mortem. He died when he was 20.
Such holidays as Victory Day unite peoples of the former Soviet Union, and we have a right to be proud of the victory; especially today when we have 15 countries, and relations between them are not always perfect. For example, between Russia and Ukraine, between Azerbaijan and Armenia, between Georgia and Russia.
- Is preservation of historic memory for young people topical for Azerbaijan? What role is played by Azerbaijani media in this?
- In Azerbaijan, it doesn’t matter whether a periodical is pro-government or opposition, there are no differences between the ruling class and the opposition on the question of May 9th, the victory over fascism. Fathers and grandfathers of officials and the opposition activists participated in the war, and there can be no disputes.
- Is literature and press in the Russian language popular in Azerbaijan?
- It is popular. 120 thousand of our 9.5 million citizens are Russians. Moreover, there are Russian-speaking Azerbaijanis who even think in Russian.
- What do you think about the current state of Russian-Azerbaijani relations?
- Heydar Aliyev and Vladimir Putin founded close relations between Russia and Azerbaijan. Today Ilham Aliyev continues the tradition at the highest level. There are also unexploited opportunities for the development of relations, but they are friendly and brotherly today. It is easy to slam the door, but it is difficult to come back. Fortunately, neither Russia nor Azerbaijan has ever slammed the door in over 20 years. Our society views Russia very kindly as well.
- You have mentioned unexploited opportunities. What can bring our countries even closer?
- I can speak about this for 2-3 hours. In general I should say that there is potential in the spheres of economy, military cooperation, and culture. Russia loves Polad Byulbyul Ogly, Muslim Magomayev, Rashid Beibutov.
- It is Russian Parliamentarism Day on April 27th. What do you think about parliamentary development in Azerbaijan?
- There were five Azerbaijani MPs in the first State Duma of the Russian Empire. I used to be an MP of the first and the second Milli Mejlis of Azerbaijan. The first one was historic. I am proud that I used to be an MP of the first parliament of the independent Azerbaijani state.
