Yesterday Veliko Tarnovo (Bulgaria) hosted the opening ceremony of the Trapezitsa Architectural and Museum Reserve, which restoration was made possible thanks to the support of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation. The opening was attended by the First Lady of Azerbaijan, President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Mehriban Aliyeva, the Vice-President of the Foundation Leyla Aliyeva, the Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and the mayor of Veliko Tarnovo, Daniel Panov.
Mayor of Veliko Tarnovo said that the restoration of the Trapezitsa reserve was a long-standing dream of the Bulgarian people and its implementation became possible only thanks to the Heydar Aliyev Foundation. He expressed his deep gratitude to the President Ilham Aliyev and the President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Mehriban Aliyeva.
Mehriban Aliyeva addressed the ceremony. "I am very pleased that the Heydar Aliyev Foundation has contributed to the restoration of the museum reserve. 'Trapezitsa' is a national treasure for all Bulgarian people, but at the same time it is a common European cultural heritage. So I want to say again that our Foundation is very proud of our contribution to the restoration of the world historical and cultural heritage," Mehriban Aliyeva stressed.
President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation spoke of such a feature characteristic of Azerbaijan as multiculturalism. "Dear friends, our country - Azerbaijan - is located between Europe and Asia, at the crossroads of civilizations. For thousands of years people of different nationalities, different religions have peacefully lived in our country. Today we are proud of the atmosphere of tolerance and mutual respect in our country. Being a Muslim country, we honor our traditions, our faith and our culture, but at the same time we respect all the cultural diversity of the world," she said.
"In today's world, where we unfortunately see xenophobia, radicalism, terrorism, I believe humanitarian relations, intercultural communication, trying to help is a very important weapon in the fight against all these negative phenomena. I am very pleased that one of our projects was implemented in a friendly to us country - Bulgaria. Azerbaijan and Bulgaria enjoy very strong ties based on mutual respect and mutual interests. I am confident that our current project will also contribute to the strengthening of the Azerbaijani-Bulgarian bilateral relations," the First Lady of Azerbaijan said.
She also thanked everyone involved in the project.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, in turn, expressed his gratitude to the President Ilham Aliyev, the President of Heydar Aliyev Foundation Mehriban Aliyeva and the Vice-President of the Foundation Leyla Aliyeva, for the restoration of the monument. He called calling the opening of the Trapezitsa reserve a strong bridge of friendship between the two countries.
