The official opening of the Week of Azerbaijan took place today at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. The event was organized by the Azerbaijan Club of MGIMO. It has been in preparation for two years and became possible with the support of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation in Russia.
The Week of Azerbaijan is to last five days, each of them will be devoted to a particular topic. So today was focused on the constitutional system and the state of the republic, acting vice-rector of Moscow State Institute for General Affairs Artem Malgin said in an interview with a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza. "The theme was chosen because of today’s holiday. November 12th is the Day of the Constitution of Azerbaijan, which has existed for 20 years,’’ he recalled.
Friday is a day for the history and foreign policy of Azerbaijan. It is organized by the leading expert of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan, Solmaz Tohidi, and Philip Nobel, the great-grandson of Alfred Nobel, who can tell about history of his family in Azerbaijan and answer students' questions. The games ‘What? Where? When?’ in the context of the youth association AMOR and a final concert are to take on Friday, the final day of the exhibition. The charity exhibition "Colors of Azerbaijan", organized together with the charitable foundation ‘Zhivi,’ is to take place during the week. All funds will be directed to helping children suffering from cancer.
Commenting on the event, Artem Malgin proposed the Azerbaijani students at MGIMO, organizers of the event to extend the event with the help of representatives of other universities, without trying to organize all the events in one week. "It is better to meet more often," he said.
The Vice-Rector of MGIMO for general issues underlined that today the quality of Azerbaijani students has increased. "I think the Azerbaijani Club of MGIMO is on the rise now. There are a lot of postgraduate students, not only Moscow Azerbaijanis, but also from Azerbaijan and other foreign universities in Moscow. They have completely different experiences, which they can share with younger teammates. I would like to emphasize that, despite the fact that this is the Week of Azerbaijan, all activities are in Russian in order for internal debates and discussions with colleagues from other countries to be clear to the wider section of the participants," Artyom Malgin said.
Philip Nobel said that Azerbaijan is not only a part of his family history, but also "a fantastic country." "I love Azerbaijan and I will always try to go back there. I was there a year ago. This year I didn't manage to travel there because usually I pay a visit to Baku in the context of the International Humanitarian Forum, but this year it was held in another place. You know that Azerbaijan is my second homeland,’’ he said.
Philip Nobel said that during Friday’s upcoming lecture he will try to combine general and specialized history. ‘‘I'll try to combine my family story with the history of Azerbaijan and Russia. It's a huge topic because we are all related to each other. And I will try to cover the whole history and genealogy,’’ the grandson of Alfred Nobel said.
Recall that the Azerbaijani MGIMO club was established in 2004 on the initiative of Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva, who is the honorary chairman of the club at the moment. Its main goals are to hold events in order to tell Russian students about Azerbaijani culture, history and cuisine.
