On personality and an era: The book "The One Who Goes Forward" has been published to mark the 90th anniversary of Heydar Aliyev's birth

The book launch of "The One Who Goes Forward", the book marking the 90th anniversary of Heydar Aliyev's birth, took place today in the conference hall of the History Department of Moscow State University.The authors' collective included employees of the History Department and well-known politicians and journalists, who have used a large amount of previously-unpublished sources, including materials of the Presidential Library of Azerbaijan and the Russian State Archive of Contemporary History.The book contains the memories of people who knew Heydar Aliyev personally: presidents, heads of government, foreign ministers and leaders of Azerbaijan, the most prominent political scientists, and economists. Among them, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, Vladimir Putin, Shimon Peres, Eduard Shevardnadze, Leonid Kuchma, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Yevgeny Primakov, Alexander Dzasohov, and Vladimir Dolgov.Sergei Karpov, the dean of the History Department, opened the book launch. He noted the importance of Heydar Aliyev's personality, his essential contributions to the relations between Russia and Azerbaijan and the recent history of the two countries.The rector of Moscow State University, Viktor Sadovnichiy, recalled his first meeting with Heydar Aliyev, and how careful he was about education, and the training of young professionals. Sadovnichiy said that he remembered Heydar Aliyev as a man with an excellent memory, balanced and judicious, a person of integrity.The Azerbaijani Ambassador to Russia, Polad Bulbuloglu, commenting on the book said that "Heydar Aliyev contributed a lot to the development and promotion of Azerbaijani intellectuals, poets and scientists. He would have been very glad to learn that a branch of Moscow State University has opened in Baku. I really liked the book about Aliyev, the illustrations, everything is done very nicely, my sincere gratitude to the authors."The ambassador expressed the wish to translate and publish the book in English and Azeri. Efim Pivovar, the rector of the Russian State Humanitarian University, said in his speech that the demonstration of "the successes and achievements of Heydar Aliyev's policies can be considered to be the foundation of the friendship between Azerbaijan and Russia. He provided an example of an effective multi-vectoral policy and actually saved his country from the decay of a political crisis. And today the country is able to address any questions, any problems"."As noted, Heydar Aliyev did not consider it shameful to recognize the achievements of the Soviet period in Azerbaijan, and did not deny the legacy of that time. In this respect, he really was "going forward." He made a great contribution to the development of not only Azerbaijan, but the entire Soviet Union, and we will always remember it," Pivovar said.Alexei Vlasov, the Director of Information and Analytical Center for the Study of Socio-Political Issues in Post-Soviet space at Moscow State University and editor-in-chief of Vestnik Kavkaza, spoke on behalf of the authors. He noted that "historians have always been inspired by great personalities. Heydar Aliyev was one of those leaders who played a major role in the development of both Azerbaijan and Russia."