Azeri News, 27, May 2008

May 28 marks the 90th anniversary of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR), the first-ever democratic republic in the Orient.

President Ilham Aliyev on Tuesday paid tribute to a monument dedicated to its establishment in the center of Baku. Hosting a solemn reception on this occasion at the Gulustan Palace, Aliyev pointed to the tremendous historic role of ADR, regarding its creation on May 28, 1918 as a remarkable development.

The president emphasized that present-day Azerbaijan has taken its worthy place on the world stage.

Referring to the changes taking place in the country, President Aliyev said that along with economic reforms, political ones are under way. He said Azerbaijan’s current development is related to the parallel conduct of these reforms. The economy is developing successfully and the republic’s diplomatic power is growing. Great attention is being paid to the development of education, healthcare, information technologies and other fields.

Aliyev said Azerbaijan will fill the ranks of the world’s developed countries in the near future.

He said the conflict with Armenia over Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh remains the only outstanding problem faced by Azerbaijan, reiterating Baku’s intransigent stance. “The conflict can be settled strictly within Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. This is probably the reason the solution of the problem has delayed for so long. We are not making a single step back from our position of principle.”

The head of state said some forces are trying to prompt Azerbaijan to make major concessions and use their tools of pressure to achieve this, but the Azerbaijani people are well aware of this.

Aliyev said one of the means of pressuring Azerbaijan was making allegations that there are problems with the country’s democratic development. “Any pressure on the Azerbaijani state, its leadership and people, is pointless, as our policy is open and fair, and it is supported by the public. I believe that in the coming months – probably by the year-end and in 2009 – we will state our views on the solution of the Garabagh problem more meaningfully, as delays in this respect are unacceptable.”

President Aliyev said peace talks under way with the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group dwelled upon ensuring Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. He made it clear that there were no mechanisms on the negotiating table that would allow separation from Azerbaijan of Upper Garabagh where Armenians committed ethnic cleansing against civilians.

Conflicting views

As in previous years, Azerbaijanis expressed divergent views about ADR on the eve of its anniversary.

Although nearly 20 years have passed since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Azerbaijani public has yet to develop a common attitude toward the historic date and those who were involved in the developments. These disparities clearly transcended in the events held ahead of May 28.

The opposition camp claims that the authorities do not value the Independence Day enough, a charge dismissed by representatives of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party (NAP). Chairman of pro-government Ana Vatan party, MP Fazayil Aghamali, said the May 28, 1918 developments heralded the outset of a new stage in Azerbaijani history. “The independent Azerbaijani state whose foundation was laid by the late President Heydar Aliyev is a continuation of this stage.”

The NAP Executive Secretary Ali Ahmadov said Azerbaijan’s incumbent political leadership, as the successor of ADR, is worthily carrying out its historical mission. “It is not only protecting this heritage but is also cherishing it.”

The remarks of historian Karim Shukurov made at a news conference Tuesday were met with open and implicit protests. Shukurov had said the parliament’s 90th anniversary was not such a remarkable development “as that legislature was not elected by the people”.

The scholar believes then parliament was largely to blame for the collapse of the democratic republic and its transfer to the Russian Empire 23 months later. “Armenians and Bolsheviks represented in parliament at the time were striving by latent means to bring about the republic’s collapse.”

The opposition blames the authorities for the fact that no monuments have been erected so far to commemorate the founders of the Azerbaijan People’s Republic, at least that of Mammad Amin Rasulzada, and that their remains have not been transferred to their homeland so far. But the authorities say that the greatest monument of this kind is the thriving present-day Azerbaijan Republic, and that the ADR’s flag, anthem and coat-of-arms which remain the attributes of the contemporary state represent proof that the founders of the republic are held in deep respect.*

Azerbaijan Democratic Republic 1918-1920