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SPEECH OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF AZERBAIJAN 
HEYDAR ALIYEV AT THE MEETING ORGANIZED BY THE 
AZERBAIJANI WOMEN`S ASSOCIATION «SEVIL» DEDICATED TO 
THE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN`S DAY
 Musical Theatre after Rashid Behbudov, March 8, 1997
Dear ladies!
I congratulate you on the occasion of the International Women`s Day. I wish you 
good health, happiness and successes. I congratulate particularly the mothers of 
martyrs and soldiers. 
Women have great duties in the society. They have always duties to do and play 
a leading role in the society. 
A lot of women were forced to leave their homes as a result of the Armenian 
aggression against Azerbaijan. Most of them live in tents now. However, in such 
hard conditions they implement into life their maternal duties, bring up children and 
contribute to our state. I wish the best especially to those women, who live in such 
hard conditions. 
Women are the beauty of the society. There is no life without women. The 
Azerbaijani women differ in intelligence, talent and beauty. We are proud of 
our women. I thank all our women for their useful activity and contributions for 
Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan is an independent country now. During the transitional period we 
have a lot of diffi culties. They urge us to work hard and be united. Women play an 
important role in this fi eld. Women always support peace and goodwill. 
In such a transitional period, when some of our territories have been occupied and 
over one million our citizens are refugees, we need solidarity more. In order to pass 
this period, restore our territorial integrity mutual understanding must be established 
in our society. Our society must be united for our main tasks, such as strengthening 
and developing our country, restoring our territorial integrity and liberating our 
occupied lands. Women play a great role and contribute to the implementation of 
these tasks. 
In the Name of the Azerba  ani Woman

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I remember that thousands of people assembled around the Presidential Palace at 
night, when I addressed the nation on TV when some forces attempted to overthrow 
the Azerbaijani government in October 1994. Seeing many women among those 
people, I thought how brave and loyal our women are. The people in the square were 
in a big danger then. 
However, they displayed their will that they wanted to maintain our statehood. I 
can never forget that. 
But it is not the only case. Our women are always the pillar of our state. Therefore, 
I shall always rely on our women. I love you all. I wish you the best. Happy holiday. 
Thank you. 
In the Name of the Azerba  ani Woman

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SPEECH OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF AZERBAIJAN 
HEYDAR ALIYEV AT THE CEREMONY DEDICATED TO THE 
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN`S DAY 
 Azerbaijani State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre.
 March 7, 1998
Dear ladies! Dear sisters!
I congratulate you, all the Azerbaijani women on the International Women`s Day. 
I wish you health, happiness and successes. The Women`s Day is a great holiday for 
the whole country. It is an opportunity for all the citizens of Azerbaijan to express 
their wishes to the women. I also want to say that our women are dear to us. Their 
role in our society is very important. Important events took place in Azerbaijan in 
the 20
th
 century; women played a great role in those events. After the establishment 
of the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan in 1918, the Azerbaijani women were 
granted suffrage. This was later implemented into life, and the women contributed 
to the development of Azerbaijan as its equal citizens. The history of the Azerbaijani 
women is very old and rich. We have a very rich history and culture. There were 
prominent women in the history of Azerbaijan. We are very proud of the achievements 
of the Azerbaijani women in the 20
th
 century. They received the right to live free, 
gained equal rights in all the fi elds and used their potentials for serving our people. 
We are proud that the women play an important role in every sphere of our society. 
We have to mention the contributions of the women to our achievements in the 20
th
century. 
In general, the number of women exceeds the number of men in Azerbaijan. It is 
very good. In some spheres, including education, medicine, culture, there are more 
women than men. The number of female students at our universities is also higher 
than the number of male students. It proves that the women enjoy their rights in 
our country. We are proud of having prominent female scientists, writers, singers, 
composers, artists, doctors, cultural and political fi gures. Our women suffered from 
the recent diffi culties in the country. Armenia has occupied a part of our territories. 
Because of the Armenian aggression over one million Azerbaijani citizens have been 
forced to leave their homes. Most of them live in tents, in hard conditions now. 
In the Name of the Azerba  ani Woman

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The women in refugee families are burdened with diffi culties most. Maintaining 
family, brining up children are responsbilities of women. Everyone must respect 
women. Women are respected much in Azerbaijan. The notion of mother is sacred 
for each person. That is why, we call our homeland our motherland. There is nothing 
more important than motherland. Respecting and repaying mother must be the 
responsibility of every person. Today I want to mention mothers of martyrs and 
soldiers particularly. Mother is the beginning of everything in life. Mother brings 
up heroes who defend motherland. Mother brings up also intelligent and talented 
people. Mother is the pillar of family. Happiness of each family depends on mother`s 
role and activity. There may be diffi culties in human life. I think that mothers are 
the happiest people in the world. Our duty is to respect mothers. Mothers, women 
must be respected in the society. As I noted, the Azerbaijani women contributed to 
all the spheres of our life. I also highly appreciate the activity of our women in the 
state structures. They are very successful in their activity in the state bodies. Out of 
124 members of the Azerbaijani parliament elected in 1995, 15 are women. It is 12 
percent of the members of the parliament. It exceeds the number in the parliaments 
of some leading countries. In the past, when Azerbaijan was a part of the Soviet 
Union, our parliaments used to have female members, as well. 
The number of the female members of the parliament demonstrates the active 
role of women in our country. Our parliament was convened in 1992. It consisted 
of 50 members then. When I was elected chairman of the parliament in June 1993, 
there was only one female member out of 50. Later two more women were elected 
to the parliament. However, we have 15 female members in the parliament now. 
Each of them is a respectful person in our society. 
It was a remarkable event that Azerbaijan joined the Convention on Elimination 
of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in 1995. Some countries have not 
joined this convention yet, as they could not meet its requirements. But we can 
be proud that our country joined this convention. The Azerbaijani women make 
us happy and optimistic. We have many prominent female fi gures of culture, who 
develop our culture. They represent our country abroad on a high level. 
Sometimes we do not appreicate our women. Because we are used to them. But 
In the Name of the Azerba  ani Woman

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