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democratization process. 
The participation of women in the solution of problems of our country is of special 
importance. A state committee on the problems of women was founded. There are 
a number of women organizations. The Azerbaijani women have a common goal to 
develop Azerbaijan. 
Four assemblies of the women of Azerbaijan took place in the 20
th
 century. Each 
of them was an important stage in the women movement in Azerbaijan. 
I hope that this assembly on the threshold of the 21
st
 century will have an important 
role in the history of Azerbaijan. 
I wish the assembly successes, health and happiness to each of you.
Heydar Aliyev,
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan 
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 FIRST ASSEMBLY OF THE 
AZERBAIJANI WOMEN 
September 15, 1998
Dear women, mothers, sisters and daughters!
Distinguished participants of the assembly!
I welcome you, the participants of the fi rst assembly of the Azerbaijani women 
and wish you the best!
My congratulatory letter to the assembly was conveyed yesterday. Unfortunately, 
I could not take part at your meeting yesterday. But it is not my fault. Your 
organizational committee told me when to come to the assembly. I am a disciplined 
person. If I had been told to come yesterday, I would have come. It is my pleasure 
to attend your assembly. 
I am informed about the work of the assembly, the speeches and proposals made 
yesterday. I am very interested in your assembly. I am going to watch your meetings 
recorded.
Now men are very active here. They made speeches on your behalf. I even wanted 
to ask women to deliver speeches, too. But I was aware about your program. That`s 
why, as a disciplined person, I obeyed your rules and listened to the speeches made 
by men. 
However, the speeches of our men are not the main part of this assembly. Of 
course, they gave important information to the participants of the assembly. But the 
atmosphere here, your solidarity and happiness made more impression on me. 
I have participated almost at all the ceremonies and meetings held in Azerbaijan 
in the recent fi fty years, especially since 1969 when I came to power in Azerbaijan. 
The fi rst ceremony in this palace was organized in the December of 1972. A lot of 
assemblies, international conferences, anniversaries have been held here since then. 
I have taken part in many of them. They all were organized on high levels. 
But I see such a view here for the fi rst time. Four assemblies of the Azerbaijani 
women were held during the Soviet time. They were of great importance, as they 
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played an important role in the development of women. But none of them can be 
compared with the assembly held here today. It is the fi rst assembly of the women of 
the independent Azerbaijan. For the fi rst time most of the participants of the meeting 
here are woman. Since women are the most beautiful members of the society, we 
have so much beauty here. 
There is a nice view and atmosphere here indeed. 
I did not hear the comments on the speeches made yesterday. But the atmosphere 
and the documents adopted excited me here, today. I was very much excited when 
a girl from Agdam recited a poem. I listened to her under such impressions. I have 
seen a lot of ceremonies. But I have never been excited like this. Today I feel your 
attitude towards me and mine towards you. 
I think that this assembly is one of the historical events in the history. With this 
assembly the Azerbaijani women are establishing the women`s movement and 
activity in Azerbaijan. You are doing a great job. I congraulate you. 
The Azerbaijani women are always known for their intelligence, wisdom, honor, 
diligence, courage, patriotism, loyalty and beauty. Our women have always worked 
a lot. Azerbaijan has and had prominent female fi gures. At the same time, the 
Azerbaijani women could not enjoy many rights for centuries. 
The 20
th
 century is the age of great achievements for the Azerbaijani women. The 
greatest achievement was the emancipation of the Azerbaijani women. We are used 
to the current situation of women.
But it was not like this in the past. Despite hard works our women were not 
possessing many rights. During the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan the 
Azerbaijani women were granted suffrage for the fi rst time. Since 1920 women 
have been free, enjoyed equal rights and held worthy positions in the society. 
Seventy per cent of the people working in the sphere of medicine, 50-60 per cent 
in education, and 70 per cent in culture are women in Azerbaijan. However, it was 
not like this in the beginning of the 20
th
 century. We know just some representatives 
of women in literature in Azerbaijan at the end of 19
th
 century and in the beginning 
of the 20
th
 century. There were no female doctors then. Now you see how great is 
our development. Presently women work in the spheres of life. 
One of the achievements for our people in the 20
th
 century was the elimination 
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of illiteracy. Women played an important role in this process. They became literate, 
then became teachers, sent their own children to schools and contributed to the 
literacy of our people. Now our level of literacy is much higher than that of many 
countries.
The woman hold worthy positions in Azerbaijan. Since yesterday you have raised 
some problems. For example, you propose that women must be represented in the 
state structures more. I agree with you. The council elected by you will implement 
into life necessary measures. At the same time, I understand that the outcomes of 
the assembly will create big problems for us. Please, tell me the problems, which the 
government will solve. Now I think that in order to implement your proposals into 
life, it is necessary to issue a presidential decree and charge the respective bodies to 
solve them. 
There were congratulations from abroad, for example the First Lady of the USA 
Hillary Clinton, the First Lady of Georgia Nanuli Shevardnadze. The speeches 
made by the heads of the Georgian and Ukrainian delegations were sincere and 
nice. I thank our friendly countries for those speeches and congratulations on your 
behalf. The Georgian delegation showed my picture with the Georgian women. I 
remember that it was taken long ago. President Shevardnadze is also on the photo. 
The Georgian women are very beautiful. So are the Azerbaijani women. 
In general, it symbolizes our old frienship. The Azerbaijani and Georgian peoples 
have a great friendship for centuries. The friendship between Azerbaijan and Georgia 
is a great factor in establishing peace in the Casucasus now. 
I think that women must take a more active part in the development of Azerbaijan. 
We need it. After independent Azerbaijan took the right course. A legal, democratic 
and secular state is being established in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan is pursuing democracy 
and market economy. For this we are conducting reforms in all the spheres. Our 
political reforms include adoption of our fi rst Constitution, a number of laws and 
issuance of many decrees. 
Our economic reforms aim at the establishment of the market economy in 
Azerbaijan. They include privatization, agrarian reforms, creation of conditions 
for free enterpreneurship, attraction of foreign investments and integration of 
Azerbaijan into the world economy. We are implementing these programs and 
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