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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
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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
In the Name of the Azerba ani Woman
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