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confrontations.
Speaking about the status of women in modern society, it should be noted that every 
country is following its own development path, and has its own unique characteristics. 
Today in Azerbaijan we are justifi ably proud of the role which women play in our 
society. 
In 1918 the Declaration of Independence of the fi rst parliamentary republic in the 
East provided the Azerbaijani women the right to vote and to be elected. Having 
gained access to education at the beginning of the twentieth century, they achieved 
gender equality only not  secondary, but also in higher education. 
Today  women are represented in government, in legal and judicial systems, and 
actively participate in the public and political life of our country. They make up 
71% of teachers in schools, 61% of doctors and 50% of scientists. The women of 
Azerbaijan have traveled this road for 90 years. At the same time they also managed 
to make a worthy contribution into preservation of family values. Thus, Azerbaijan, 
which unites in itself the values of the East and the West, can serve as an example in 
gender issues. 
We, women, usually face two types of models. It is considered that the woman of 
the Orient is more tied to the family, whereas the woman of the Occident is striving 
for the higher position in the society. However, both models do not correspond to 
the reality. I think that in the course of history both oriental and occidental women 
have reached such achievements which could be useful for all of us. If we manage to 
distance ourselves from those false stereotypes it will be helpful for the Orient and 
Occident both. 
There is a big number of women organizations in the world. They deal with the 
solution of many problems, carry out many actions and serve the improvement of the 
position of women in the society. These organizations have achieved a big success. 
Feminism today should bear the main burden in organizing the dialogue among the 
cultures and civilizations. I call the competent women organizations, having a big 
experience, to be more active in this fi eld. 
I take this opportunity, provided to me by this conference, and address personally 
all the fi rst ladies, who have accepted our invitation and come to the Conference. 
We know that every fi rst lady is known in her country as the person who pays 
attention to science, culture and education. Everybody is aware of the activities of 
the fi rst ladies in the solution of social problems. I am sure that all of you implement 
in your countries many projects and make every effort for the realization of various 
humanitarian initiatives. I think that if the fi rst ladies support the dialogue of 
In the Name of the Azerba  ani Woman

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In the Name of the Azerba  ani Woman
civilizations, result in considerable positive changes and will raise the problem of 
dialogue to a new level. I hope that the Baku Forum will become a traditional one in 
future and may create opportunities for the realization of ideas and goals of all of us 
in forming a useful dialogue. 
There is another urgent problem. Today we sometimes become the object of 
manipulations and perceive the real developments in such a way as they are presented 
in news reports. The stereotypes infl uence our consciousness coming from TV screens 
and mass media. 
I would like to call on all the journalists from the tribune of the Conference, 
especially female journalists. The real events taking place nowadays in the world 
and the way they are refl ected in mass media depend on the position of journalists, 
of TV channels or of a concrete political order. Every journalist should realize the 
consequences of creation of any negative image in the social consciousness. A 
cartoon, article or video material insulting the believers irrespective of their faith, is 
a blatant violation of journalistic and human ethics. It conforms neither to the system 
of human values, nor to the journalistic ethics. 
Dear friends, 
Dear visitors, 
The power of women is based on such simple things as the sense of good, love and 
charity. One cannot underestimate the power of such a force. The worthy contribution 
of this strong factor into the dialogue among the cultures and civilizations depends 
on us. 
Thank you for your attention.

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TO THE PARTICIPANTS OF III CONGRESS OF THE 
WOMEN OF AZERBAIJAN
Baku, September 26, 2008
Dear delegates of the Conference!
Dear women! 
I warmly greet you – the participants of III Congress of the Women of Azerbaijan, 
and wish you good health, happiness and success at work. The Azerbaijani woman 
has always demonstrated wisdom, selfl essness and determination on the way of 
preservation of our customs and traditions, their transfer from generation to 
generation. She preserved the high national-moral values inherent in our people all 
the time, directed all her energy and ability to the education of youth in the spirit of 
national ideology, strong attachment to the homeland, work and family. Throughout 
centuries our outstanding fi gures  glorifi ed tenderness and beauty, courage and 
faithfulness, intelligence of the Azerbaijani women. Moral purity, richness of the 
internal  world of our women have been fully refl ected in our monuments of word 
and art of which we are proud. 
The Azerbaijani woman, who in the beginning of the past century got full rights 
and freedom, became a member of our society equal in rights and made valuable 
contributions to the development of the country. Our women who have experienced 
big losses and undergone shocks during the diffi cult political processes after 
the restoration of the independence of Azerbaijan, sacrifi ced for the sake of the 
sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country, and show today devotion to the 
ideals of feedom, and worthily serve the cause of construction of the national state. 
The successes reached by them in various areas are noteworthy. Knowledge and 
ability of the Azerbaijani women has played great role in the successes reached by 
our dynamically developing country. The democratic atmosphere established in the  
republic has created favorable environment for the realization of rich potentials of 
the Azerbaijani woman. 
The policy pursued by Azerbaijan concerning women, eliminating any 
discrimination, aimed at ensuring equal rights and equal possibilities for women. I 
hope that the decisions made in the Congress will serve the further improvement of 
In the Name of the Azerba  ani Woman

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