90th anniversary of the birth of Heydar Aliyev

The 90th anniversary of the birth of Heydar Aliyev will be marked on May 10th. Yesterday people who were acquainted with Aliyev gathered in Moscow in the House of Unions. Sergey Naryshkin, the State Duma speaker, opened the event. Heydar Aliyev's fate reflects the history of Azerbaijan; and he wrote several very important chapters of the history. Heydar Aliyev was able to make the most important and bold decisions. We know under what conditions he returned to heading the country. He was managed to give confidence to his people, and people supported him. We all remember Heydar Aliyev as a strong, bright, independent politician; we highly appreciate his historical role in establishing of the strategic partnership between Russia and Azerbaijan, between people of our two countries. Leyla Aliyeva, Heydar Aliyev's granddaughter, opened the event together with Sergey Naryshkin. Being vice-president of Heydar Aliyev Fund, she is deeply involved in public activity. I knew Heydar Aliyev not only as the head of the country and the leader of the nation, but as my most beloved, closest, and dear person. For me, first of all, he was grandfather and the best friend who was ready to help in any situation. Today I miss him so much; but he is always near, I won't stop feeling his strength, his protection, and his love. I think Azerbaijani people feel the same, mutual love and deep respect. Friendly relations between Russia and Azerbaijan are an achievement by Heydar Aliyev. The event began with awarding prizes of the All-Russian Azerbaijani Congress for improvement of bilateral relations. After that, a concert "Heydar Aliyev's favorite pieces" took place; among others, song "Azerbaijan" by Muslim Magomayev was performed. Tamara Sinyavskaya, Muslim Magomayev's widow He was like our father. He treated Muslim as his son, so we perceived him in that way. He really treated us so, especially Muslim, and me too. There was virtually no year, when we did not meet with Heydar Aliyev - either in Azerbaijan or here in Moscow, where he worked in the Politburo. The collape of the Soviet Union became one of the hardest periods in the fate of the republics, and the Caucasus needed special stability in this periods. Heydar Aliyev provided the foundations of the current balance. Alexander Dzasokhov, former head of North Ossetia And if fate had not developed so that in a hard but very fair, difficult road Heydar Aliyev would not go back to his homeland, we would have experienced the bitterness of the difficulties faced by the ancient people of Azerbaijan. Of course, my generation appreciates the fact that he did not succumb to any situation and retained his sympathy to Russia, Russian culture and Russian history. This, of course, confirms that he is a politician, not falling under any momentary mood, seeing matters in the long run. Therefore, the Caucasus, Russia, the North Caucasus and the South Caucasus will gratefully remember his name. Alexander Yermoshkin, envoy of Dagestan under President of Russia Heydar Aliyev was the founder of the Republic of Azerbaijan. He made a great historic contribution to the establishment of the republic and everything made now by the people of Dagestan and the republic itself. It is our direct neighbor. We have a state border. And, perhaps, this is one of our largest trading partners. So far for us the development of Azerbaijan is very important. And of course we count on industrial cooperation and trade relations. Not only politicians, but also art workers were guests. Farhad Badalbeyli, president of the Baku Musical Academy We knew each other since 1968, we met when I first arrived from Lisbon with the First Prize, and he became the leader of Azerbaijan. He received me. Then he watched me training, and even in this room, as a member of the Politburo, he came to the concert. I played with Dudarova and a symphony orchestra, and he came. Then the members of the Politburo rarely attended symphony concerts, and he attended them even when he was the leader of independent Azerbaijan. Very often he included artists in the program of his official visits, so they gave concerts of Azerbaijani classical music - for example, in France or in England. He always wanted to hear Azerbaijani music. I must say that his attitude to classical music was very touching. Mark Rozovsky, art director of theater "U Nikitskikh vorot" Heydar Aliyev who led Azerbaijan in the Soviet time knew well the cultural needs of his country being a well educated man. He highly appreciated outstanding personalities of Azerbaijani musical culture. I witnessed this. I came here hoping to meet my old friends and to pay tribute to Azerbaijani culture. Thank God, Azerbaijan is prospering.