On May 25th, the Science Development Foundation under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan hosted an event dedicated to the Centennial of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR).
Speaking at the event, Executive Director of Science Development Foundation Dr. Elchin Babayev briefed the participants about the short but glorious history of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, speaking on the major political obstacles that emerged in its creation, including purposefully created difficulties. He noted that keeping the state from ongoing and upcoming threats against its independence is harder than establishing a state. Mentioning the complexity of both eras and comparing the political tension in the 90’s of the last century and the situation in 1918, Dr. Babayev reminded the threat of separation of the country and gaining independence as a result of the relentless efforts deployed by the founding President Heydar Aliyev. He underlined the fact that although the Democratic People's Republic of Azerbaijan, which was the first democratic institution in the East, is short-lived, the independent Republic of Azerbaijan, established by nationwide leader Heydar Aliyev and successfully ruled by world-renowned politician Ilham Aliyev, turned into a prosperous and stable country with a strong army, economy, and international relations. Elchin Babayev also mentioned the forces that ignored these achievements and criticized hypocritical and deceptive actions of some people such as Rustam Ibrahimbayov and urged every Azerbaijani to condemn such treachery.
Elchin Babayev touched on the contribution of the Science Development Foundation to the 100th anniversary of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic mentioning that, on this occasion, abio-bibliographic lexicon named “Muslim Azerbaijani elite of Karabakh within Political Tensions and on the way of Modernization” was published in German by the Science Development Foundation. The authors of the book are Prof. Dr. Eva-Maria Auch, the Chair of the "History of Azerbaijan" faculty at Berlin Humboldt University in Germany and Prof. Rasim Mirzayev from the same faculty.
The book is a product of the same grant project and has been published as a result of the joint research work of German and Azerbaijani researchers and serves the purpose of delivering the history of the Azerbaijani elite of Karabakh to German and other international researchers with all its details. Facts in this book introduce obvious evidences in the context of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, underlining that this region has always been an undividable part of Azerbaijan.
The book provides a comprehensive analysis of collective biography to the public of the German-speaking countries, as well as to the international community, with a purpose to demonstrate the exceptional role of the Karabakh region as one of the main spiritual and cultural centers of Azerbaijan in the establishment of national thought and statehood.
The book is also of a great importance in promoting the history of Karabakh and its rich cultural heritage by spreading information on the role of education activists in the region and in the national movement.
It is also planned to organize a special presentation ceremony of the book. On the occasion of the Centennial of ADR, Science Development Foundation is planning to hold several events and publication of more books by the end of the year. This also includes organizing 2 projects named “International School-Seminar of Young Geologists” and “International Conference of Scientist and Professionals on Health Tourism” which were the winner projects of the “4th Joint Grant Competition of Young Scientists and Specialists”, dedicated to the Centennial of ADR.
Fragments from the documentary “Eternal Mission”, (chief producer Arzu Aliyeva) which tells us the difficult fate of the delegation - headed by Chairman of the Parliament Alimardan Topchubashov - sent by the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic on a mission to the Paris Peace Conference, January 1919, - were also demonstrated at the event.
