ONE VICTORY FOR ALL

More than a million people in many countries marched through the main streets of the capitals, carrying portraits of their near ones and dear ones who fought in the Great Patriotic War [Second World War]. The "Immortal Regiment" action, which was conceived in Tomsk quite recently in 2012, was joined by residents in many countries. This year people came out into the streets in Moscow, Baku, Washington, Toronto, Kiev, Berlin, Tel Aviv, Ulan-Ude and other capitals to honour the memory of those who gave their lives for today's peaceful skies and demonstrate their resoluteness not to allow such a tragedy to happen again in the future. 

The Second World War was the most large-scale and destructive war in the history of mankind. More than 60 countries and approximately two billion people were involved in it, which was almost 80 per cent of the world's population in those years. The war was waged in Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania, as well as in the Pacific, Indian, Atlantic and Northern Arctic oceans. One hundred and ten million servicemen took part in the battles on the territory of 40 states,

But the main theatre of military operations was Europe, the Eastern Front, the confrontation between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, which was recognised by all the participants in the anti-Hitler coalition. In the years of that war 34,436,000 men were called up into the USSR Armed Forces, the representatives of 151 nations and peoples, one third of whom never returned home. The civilian casualties numbered considerably more. The Soviet people, who paid a high price to rid mankind of fascism liberated not only their own Motherland, but also 13 countries in Europe and Asia as well.

Over the last few years, quite a few studies have been made of the participation by the former Soviet republics in the defeat of the Nazi German invaders. The joint large-scale research by historians in 2010 has been compiled into a collection of materials "The Victory - One for All", where the contribution of each of these republics is revealed in detail.

The "Common Victory: History and Memory" scientific conference took place in Moscow in the run-up to the public holiday. The historian Sevinc Aliyeva D.Sc. gave the lecture "The Azerbaijanis in the Second World War" at the conference.

One out of every five inhabitants of Azerbaijan fought in that war, it says in the report. With a population of 3.4m (the figure for 1941) approximately 700,000 Azerbaijanis left for the front, including more than 10,000 women. More than 400,000 Azerbaijanis received military awards and medals, and 14 warriors were made full Cavaliers of the Order of Glory; more than 40 Azerbaijanis were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, 16 of them posthumously, for their military valour and acts of bravery.

Over a short period the territory of the republic itself was turned into a mighty rear-guard arsenal. In 1941-1942 17 new oil and chemical refineries and chemical plants went into operation in Baku. Baku supplied more than 70 per cent of the USSR's total petroleum output in that period. More than 400,000 fighters of the Soviet Army were treated in Azerbaijan's hospitals. One hundred and thirty types of weapons, ammunition and military equipment were produced in Baku, including the legendary "Katyusha" [lorry-mounted multiple rocket launcher - tr.] and the rocket projectiles for it. Fighter planes were in continuous production at two factories in the village of Kesla.

A large aircraft repair works was operating in Ganca. There 782 aeroplanes of different types, as well as more than 1,550 aircraft engines and other spare parts were repaired and dispatched to the front. Chemical industry plants were re-equipped to produce output to meet the needs of the military, Azerbaijan's clothing factories manufactured more than 30 types of uniforms. Considerable aid in the form of food, as well as equipment and money were provided by the residents of Baku to Leningrad [present-day St. Petersburg], Stalingrad [Volgograd], and Stavropol and Krasnodar districts. Azerbaijan took in thousands of refugees.  

It would not be legitimate to extol or belittle the degree of the contribution to the victory made by each of the republics, all the more so, on the level of heads of state, as happened on 8 May during an informal CIS [Commonwealth of Independent States] summit held in Moscow. The leaders of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan got into an argument over it, which was quite rightly not supported by the other participants in the meeting. You see, each of them had something to say about the contribution of their own people.

 "We treasure as something sacred our history and the feats of all the peoples of the Soviet Union and other allied countries, which put an end to this nightmare; it should be passed down in memory from generation to generation," Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stressed in an interview with "Rossiya 24" TV channel on the eve of his visit to Moscow to mark the Victory in the Great Patriotic War. "The younger generation should be brought up precisely to follow the example of that selfless heroism and love for Motherland, so that the traditions of heroism and love for one's homeland should be continued."

But not everything in the history of the victory celebration is as simple as all that. Under Stalin and Khrushchev this event was marked in a modest manner, with only exemplary persons featured in the central newspapers and with fireworks. The former was simply afraid of the heroes from the fronts, while the latter had fallen out with his generals. It was only under Brezhnev that 9 May was celebrated on the grand scale that it is today. In Azerbaijan the public holiday "was encroached upon" once again and in the early years of independence the authorities in Azerbaijan at that time got rid of the public holiday. 

It was not until President Heydar Aliyev came into office in 1993 that Victory Day was declared a public holiday. The public holiday and with it what is quite rightly historical justice was reinstated." Russian President Vladimir Putin also mentioned in his speech at the ceremonial reception that the spirit of being allies in the times of the Great Patriotic War should serve as an example even today.

Approximately 30 heads of state and governments from foreign countries and the leaders of international organisations attended the celebrations to mark the 70th anniversary of Victory Day. The presidents of the CIS countries - Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan visited Moscow. Besides these, the leaders of China, India, South Africa, Venezuela, Vietnam, Cuba, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Serbia, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Macedonia, Cyprus, Zimbabwe, Mongolia, Palestine and the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon took part in the ceremonial events on 9 and 10 May.

The Russian president's press service reported that 68 foreign leaders had received invitations, as well as the heads of UNESCO, the UN, the European Union and Council of Europe. But the heads of the leading Western countries boycotted it owing to considerations relating the present state of affairs, Newspapers in Europe and the USA immediately referred to this as a defeat for the Kremlin. Sky News noted that, although the festival was dedicated to the memory of the past, the list of those invited reflected the present state of affairs. "For Moscow the struggle is not yet over: the West boycotted the parade owing to events in Ukraine," France 24 [TV channel] stressed. CNN drew the conclusion that in the present political context, this reflected the lack of connection between Russia and the West.

But there is also a sober view of the situation that has taken shape. Italy's former prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, believes the absence of the Western powers at the celebrations in Moscow is due to short-sightedness on the part of the West. 

"The rostrum in Red Square, on which the leaders of China, India and the Asian countries sat side by side with the head of the Russian state, is not evidence of Russia's isolation, but of the failure of Western politics. I think that the empty seats do no demonstrate strength, but are a symbol of our defeat," the highly experienced politician wrote in an open letter published in the Italian newspaper "Corriera della Sera". 

Throughout the existence of the Soviet Union Kremlin propaganda was criticised for seeing everything in black and white. For the Kremlin there were only two definitions, namely the enemy which meant everything Western against which a struggle needed to be waged, irrespective of the positive processes in society; and then there was the other side, which needed to be helped in every way possible, frequently closing one's eyes to "deviations" in internal politics. What is happening at the moment then? The West is the one resorting to the same standards. Nowadays Russia has been allocated the part of the enemy, the social odd man out, and all those who dare to render her assistance in friendship are immediately subjected to extremely strict ostracism and pressure.

Azerbaijan is steadfast in its position regarding the economic and political sanctions imposed on Russia. This was stressed yet again by President Ilham Aliyev in an interview with a Russian television channel, after noting that Azerbaijan "is opposed to any form of pressure because it is counter-productive. We have always been in favour of dialogue, of resolving all complicated issues round the negotiating table in an atmosphere of trust. 

Naturally, to a certain extent there is no longer much trust between Russia and the West, but I think efforts need to be applied to restore it. There are very many dangers in the world, both in our own region and in Europe as well. These are extremism, radicalism, terrorism, the rebirth of fascism which we can see on the European continent. These issues need to be resolved together."

In a joint statement by the CIS countries, made during the 28th session of the UN Council for Human Rights in March it was precisely combating the current dangerous tendencies to make Nazism seem heroic that was mentioned. The delegations from the CIS countries expressed their concerns about the "cynical attempts" to forget the lessons of the war, to distort the moral and legal evaluations of its results and to justify the acts of Nazi criminals and collaborators.

According to the president of Azerbaijan, "the responsibility now lies with those politicians, with those leaders of countries, those influential public figures who sacredly honour the great feat of our fathers and grandfathers and who should constantly refer to this in their activities. For some time it seemed to us that everyone knew this, this history, since there are so many historical documents available that there could not be any divided opinions about it.

But it turns out that this can happen. The saddest thing of all is that the younger generation, those who are 20-25 years old today, when joining the Neo-Nazi marches, are essentially discrediting our common victory. If this trend keeps going in future, at some point history will be turned upside down.

I think that at this stage all the public structures that share the beliefs, about which I have spoken should coordinate their actions and  should actively work on a plan to inform the public, especially the young, about the historical truth and to combat the glorification of Nazism and the rewriting of history."