UNITY IS POWER

In modern independent Azerbaijan, our people celebrate World Azerbaijani Solidarity Day every year on 31 December, ahead of the New Year. This holiday was first proposed on 16 December 1991 by the national leader of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev, then chairman of the Supreme Council of the Naxcivan Autonomous Republic.

 The legislature of the Autonomy adopted a resolution "On a day of solidarity and unity of world Azerbaijanis". There was good reason for choosing 31 December as the day symbolizing national unity. It was on this day in 1989 that Azerbaijanis on both sides of the Araz River broke through the fence on the Soviet-Iranian border after two centuries of separation. The north and south of our country united in an outburst of spontaneous fraternization, at least for a moment, before being quelled by punitive action by both Soviet and Iranian troops.

Thanks to his extraordinary intuition, Heydar Aliyev, recalling the events of that day, furthered the idea of national solidarity - already with a view to resolving national problems of the early period of independence, which required the united efforts of all his compatriots. Later, as president of the country, he described the need for national solidarity: "After Azerbaijan gained its independence, Azerbaijanism, as a principal creed, became the basic idea for Azerbaijanis living in the country and worldwide. We must rally around this idea. Azerbaijanism means that we must preserve our national identity, our national and spiritual values and, at the same time, enrich them in synthesis with universal values, as well as ensure the development of every person... Just as independent Azerbaijan is a young nation, the solidarity of Azerbaijanis, the unity of world Azerbaijanis and Azerbaijani communities in various countries are also youthful. We are organizing ourselves, our independence is growing, Azerbaijanis living in foreign countries are organizing themselves much faster and together we will develop Azerbaijanism and make it permanent and eternal..."

World Azerbaijani Solidarity Day is becoming increasingly important, because every year each of us feels more strongly the need for the unity of our compatriots, regardless of whether they live in their historic homeland or in exile. This is not simply related to a love of the homeland, which is natural for everyone, but also to the tasks now facing our people. The most important task is to ensure the swift liberation of the Armenian-occupied lands and to restore the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

The unity of Azerbaijanis throughout the world is particularly significant given the fact that the number of compatriots living in other states far exceeds the population of the Azerbaijan Republic (about 9 million people). There are few countries in the world which can compare in this respect with Azerbaijan. However, about 30 million Azerbaijanis living in Iran, mostly in southern Azerbaijan, live on their ancestral land. Another 12 million Azerbaijanis live in other countries: in Turkey, for example, there are about 3 million ethnic Azerbaijanis, in Russia - about 2 million, in the US - about 1.5 million, in Ukraine - 500,000, in Germany - 400,000 and in France - 350,000. In total, according to the State Committee for Diaspora Affairs, some 50 million Azerbaijanis live in over 70 countries worldwide. There are 312 officially registered Azerbaijani diaspora organizations. Of these, 110 are in Europe. There are regional offices of the All-Russia Azerbaijani Congress in 73 regions of Russia.

The achievement of national solidarity in such circumstances has a crucial role, and the survival and preservation of our people's national identity are totally dependent on it. In addition, any element of Azerbaijani "disunity" has a marked effect on the whole complex of relations between the diaspora and the homeland. The primary problem in the complex and contradictory conditions of globalization is to integrate successfully into global economic and humanitarian processes and to become a developed and competitive country and an influential and respected member of the international community.

The latter factor is directly related to the need to develop a positive image of Azerbaijan in the eyes of the world. Meanwhile, the concentration of the intellectual abilities of all the people, including those who live in other countries around the world, should help solve problems of vital importance for Azerbaijan itself and, therefore, each individual Azerbaijani. Hence the need to create a powerful lobby, which, together with the state itself, will solve the immediate problems of the entire nation, the most important of which at the current historic moment is, of course, the further strengthening of the sovereignty of Azerbaijan and the liberation of all occupied territories.

A significant breakthrough in establishing world Azerbaijanism was made during the two congresses of world Azerbaijanis. The first one took place in Baku on 9-10 November 2001 in accordance with an instruction by President Heydar Aliyev. It was the first congress, which brought together over 400 delegates from more than 200 Azerbaijani diaspora organizations from 36 foreign countries, that created the conditions for strengthening ties between our compatriots living abroad and the independent Azerbaijan Republic, for the unity and solidarity of Azerbaijanis worldwide, as well as for the strengthening and coordination of Azerbaijani communities, societies and associations.

The second congress of world Azerbaijanis, held in March 2006, laid down the task of consolidating the diaspora as soon as possible to develop a common position aimed at promoting Azerbaijan and its policy objectives abroad. In his address to the congress, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev said that Azerbaijan intends to exploit the potential of the Azerbaijani diaspora to counter the Armenian lobby abroad. It was at the second congress that Ilham Aliyev declared that not just the eight and a half million citizens of Azerbaijan, but also the 50 million Azerbaijanis around the world could rely on him as president. This statement provoked a wide response in many countries, especially in Iran and Armenia, which, understandably follow closely the processes evolving in Azerbaijan and around world Azerbaijanism.

No less important a role in strengthening the position of Azerbaijanism was played by the first forum of the leaders of the world's Azerbaijani and Turkish diaspora organizations, which was held in Baku on 3 March 2007. "The holding of such forums further strengthens our unity and the unity of the entire Turkic world. We are a major force," Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said at the opening of the forum, thus underlining the need to unite the efforts of the Azerbaijani and Turkish diaspora. The president prioritized the question of countering the organized Armenian diaspora, which has strong financial backing, spreads lies and slander and is trying to discredit both Azerbaijan and Turkey by distorting history. "Sometimes their false propaganda is successful. Often, hypocritical foreign politicians, whom they buy with money and bribes, support them. This is the upper limit of injustice and immorality. We must continue to counter it!" said the President of Azerbaijan.

Recent events, occurring as the negotiating process for a peaceful settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict entered a critical phase, only confirm the need for more vigorous activity by the Azerbaijani diaspora to deliver to the international community the whole truth about the Armenian occupation of our territories. And we must say that some success has already been achieved in this issue. Suffice to mention the recent story about the Euronews programme which presented distorted and completely false information about the Karabakh conflict and the current situation in the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict zone. It was largely due to protests from the Azerbaijani diaspora that the management of Euronews decided to prepare a programme which will present Azerbaijan's position on the causes and consequences of the conflict, as well as on possible resolutions.

Congratulating the Azerbaijani people on Solidarity Day, President Ilham Aliyev rightly noted that "the work being done to establish the diaspora is already producing positive results... Our diaspora organizations play an indisputable role in presenting Azerbaijani realities to the world, in promoting our rich and diverse cultural heritage and preventing the hostile ideological activities of Armenian nationalists." Our head of state called on Azerbaijanis of the world, "whose hearts beat with love for their motherland", to carry out "action-oriented activities in order to inform the governments and the public of foreign countries and international organizations about the crux of the problem. Keeping abreast of processes unfolding in the world, our diaspora organizations should increase their flexibility, find new forms of fruitful cooperation with the diaspora centres of other nations and take swift and appropriate action to counter acts of sabotage against our country." In his congratulatory address, Ilham Aliyev said once again that "the independent Azerbaijan Republic is the native land of, and reliable support for, Azerbaijanis around the world. Our major task is to take care of it and strengthen it as the apple of our eye."