DOING GOOD DEEDS

There are many nongovernmental organizations, associations, unions, foundations and political parties in Azerbaijan today.  And practically all of them declare only highly beneficial aims and intentions.  However, experience shows that their professed objectives do not always correspond with their deeds; although there are exceptions.

There is no need for a lengthy introduction of the organization which we are going to discuss.  During the short time since its establishment, it has managed to make itself known not only in Azerbaijan, but across the world.  We will discuss the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, which will celebrate its 5th anniversary this year.

Before reviewing the history of the foundation, let us look at its strategy.  We all remember the ideological vacuum which occurred in Azerbaijan after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the 1990s.  It loomed like a dark cloud over Azerbaijan's sovereignty, its ethnic diversity, national and cultural values and, in general, it put at risk the very future of independent Azerbaijan.  Precisely back then, in those difficult times, the Azerbaijani people brought to power the National Leader of Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev, who formulated a clear ideology to fill the vacuum of the transitional period and which served as a foundation for the statehood of the newly independent country.  It was the philosophy of Azerbaijanism, and President Aliyev rallied his nation around it, thereby paving the way for the steady development of his country.

The policy which Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev continues today is predicated on this philosophy of Azerbaijanism.  But these issues called for more than governmental effort alone.  It was necessary to involve all strata of society to underscore the importance of the philosophy of Azerbaijanism in a globalizing world and pass on to future generations the ideas of national statehood conceived by Heydar Aliyev.  Precisely for these reasons was the foundation established which bears the name of the national leader.

There is no need today to discuss individually the goals and objectives which were declared at the time of establishment of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation.  It suffices to look back on the work which has been done over the last five years in order to get a clear picture.

It would be appropriate to begin with the work to convey the truth about Azerbaijan to the international community.  At a time when Armenian propaganda presents Azerbaijan to the world in a not very favourable light, the Heydar Aliyev Foundation has opened a new "front" based on rational and modern methods of information dissemination.  A new approach, new methods and completely new forms of information supply were presented to the world.  At the presentation of a collection of booklets entitled "Karabakh Realities," Mehriban Aliyeva, president of the foundation, Milli Maclis member and UNESCO and ISESCO goodwill ambassador, said:  "Ideological work requires consistent and intense efforts which meet the requirements of the time.  Given that larger-volume books attract less interest in the modern world, we chose a briefer format, and our compilation is made up of five booklets.  This is a collection of very accurate information on the history of Karabakh, the beginning of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the damage which was caused to our country as a result, the Xocali genocide and the acts of terrorism committed by Armenians.  This collection is aimed at an international audience, which is why it will be published in the English, French, German, Arabic and Russian languages.  Every person taking the booklet will have access to information, based on just and verified facts, in a very short period of time."

As we can see, this was a qualitatively different approach to the issue of international promotion.  Another result of this work was the book, "The War against Azerbaijan:  Cultural Heritage in the Crosshairs," which was published in English.  It discusses the acts of vandalism perpetrated by Armenians on Azerbaijani cultural and historical monuments in Armenian-occupied territories.  The various events organized by the foundation to commemorate the 20 January tragedy, Xocali genocide and other tragic dates in the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, also testify to the foundation's work in this direction.  This year alone, materials prepared by the foundation were disseminated in 50 countries at events which commemorated the 17th anniversary of the Xocali tragedy.  The international community also saw the documentary, Xocali Genocide, about the atrocities perpetrated by Armenian terrorists against the civilian population.  These materials enable foreigners unfamiliar with the history of the Armenian-Azeraijani conflict to assess objectively the situation in which Azerbaijan had found itself.

The creation of the Azerbaijan.az website, which is unique within the country, has also played an important role.  The very fact that from its creation it has aroused great concern in Armenia, of which Armenian electronic publications have made no secret, testifies to its effectiveness.  By releasing the Karabakh Xananda (Singers of Karabakh) album, the Heydar Aliyev Foundation has shown the world the spiritual ties which link modern-day Karabakh to its ancient roots.  And by initiating the project of the International Mugham Center in Baku, two contests of mugham singers and an international mugham festival (the festival was held on 18-25 March 2009), the Heydar Aliyev Foundation has stated, without the use of diplomatic terms, in a new and universally understood language, that the Azerbaijani people are worthy holders of the rich traditions of this genre of Eastern music.  Overall, as a result of the foundation's five years of work, Azerbaijan has been reborn in the eyes of the international community as a nation of ancient historical, cultural and moral values.

"Cultural heritage is the pride of every nation.  Among the many factors that are important for the preservation and continuation of cultural heritage through the generations, literature and language play the most important role.  Language and literature are also very important criteria in the emergence of an independent state.  If we look back at the history of our country, we will see that Azerbaijan, which is situated in an important geopolitical location, has been a part of different empires over the centuries.  But, despite all the difficulties, we have managed to preserve our culture, language, literature, customs and traditions, our national values.  This has helped us preserve our ethnic individuality.  We have preserved it to become a strong independent state," said Mehriban Aliyeva in one of her speeches.

The establishment of close cooperation with UNESCO, ISESCO and other international organizations resulted in the recognition of Azerbaijan as the "Europe" of the Muslim East.  European theatres applauded the first opera of the Muslim East, Leyli and Macnun, by Uzeyir Hacibayov and welcomed works by prominent writers and mugham singers.  The world has discovered that Azerbaijan is the land of world-famous people like Uzeyir Hacibayov, Qara Qarayev, Sattar Bahlulzada, Mstislav Rostropovich.  In short, looking at the foundation's international activity to protect and popularize the country's cultural heritage, we can see the role this organization has played in organizing and restoring Azerbaijan's cultural connections with the world.

At the same time, the Heydar Aliyev Foundation continues to promote dialogue between civilizations.  International forums like Broadening Women's Role in Cultural Dialogue, and Azerbaijan: the Past and Present of Dialogue between Civilizations, the international conference, Youth for the Alliance of Civilizations, and other events held in Baku, testify to this.  Foundation President Mehriban Aliyeva takes an active part in almost all the international events on cultural dialogue.  "Let us take the present-day world, the reality which we have today, as a reference point, without analyzing the results of this reality.  Let us try to understand what hinders, and what might help, civilizations, peoples and individuals to hear and understand one another," Mrs. Aliyeva said about the promotion of cultural dialogue.

And as for development of Azerbaijani culture, science, education, ecology, health and sports, and the charitable events which the foundation organizes, this is quite a broad range of activity, and it is virtually impossible to list all the projects in one article.  But one of them merits special mention:  The New Schools for Renewed Azerbaijan is without compare in the entire region.  No neighbouring country has built so many schools as Azerbaijan has in recent years.  More than 1,300 high schools have been built in the last three years, of which 237 were built by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation.  All the schools are equipped with modern equipment and computer classes.  Even the smallest villages in the high mountains of Azerbaijan have new schools; tens of schools have been repaired.  This is what Foundation President Mrs. Aliyeva said about the importance of education for future generations:  "In contrast to natural resources and capital, intellectual resources are essentially inexhaustible.  The national intellectual elite is of foundationamental importance today."

In general, the scope of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation is difficult to categorize.  The organization's projects cover the underprivileged strata of society, refugees and internally displaced persons, scientists, sportsmen, writers and artists.  Healthcare projects merit special attention: they include measures to aid children with diabetes, the elimination of thalassaemia and other hereditary disorders and the integration of people with poor vision into society.

The foundation also carries out humanitarian missions in different countries of the world which suffer from natural disasters or conflicts.  It is sufficient to note that the Heydar Aliyev Foundation built and put into operation a school building in early 2008 in the Pakistani city of Muzaffarabad, which had been damaged by an earthquake.

"Perhaps every person has his or her own philosophy in life.  It is not at all necessary to express that philosophy in a verbal form.  It is manifested in one way or another in the person's actions and deeds. Our foundation has its philosophy too.  Our philosophy is based on a very simple idea: doing good deeds for people. If every person can feel that someone cares, and if this happens not only at times of difficulty, but at all times, this might give a new meaning to life.  I believe that many things in the world can be changed for the better by good deeds," Mrs. Aliyeva said in one of her speeches.

It is precisely with this attitude towards people that the Heydar Aliyev Foundation has managed to assume its respected position in society, continuing to develop the philosophy of statehood and Azerbaijanism.  And these are not mere words, but facts which can be proven by the five years of its history.  "We always believed that every person, every organization is best described not by pompous phases, praise or impressive epithets, but by their work and by the results they achieve," the foundation president said.