Scientific conference dedicated to centenary of 1918 Genocide of Azerbaijanis held in Guba

Scientific conference dedicated to centenary of 1918 Genocide of Azerbaijanis held in Guba
# 31 March 2018 11:09 (UTC +04:00)

A republican scientific conference dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the 1918 Genocide of Azerbaijanis was held at the Guba Genocide Memorial Complex on March 31.

Prior to the conference, a photo exhibition “1918 March Genocide through the eyes of Belarus photographer Lev Dashkevich” and a book exhibition dedicated to Genocide of Azerbaijanis were launched.

Vice-President of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS), academician Isa Habibbeyli delivered keynote remarks at the conference.

Then, a film titled “Guba Genocide” was displayed at the event.

Addressing the conference, the Azerbaijani President’s Assistant for Public and Political Affairs, Ali Hasanov, recalled that on 18 January 2018, President Ilham Aliyev signed an order on the centenary of the 1918 Genocide of Azerbaijanis.

“Under the order, head of the Presidential Administration approved a plan of events dedicated to the centenary of the Genocide of Azerbaijanis,” he said.

He emphasized that the preservation of the mass burial site unearthed in Guba in 2007 is always in the focus of the Azerbaijani president’s attention.

Hasanov said that a commission was set up under the president’s instruction in order to study the current situation at the Guba Genocide Memorial Complex and to prevent the erosion process there.

The top official went on to say that members of the commission inspected the burial site and viewed the work of the museum created there.

“The commission members considered it appropriate to bury the human remains in accordance with national and religious traditions, to install a memorial plaque and to create conditions for the conduct of excavation work for a possible historical study. All this was reported to the country’s president. Given the commission’s proposals, the remains of the genocide victims were buried, and a memorial plaque was installed,” he said.

“Although the Armenian nationalists, having committed numerous acts of genocide, aimed to shake the Azerbaijani people and to seize our lands by force, these grave tragedies made our people even stronger and mobilized our sons and daughters for a decisive and organized struggle for the sacred Motherland and our national statehood. An adequate response given by our army to the military provocations of Armenian armed units, the liberation of part of our occupied territories clearly demonstrated what Azerbaijan is capable of,” Hasanov stressed.

He noted that Azerbaijan joined the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in 1996.

“This convention was adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1948. Although 70 years have passed since its adoption, genocide crimes still occur in many parts of the world. The main reasons are double standards prevailing in the world, failure of the international community, especially leading states to timely and adequately react to genocide crimes,” added Hasanov.

Later on, Minister of Culture and Tourism Abulfas Garayev, Director of the Institute of History of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS) Yagub Mahmudov, MP Yevda Abramov, Director of the ANAS Institute of Archeology and Ethnography Maisa Rahimova and other made their speeches at the event.

Prior to the conference, a march was held to commemorate to the centenary of the 1918 Genocide of Azerbaijanis.

Azerbaijani President's Assistant for Public and Political Affairs Ali Hasanov, Chairman of the Caucasian Muslims Office, Sheikh-ul-Islam Haji Allahshukur Pashazade, Minister of Culture and Tourism Abulfaz Garayev, MPs, academicians, religious figures, public figures from Guba and surrounding districts, representatives of various organizations from Baku and other regions joined the march.

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THE OPERATION IS BEING PERFORMED