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Azerbaijan Diplomacy Day events continues in Nakhchivan

07 July 2009 11:49 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. July 9 â€“ Azerbaijan Diplomacy Day events were continued in Nakhchivan. According to APA, a conference was held within the diplomacy events in Nakhchivan on Tuesday. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov, Azerbaijani diplomats working in foreign countries, chairman of Nakhchivan Supreme Majlis Vasif Talibov and other officials attended the conference. Minister Mammadyarov said by the decree issued by President Ilham Aliyev in 2007, the day of Azerbaijani Diplomacy was declared on July 9, the date when secretariat of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republicâ€™s Foreign Ministry was established in 1919.

The minister said roots of contemporary Azerbaijani state based on Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the first democratic republic in the Muslim East. He characterized Nakhchivan as one of the centers of formation of the national forces struggled for the independence and statehood of Azerbaijan. â€œSons of Nakhchivan Hamid Agha Shahtakhtinski and Ibrahim Abilov were members of the parliament and government of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and actively participated in its domestic policy and diplomacy. The number of Azerbaijani political figures could continue their diplomatic activity for protection of Azerbaijanâ€™s interests after the establishing of Soviet power in Baku. Sons of Nakhchivan Ibrahim Abilov and Behboud Agha Shahtakhtinski, as Azerbaijani diplomats, actively participated in the regulation of relations between Russia, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Armenian and borders as well. They attended Soviet-Turkish negotiations and signing of Kars agreement in 1921. Abilov was the ambassador of Soviet Azerbaijan in Turkey and then the ambassador of Trans-Caucasian Federative Republic in Turkey. He played important role in the strengthening of friendly relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey and became one of the close advisers to Mustafa Kemal during the first reforms in the Republic of Turkeyâ€, said Mammadyarov.

The minister noted that Azerbaijan pursued successful foreign policy over the past 18 years of independence. â€œOur country became regional leader and reliable partner in the international arena. No strategic regional project can be carried out without Azerbaijan. President Ilham Aliyev emphasized our successful foreign policy in the last meetings of ambassadors and said that we should continue to follow this course and to pursue active foreign policy. Today Azerbaijanâ€™s diplomatic service continues its activity to provide our foreign policy priorities under the presidentâ€™s leadershipâ€.

The minister congratulated his colleagues on their professional day.

The series of events on the 90 years of anniversary of Azerbaijani diplomacy started on July 6 in Ganja and was continued in Nakhchivan. The final events will take place in Baku on July 8-9.