Azerbaijani president and first lady inaugurate Aghdam Mugham Center Reviving Karabakh’s cultural heritage / PHOTO

On May 10, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva attended the inauguration of the Aghdam Mugham Center.

Minister of Culture Adil Karimli briefed the head of state and the First Lady on the facilities at the center, Caliber.Az reports, citing Azertag.

The foundation of the Aghdam Mugham Center was laid in May 2023 by President Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva.

The center features a café, a cinema hall, a library, and two dance studios. Its 474-seat concert hall is fully equipped to host various cultural events, including mugham performances. Additional facilities include 15 classrooms, an exhibition hall, a conference room, and other amenities.

An open-air amphitheater with a seating capacity of 615 has also been built on the center’s premises.

The Mugham Center is expected to play a key role in reviving the cultural heritage of the Karabakh region before the occupation, promoting the ancient art of mugham, fostering its teaching and appreciation, and inspiring a love for this unique musical tradition among the younger generation.

The Heydar Aliyev Foundation, led by First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva, has made substantial contributions to the development and global recognition of mugham. Thanks to the Foundation’s efforts and initiatives, numerous national and international projects have been implemented in this field. As a result, Azerbaijani mugham has been inscribed on UNESCO’s list of the “Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.”

President Ilham Aliyev later addressed the event.

Speech by President Ilham Aliyev

- Dear friends, dear natives of Aghdam. It is a great day in the history of our country today. The opening of the Mugham Center in the revitalized city of Aghdam is a historic event. I sincerely congratulate you and the entire Azerbaijani people on this occasion.

The fact that this wonderful event is held on May 10 carries a lot of symbolism, of course. It is the birthday of Great Leader Heydar Aliyev. For me and indeed for every patriotic person, holding such an event on a day so dear to me has great meaning, of course. The whole life and all the activities of the Great Leader were dedicated to the Azerbaijani people and state, and today's Azerbaijan is a product of his life. It was after he came to the leadership of Azerbaijan in 1993 that Azerbaijan embarked on the path of development. The situation was very difficult. People who lived through those days remember it perfectly well. The country was in an almost uncontrollable state. Arbitrariness, chaos and anarchy were in full control of the country. The economy was in a paralyzed state, our lands were under occupation and the occupation was ongoing. Armenia was pursuing an aggressive policy against Azerbaijan with foreign support. The regular army was almost non-existent. In such a critical situation, at a time of internal strife, at a time when unpleasant events were taking place in various regions of the country, the Great Leader’s ascent to power at the request of the people paved the way to salvation, and Azerbaijan has been on the path of development ever since.

A lot has happened over the past thirty-two years. However, despite all the events and all the difficulties, we have not deviated from our path of development. At that time, stopping the war was the only way to save our young state. It was a difficult decision. Most of our lands were under occupation and more than a million people were left homeless. However, if the war had not stopped, we could have faced an even greater tragedy. This was a very wise, but difficult decision. This allowed Azerbaijan the opportunity to embark on the path of development. It allowed stability to be restored, a regular army to be established and initial opportunities for economic development to be created. In other words, when we look back at all of our history, we see clearly how many purposeful and thought-out steps were taken – steps that have secured the realities of the present-day Azerbaijan.

Of course, life does not stand still. Over the past 22 years, a lot has happened in the world and in our country. However, the strategic line was determined by the Great Leader, and we did not take a single step away from that line. It is a great happiness to speak before you today in liberated Karabakh. Today, Karabakh is reviving and getting restored. The construction work we have carried out over the four and a half years since the Second Karabakh War is before our eyes. This can be seen in the city of Aghdam as well. Extensive construction and restoration work is underway in all our liberated lands. During the occupation, the Armenian state was pursuing a consistent policy of razing all our cities and villages to the ground. Foreign visitors visiting here and other liberated regions cannot hide their astonishment and, in many cases, outrage. When they are explained that this destruction was not committed during the war but during the ceasefire, of course, the ugly face of Armenian fascism becomes obvious.

Genocide, urbanicide and ecocide were committed against us. Armenian fascism wanted to keep this region under permanent occupation, and unfortunately, certain foreign states were in solidarity with them. The messages given to them, albeit not openly but through secret channels, were that Azerbaijan would never venture to start a war of liberation; we are behind you, we will support you, we will give you weapons, we will give you moral support, we are a moral support for you. All these factors actually strengthened Armenia in its policy of occupation. However, they failed to take into account one thing: the determination of the Azerbaijani people, the national spirit, the unbending spirit of our people and our attachment to this land.

During the occupation, for 30 years, we brought this sacred day of liberation closer every day. Every one of us, each in their own place of work united around a single cause and worked tirelessly for this liberation, for the war of liberation. When the whole society rallies around for a cause, that society is capable of doing great things. No force can stand before such people. This is precisely what makes our people great. We clearly understood and saw which forces supported Armenia, which forces were behind them, and which forces we could and did confront. But this did not deter us. We were already living by the motto “We would rather die than go back”, and the 44-day Patriotic War is a chronicle of both professionalism, heroism and national spirit. It showed the whole world how great the Azerbaijani people are. It showed that the Azerbaijani people are ready to sacrifice their lives to achieve absolute and complete victory. Many factors contributed to our victory. Over the past four and a half years, we have repeatedly talked about this and shared our views.

All this is already received unambiguously in our society: political will, economic power, independent policy, a strong army, patriotism and a young generation – a young generation brought up in the national spirit. The majority of those who had never seen these lands, those who participated in the war were people born during the occupation. The historical bonds that drew them to their native land – all these and other factors preconditioned our Victory, and we won an absolute and complete Victory. Neither in the decades before us, nor in the four and a half years since the war, has anyone else won such an absolute and complete Victory, and it seems that they will not. I am not saying this for the sake of comparison. After all, everything in the world is measured by comparison. We were moving forward every single day for 44 days. We suffered losses every day; we had martyrs. May Allah have mercy on all our martyrs! Every day we achieved new successes, every day we liberated more villages. This boosted our spirit and gave us further strength. Our people were fully united. This gave me extra moral spirit as the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. This is the Victory for all of us. The Azerbaijani people demonstrated their historic greatness to the whole world by achieving this Victory. It is no coincidence that although there is a hostile attitude towards Azerbaijan from certain circles, forces and countries, they know that we are a worthy people, a people worthy of respect, and that we must be reckoned with, at least in the region where we live. Those who do not reckon with us today will regret it tomorrow.

On my way here, I remembered the opening of the Mugham Center in the Guzanli settlement seven years ago. Since the city of Aghdam and a large part of the district were under occupation at the time, we had declared Guzanli settlement the center of Aghdam district. With my participation, the foundation of the Mugham Center was laid there and it was opened in November 2018. I said during a meeting with art figures back then there that we demand justice. I said that if Armenia does not vacate our lands of its own free will, we are ready for any option. The Armenian leadership ignored this. The circles that supported them gave them bad advice. There was a wrong impression about the Azerbaijani people. Now they regret it. Two years later, the Patriotic War began, and in a matter of 44 days we won a historic Victory. Armenia was forced to sign the act of capitulation, and the main part of Karabakh, a large part of it, was liberated from occupation. However, we knew that although this war was a historic Victory, the country's sovereignty was not yet fully restored. We did not control the Azerbaijani-Armenian border in the Lachin direction yet, for obvious reasons. Of course, from November 10, 2020 to September 20, 2023, we were bringing that day, September 20, closer by engaging political, diplomatic, military and other tools every day and every hour. Finally, on September 20, 2023, Azerbaijan's state sovereignty was fully restored, and the so-called “Nagorno-Karabakh Republic”, which illegally functioned for 30 years, was thrown into the dustbin of history.

Today we live freely in a free Karabakh. Aghdam and all our other cities are undergoing restoration. This morning, we celebrated the opening of the Aghdam railway station. There are excellent opportunities now to easily get to Aghdam from Baku, Ganja and other regions. At the same time, we have begun work on the restoration of the Aghdam-Khankendi railway, and a station complex will be built in the city of Khankendi probably within a year and a half, at most two years. As you may know, the Garabagh University is already operating in Khankendi, more than 8,000 people live there. At the same time, the road from Khankendi, from that station complex to Shusha, is getting shorter. We are also shortening that road. We are both expanding and shortening it so that it will be possible to get from Khankendi to Shusha in a maximum of 10 minutes. We have another idea as well. I am sharing it with the public for the first time. We are working on a cable road project connecting Shusha with Khankendi. I must also inform you that the construction of a cable road will probably begin in the city of Lachin this year. There is such a project in Kalbajar. So, it will be a very good means of transportation for both tourists and local residents.

The Aghdam-Barda highway — those coming from Baku have traveled that way — is a magnificent road. There was no such road in Soviet times. The Aghdam-Khankendi-Shusha road, railway, infrastructure projects, the restoration of our historical monuments – the first restored building was the Aghdam Juma Mosque. Restoration work is now underway at the Giyasli Mosque. Residential complexes and two hotels are under construction. The Imarat complex has been restored. The Khachinchay reservoir is starting to operate to provide arable land with irrigation water. Many other projects are in progress. These relate only to Aghdam district. If we take into account the scale of all the work done, to be honest, I do not know any country where construction and development projects of such proportions are progressing. In other words, this is another achievement accomplished through the hard work of our people. We are doing all this at our own expense. We plan all the work ourselves. All people are working with great enthusiasm and pleasure. We are creating such wonderful culture centers and our famous performers who will perform here after me today will show their skills. I would like this beautiful hall to regularly host wonderful mugham festivals, including mugham competitions. I am sure that this will be the case.

I congratulate all of you from the bottom of my heart, both on the opening of this magnificent Mugham Center and on all our successes, all our current and future achievements. We are a victorious people; a victorious nation. We live on our own land. We have proven once again that we are the owners of these lands, because we are not destroyers but builders, and from now on we will live on these lands forever.

Long live Aghdam! Long live Azerbaijan!

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After the address, President Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva enjoyed a concert program dedicated to the occasion.

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Following the performance, the President and the First Lady spoke with artists and war veterans.