National Leader Heydar Aliyev paid special attention to Azerbaijan's young talents and consistently supported representatives of the creative intelligentsia, Chairman of the Culture Committee of the Milli Majlis, Polad Bulbuloglu, said during an event dedicated to the 103rd anniversary of Heydar Aliyev's birth.
According to Report, he noted that thanks to this support, Azerbaijan experienced a genuine cultural revival in the 1970s.
"As someone who served for 10 years as Minister of Culture under Heydar Aliyev and who, even during the Soviet era, benefited from his patronage, I can say that the entire generation of cultural figures that emerged in the 1970s always felt his attention, assistance, and support," Bulbuloglu said.
He stressed that despite the rigid ideological environment of the Soviet Union, Heydar Aliyev allowed creative individuals to express themselves freely. In this regard, Bulbuloglu recalled a conversation in Moscow involving Vasily Shaura, head of a department at the CPSU Central Committee, who asked why dissidents were not being uncovered in Azerbaijan as they were in other Soviet republics.
"Heydar Aliyev paused and quietly replied: ‘Because we are not looking for them,"" he recalled, describing it as a reflection of the great leader's principled attitude toward the intelligentsia.
Bulbuloglu noted that Azerbaijan experienced a true "boom of talent" and a flourishing of culture during that period.
The parliamentarian also highlighted Heydar Aliyev"s role in the history of independent Azerbaijan. He recalled that in 1993 the country was facing an extremely difficult situation - with a devastated economy, territorial losses, and a lack of stability - yet Heydar Aliyev succeeded in leading the state out of crisis and restoring society's confidence in the future.
The Russian Community of Azerbaijan organized the event dedicated to the 103rd anniversary of the birth of the great leader Heydar Aliyev. As part of the event, the documentary film The Heart of the Leader by Russian journalist Mikhail Gusman was screened.