Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova and Marshal of the Polish Sejm Elżbieta Witek attended the opening of the exhibition The Gems of the Polish Heritage in Azerbaijan as part of her current official visit to the Republic of Poland in Warsaw, Report informs, citing the Press and Public Relations Department of the Milli Majlis.
Elżbieta Witek welcomed the leader of the Milli Majlis and said that such events as this one help develop our relations, serve to bring our peoples even closer together, and promote their cultural values.
Sahiba Gafarova greeted the participants of the event and thanked Elżbieta Witek for hosting the exhibition.
She went further to say that Azerbaijan where the East and the West meet is a homeland of many cultures, a land where there were great civilisations and where multiculturalism and tolerance had become integral components of the life of every Azerbaijani regardless of his or her ethnic origin. She emphasised the 200 years of Azerbaijan’s Polish heritage in that context specifically and said that the Poles had stood out as architects and lawyers, engineers and intellectuals, teachers and military officers, businessmen, and statesmen historically in Azerbaijan:
"Poles took part in the work of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the first secular parliamentary democratic state in the Muslim East and the Turkic World alike. Our Polish compatriots were represented in practically all state agencies, in the parliament, and in the judicial system; they never spared efforts to protect our common Motherland – Azerbaijan. Stanisław Wąsowicz of the Polish National Council was one of the members of the then Azerbaijani Parliament representing the country’s ethnic minorities."
Sahiba Gafarova singled out Polish architects among the outstanding Poles who had left a magnificent legacy whilst creating the unique beauty of Baku in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She talked about those Polish architects who had authored buildings in our capital and in several other towns and provinces of Azerbaijan. The masterpieces of those famous Polish architects are on display at today’s exhibition as well, according to Mrs. Gafarova who thanked the contributors to the event and its guests.