“We are grateful to the president of Azerbaijan for his support in the repair of the Irpin Secondary School No. 12 named after Zarifa Aliyeva. Azerbaijan provided assistance to Ukraine, Irpin in difficult times,” Mayor of Irpin Oleksandr Markushin told the Eastern Europe bureau of Report.
He said that Azerbaijan and Irpin have been maintaining friendly relations for many years: “Our city has a park named after Zarifa Aliyeva, a monument to Zarifa Aliyeva. Moreover, one of our main streets and even the largest school bear the name of Zarifa Aliyeva. We confirmed our friendship with real steps. This school was damaged in a Russian attack. The gymnasium, the central building and the roof of the school were destroyed as a result of the bombing, all the windows were broken. The Azerbaijani side gave us great support and took over the repair of the school. Thus, Azerbaijan has shown that it is a great friend not only of Ukraine, but also of the “hero city” of Irpin. On our own behalf, on behalf of the residents of the city, we are grateful to SOCAR, the ambassador of Azerbaijan to Ukraine and the Azerbaijani diaspora, for the fact that the largest school in our city was renovated before September 1 and began its activities. You are a true friend of Ukraine, our city.”
School director Valentyna Antonenko expressed gratitude to the head of state of Azerbaijan for the support provided: “On my own behalf, on behalf of teachers, parents, students, I express my sincere gratitude to the wise statesman, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev for the unique gift - the revival of our school, which bears the name of the great daughter of the Azerbaijani people, the great mother of the great son Zarifa Aliyeva. Dear President, I show you my deep respect for this gift. Because our children now have the opportunity to study at their own school. I wish you good health, prosperity and peace to your beautiful country. We sincerely thank Azerbaijan’s State Oil Company SOCAR Energy Ukraine for the charitable mission, for the high-quality complete renovation of our school under the leadership of Elchin Mammadov.”