Azerbaijani leader: By learning a lesson from history, we can move forward with confidence

"Twenty-five years ago, by the order of the great leader Heydar Aliyev, a Youth Day was established in Azerbaijan, and since then, we have been celebrating this day on February 2.

"A year before that the first Youth Forum had been organized in Azerbaijan on the initiative and under the leadership of Heydar Aliyev. Since then, the youth policy has always been among the priorities of the state," President Ilham Aliyev said in his introductory speech at the Youth Forum dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the Azerbaijan Youth Day on February 2, Report informs.

The president said that a generation has changed since then, and the young people sitting in this hall today were either not born at that time or were small kids.

"A generation has changed as did Azerbaijan. If we look at the realities of Azerbaijan of that time, we can see that the situation was very difficult. Our independence was only six years old, Azerbaijan was just beginning its independent life. The country faced very big, serious, and fundamental problems.

“Only three years had passed since the first Karabakh war, and hopes were high that the international community and the [OSCE Minsk Group] mediators would soon resolve the Karabakh issue and restore justice. There were such hopes, and the situation in all other sectors was very tough. You, the young people, of course, did not see those years.

“But this is our history, and future generations must know and remember this history. Because if we make the right analysis and learn the proper lesson from history, we can move forward with confidence. At that time, Azerbaijan had not yet fully established itself on the world stage. The realities of Azerbaijan were almost unknown to the world community.

“Armenian lobby organizations operating against us at that time and to this day have been spreading false and distorted information about Azerbaijan. At that time, of course, it was one of the leading issues to occupy a worthy place in the international arena."