Dedicated to Heydar Aliyev – Honorary Passenger of Baikal-Amur Mainline

Heydar Aliyev personifies a true genius, reformer and visionary leader to this day. The national leader of Azerbaijan inscribed his name in golden letters in the history of two states - the USSR and his native Azerbaijan, Vice Chairman of Caspian Logistics Solutions Rifat Sultanzada told Report.

"For more than 25 years I have been in the logistics sector and without a shadow of a doubt I can say that Heydar Aliyev played a huge role and laid the foundation for the well-being of today’s Russia. From a certain stage, construction took place under his strict control, and on July 10, 1989 a strategically important facility of the USSR, and now the Russian Federation - the Baikal-AmurMainline, which is 4324 km long, and has 2230 bridges, 200 railway stations and 8 tunnels was successfully commissioned. In April of this year at a joint meeting with the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and veterans - builders of the BAM, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Heydar Aliyev played a huge role in the history of the construction of the BAM," said Sultanzada.

According to him, as part of today’s visit to Nakhchivan together with his colleagues, he first of all laid flowers at the monument to the great leader and visited the Heydar Aliyev Museum: “In the museum, I was lucky enough to see for the first time copies of archival documents related to Heydar Aliyev’s participation in projects from the times of the USSR and Azerbaijan. Among the documents I saw there was also a travel ticket for the Honorary Passenger of the Baikal-Amur Railway, which belonged to Heydar Aliyev."

Sultanzada also expressed gratitude to the director of the Heydar Aliyev Museum in Nakhchivan, Ramil Orujaliyev, and Firangiz Elyazova for the interesting conversation and useful information about Heydar Aliyev.

"Among the exhibits, I also saw a book from the series 'Heydar Aliyev and the East.' I am proud to announce that my father Vahdat Sultanzada was a co-author of this six-volume book. For more than 50 years, my father held senior positions in the diplomatic sector of the USSR, and after its collapse, of the Republic of Azerbaijan. By the way, in Azerbaijan he was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Turkmenistan and Afghanistan. The professional qualities of Vahdat Sultanzada and his devotion to his state were first noticed by the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan, later a member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Heydar Aliyev, who, after returning to Azerbaijan, became the founder of the modern Azerbaijani state. He appointed my father as a head of the OIC Department at the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, thereby entrusting him with one of the most difficult diplomatic areas - overseeing relations with 53 Muslim countries," he said.

Sultanzada recalled that in 1994, at the summit of the OIC countries in Casablanca (Morocco), thanks to Heydar Aliyev, a resolution was adopted in which for the first time Armenia was recognized as an aggressor against Azerbaijan.

“Once, on the eve of the approaching birthday of Heydar Aliyev, my father told me the following: 'Instantly the thought came to me that, having lived to an old age, I am grateful to my fate and consider life a success! The first gift was presented by fate in that I was lucky enough to form a professional , moral, spiritual and psychological sides of my personality under the influence of the greatest personality in Azerbaijani and world history, Heydar Aliyevich Aliyev. His brilliant ability to convince people, educate them in the spirit of patriotism, devotion to the ideals of the homeland, guide, stimulate their labor and intellectual activity for the good of the whole society, inspired the people of our generation, instilled optimism and confidence in their abilities. I owe all my professional and human qualities to his soulful influence, transforming every person in his brightest manifestations,” he noted.

Rifat Sultanzada noted that he will never forget the day when, as a first-grade student at school No. 6 in the city, he saw Heydar Aliyev at an event in Nagorny Park: "It was I who had the honor of personally handing over flowers to the national leader. The personal meeting and the moment of handing over flowers to Heydar Aliyev left an indelible imprint on my memory and still inspires me throughout my life and is a living example of perseverance, courage and determination. Therefore, the love, respect and veneration of this great personality in our Sultanzada family have no boundaries."

"I cannot but mention my close friend, former US Ambassador to Azerbaijan Matthew Bryza, who once said: 'Without the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and the South Caucasus gas pipeline, Azerbaijan would never have found itself in the position where the country is now. These pipelines changed everything for Azerbaijan, and not just from an economic point of view. They connected Azerbaijan not only with Georgia and Türkiye, but also with the Transatlantic community, including the United States, in a political sense. And this is how Azerbaijan achieved stable growth, which led to the liberation of the occupied territories in 2020.' And I completely agree with him. The signing of the 'Contract of the Century' is the foundation of not only Azerbaijan's victory in the Second Karabakh War in 2020, but also continues to serve as a powerful impetus for the country’s development in the geopolitical space,” he said.
Rifat Sultanzada also shared his impressions of visiting the Ashabi-Kakhf cave in Nakhchivan: "It was Heydar Aliyev who in 1998 issued a decree on the improvement and reconstruction of the religious and cultural complex of Ashabi-Kakhf. Today, being here, all parishioners can feel the sacred energy of this place thanks to the efforts made by Heydar Aliyev 26 years ago."

He also emphasized that today, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, having a solid foundation behind him, is solving important government tasks and leading the country to an even brighter future.

"The internal and external development strategy of the country, promoted by Mr. President, shows the country’s commitment to innovation, environmental friendliness, and the development of logistics corridors of international importance.

"In this context, I would like to inform you that on April 25, during my speech at the Forum on attracting investments in the energy sector of Turkmenistan, I presented new logistics routes to reduce the load on the Middle Corridor and shallowing of the Caspian Sea. So, I presented three possible projects at once. One of them is the railway from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan along the Caspian Sea. Taking into account the logistics strategy of Azerbaijan, the huge amount of cargo in the countries of Central Asia, and the logistics capabilities of Turkmenistan, the mentioned railway can connect to the Zangazur Corridor project and be called Zangazur Railroad. Simultaneously with the construction of the railway, it is possible to construct in parallel the Zangazur Oil Pipeline and the Zangazur Gas Pipeline. And in Azerbaijan, connect all three projects to the Zangazur corridor.

"With the infrastructural, financial, political and resource capabilities of the fraternal countries of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan under the leadership of the far-sighted presidents of both countries, I am confident that all this is possible.

"The above will not only help optimize the region’s logistics routes, but will also contribute to the creation of new industrial and logistics facilities in Nakhchivan, which will benefit both Azerbaijan and the entire region," he concluded.