“One of the greatest values of our people is the existence of our mother tongue. This value is our true spiritual wealth that shows the antiquity and identity of the Azerbaijani people. Our persistent and wise people have constantly developed their mother tongue by protecting it from the pressures of foreign elements. Thus, centuries ago, the foreign forces ruling Azerbaijan assimilated the language of our people and tried to spread their own language. Our heroic people, who fought for independence and territorial integrity, did not forget their language and were able to protect it from foreigners. Also, the importance of our national literature in the survival, development and enrichment of the Azerbaijani language was also great. Since ancient times, our classics have played an important role in the education of our people, in the development of their national consciousness, in their self-awareness, and they have always tried to enrich and spread our mother tongue by creating great works in this language. Also, I would like to mention our progressive intellectuals – Mirza Fatali Akhundzade, Abbasgulu Agha Bakikhanov, Hasan Bey Zardabi, Mirza Kazim Bey and others – who brought up the idea of opening schools in our mother tongue from the middle of the 19th century and fought unceasingly on this path. They worked tirelessly to create educational centers in the Azerbaijani language and attract children to those schools.”
Sattar Mohbaliyev, chairman of the Azerbaijan Trade Unions Confederation (AHIK), member of the Milli Majlis, expressed these views to the mass media.
According to him, we all know how sensitive the issue of the national language was during the Soviet rule: “Even in the 1930s, those who brought up the Mother tongue were persecuted, subjected to repressions, and exiled to Siberia. In those years, thousands of our compatriots were shot because of national issues. In the 70s, the process of suppression of languages continued in the Soviet republics. But despite this, Great Leader Heydar Aliyev, who led Azerbaijan at that time, paid attention to national issues as well as to all fields, including taking bold steps in the direction of the protection and development of the Azerbaijani language. We can say with certainty that the National Leader of our people saved our mother tongue from outside interference and pressure during that period, and did the necessary work for its development and enrichment. Heydar Aliyev spoke fluently in his native language at all official events held in our republic, and tried to preserve its purity and cleanliness. At that time, of course, these jobs, which required great skill, could be done only by determined individuals who were committed to their people, homeland, and ancestry. Even the Great Leader fulfilled a great historical mission with honor by giving our mother tongue the status of the state language in the Constitution of the Azerbaijan SSR in 1978.”
“National leader Heydar Aliyev kept our mother tongue in mind and held it in high regard even while building a modern independent Azerbaijan. Thanks to his services, the Azerbaijani language became the state language in the Constitution, which was adopted by popular vote in 1995. Important steps were taken in the direction of defining, forming and strengthening the language policy of our state, as well as protecting and developing it from the negative effects of the globalization period, decrees were signed, the State Language Commission was established, the Azerbaijani alphabet and Azerbaijani language day were established, and the law on the state language was adopted. All these are indicators of the Great Leader’s concern for our mother tongue and his contribution to its development,” said the deputy of the Milli Majlis.
“President Ilham Aliyev always pays attention to the language policy of our state; he takes care of protecting and developing our language at a high level. Implementation of mass publications with Latin script, preparation of our national encyclopedia, publication of foreign literary and artistic works in Azerbaijani language and other works done in this direction serve to protect the purity and richness of our mother tongue. We can proudly say that today more than 50 million of our compatriots speak this language with pleasure. Our mother tongue, like our holy Motherland, is the main guarantor of the existence, unity, and solidarity of our people. Of course, every Azerbaijani should first of all take care of our mother tongue and do everything to protect it”, Sattar Mohbaliyev said.