Azerbaijan State News Agency (AZERTAC) has hosted a meeting with Doctor of History, Professor Dilara Seyidzade.

The meeting participants first remembered the founder of the independent state of Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev, and martyrs who heroically died in the battles for the country’s territorial integrity with a minute of silence.

In his opening remarks, AZERTAC Chairman of the Board Aslan Aslanov said that the event was taking place at a significant time. He pointed out that the entire Azerbaijani people, as well as millions of fellow compatriots living in different countries of the world, were proudly celebrating the second anniversary of the Victory in the Patriotic War.

“The President and Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev, who successfully continues the political course and development strategy of the founder of the independent state of Azerbaijan, great leader Heydar Aliyev, has turned Azerbaijan into a victorious state and our people into a victorious nation with his strong leadership. Heroic Azerbaijani soldiers brought Armenia to its knees in the 44-day Patriotic War, the will of the great leader was fulfilled and our territorial integrity was restored. This Victory is a celebration not only for Azerbaijan, but also for the entire Turkic world. It is not by chance that the leaders and peoples of friendly countries share in our people’s joy of victory. The great contributions and support of the Honorable First Vice President, Mehriban Aliyeva, who supported the distinguished President, our people and our army in the fateful period, have played a tremendous role in these achievements,” Aslan Aslanov said.

Speaking about the contributions of the Seyidzade family to the development of Azerbaijani culture and science, the Chairman of the Board of AZERTAC noted that Dilara Seyidzade’s father, Baghir Seyidzade, was a well-known diplomat, journalist and master translator. During his years at AZERTAC, he led translation work and established his own school in this field.

“Baghir Seyidzade was a true connoisseur of translation. He absolutely enjoyed his work at the agency. He would say that journalism is a very responsible profession and that a true journalist should be a historian, a philosopher, an economist and a humanist. His position didn’t matter much for him and he worked conscientiously wherever he was sent. This is how Baghir Seyidzade is remembered,” Aslan Aslanov said.

The Executive Director of the Institute of History of ANAS, Jabi Bahramov, spoke about the multifaceted scientific activities of Professor Dilara Seyidzade and her researches, which are of tremendous importance for our time. He emphasized that Professor Dilara Seyidzade holds a special place in national historiography. It was Professor Dilara Seyidzade who first studied the path to the Republic and revealed the early information about the founding fathers of the Republic for the scientific community.

Speaking at the event, the chairperson of the Family, Women and Children's Affairs Committee of the Milli Majlis, Hijran Huseynova, said that Professor Dilara Seyidzade was, first of all, a talented scientist, who had made important contributions to the development of national thinking.

A member of the Azerbaijan Union of Writers and professor of the Western Caspian University, Adigozal Mammadov, spoke about the diplomatic activities of Baghir Seyidzade. He said Baghir Seyidzade had gone to Iran with a large group of Azerbaijanis headed by prominent statesman Aziz Aliyev in 1941. When Aziz Aliyev was choosing a diplomat to work in Iran, he preferred Baghir Seyidzade and sent him to the Higher School of Diplomacy in Moscow. After mastering the Persian language in Moscow, Baghir Seyidzade returned to Iran in 1944, remaining as the second secretary of the Central Committee of the Azerbaijan Communist Youth League (Komsomol).

It was emphasized that even such a knowledgeable person as Mirjafar Baghirov mostly relied on Baghir Seyidzade's notes as a reliable source. Some of Baghirov's interesting telegrams have survived to this day. In one of them, he wrote: “The report prepared by Comrades Mustafayev and Seyidzade is of great importance for creating a general overview of Southern Azerbaijan...”

Due to his successful diplomatic activity, Baghir Seyidzade was sent as vice-consul to Tabriz. While in Tabriz, he directly participated in the creation of the national radio, theater, university and other cultural centers in Southern Azerbaijan.

The director of the State Film Fund, Merited Art Worker Jamil Guliyev spoke about the prominent representative of the Seyidzade family, film director Huseyn Seyidzade.

Also speaking at the event, the chairman of Azerbaijan Union of Writers, People's Writer Anar shared his memories about Dilara Seyidzade’s brother Fuad Seyidzade and their father Baghir Seyidzade.

Professor Dilara Seyidzade expressed her gratitude for the kind words and the organization of the event. “I am very proud that my father was a journalist,” the professor said. She added that her father loved his people, journalism, the younger generation, and enjoyed working at AZERTAC.

The professor also shared her memories of great leader Heydar Aliyev. “I happened to have worked with the brilliant political figure, Heydar Aliyev. People abroad were fascinated by his brilliance. I seize every opportunity to have rare conversations about him. The great leader had a huge love for every journalist of AZERTAC.”

The speeches were accompanied by slides depicting the life path of Professor Dilara Seyidzade.

At the end of the meeting, a commemorative gift was presented to Professor Dilara Seyidzade on behalf of the staff of AZERTAC.

The ceremony ended with the screening of “The unforgettable” AZERTAC has shot about the well-known journalist, diplomat and master translator Baghir Seyidzade