Speech of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev at the meeting with the war veterans in the Martyrs` Avenue on the occasion of the 49th anniversary of the Day of Victory of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 - May 9, 1994


The Day of Victory that is May 9 is a great holiday. The Azerbaijani people took an active part in achieving this victory and also had great losses in it. Forty-nine years have passed since the end of the war. Now we are at another war. When suffering from the current war, we can understand what big troubles the Great Patriotic War caused for the world nations. The wounds of that war haven`t healed yet. Perhaps you still suffer from the wounds of that war. Therefore, forgetting the Great Patriotic War, its participants, the meaning of the victory of that war would be a historical crime. Can one forget the war where over 600,000 Azerbaijanis took part, and 300,000 of them perished? It is hard to find a family in Azerbaijan, not affected by that war. Is it possible to forget that war? The Great Patriotic War will never be forgotten. That war brought many troubles to the whole world. Only the Soviet Union lost 27 million people in the war. The total losses were more than twice.

Last night both we and Armenia ordered a cease-fire. However, in the morning I was informed that the Armenians didn`t cease the fire. War is horrible. We have to learn from the previous war to finish the current war.