HUNDREDS TO JOIN WORLD AZERIS CONGRESS
AzerNews Weekly, Azerbaijan
March 16 2006
Over a thousand representatives from different countries will gather
in the Azeri capital Baku to attend the second congress of World
Azerbaijanis on Thursday.
The event is to draw 1,300 visitors, including more than 600 from
49 countries, the chairman of the State Committee on Work with
Azerbaijanis Living Abroad, Nazim Ibrahimov, said. Most of the
attendees, 170, will arrive from neighboring Russia, while 60 from the
former Soviet republic of Ukraine, 40 Georgia, 39 Turkey, 33 Germany,
25 Kazakhstan. Visitors from France, Sweden, Netherlands, Hungary,
Czech Republic, Poland and Bulgaria are expected as well.
Azeri representatives from Egypt, Iceland, Japan, Thailand, Australia
and New Zealand will be in attendance for the first time. About 300
political figures, MPs from dozens of countries, officials, renowned
scientists and intellectuals, who have contributed to the development
of Azerbaijani communities abroad, will be among the attendees,
along with representatives of the Jewish and Turkic communities,
Ibrahimov said. Speaking at the event will be Turkish state minister
on Turkic states Mehmet Aydin, ex-state secretary of the former
German Federal Republic Otto Hauser, state secretary of Kyrgyzstan
Dastan Sarigulov, former French ambassador to Azerbaijan Jean Perren,
Michael Nobel, the grandson of Alfred Nobel, and others. “The congress
will discuss a number of issues pertaining to the current standing of
the Azerbaijani Diaspora and ways of informing the world community
about Azerbaijan’s realities, acts of terror and genocide committed
against Azeris and strengthening relations with other communities,”
Ibrahimov said. The participants are expected to adopt appeals to world
Azeris and the international community concerning the Upper (Nagorno)
Garabagh conflict, as well as Armenia’s aggression against Azerbaijan
and the destruction of historical and cultural sites in the occupied
territories. Ibrahimov noted that intense discussions are currently
under way on establishing a special fund for the Azeri Diaspora.
“Some believe that the entity should be an independent public
organization, while others say it should be a government agency.”
There are currently about 50 million Azerbaijanis throughout the
world, including 30m in neighboring Iran, two million in the country’s
northern neighbor Russia, 1.5 million in the United States, 500,000
in Ukraine, and 350,000 in France, according to the State Committee.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
