Held at the National Assembly of Korea
On Nov. 19, 2018 Conference and Photo Exhibition dedicated to 100 years anniversary of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic has been held at the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea with the joint initiative of the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the Republic of Korea and the Korea-Azerbaijan Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group.
Members of Parliament, Heads and members of Diplomatic Missions, Professors students of different universities and representatives Press.
While addressing the conference Ambassador Ramzi Teymurov stated that declaration of independence of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR) was adopted on May 28, 2018 and ADR as the first parliamentary democracy with a republican form of governance in the Muslim world was also the first model of a democratic secular state based on the rule of law all over the East. He also mentioned that, despite its short existence, the estimable process of nation-building resulted with implementation of political-economic reforms, establishment of democratic institutions, issuing national currency, establishing national bank, army building and adoption of state attributes - the national anthem and the national flag. Although on April 28, 1920, the red army invaded Azerbaijan, the idea of a free Azerbaijan never wavered. In its short period of existence the ADR returned national consciousness to the Azerbaijani people, and following the collapse of Soviet Union Azerbaijan regained its independence on October 18, 1991.
Ambassador also emphasized about high level bilateral relations between the Legislative Bodies of two countries, visits and meetings between Speakers of the Parliaments, contributions of Inter-parliamentary Friendship Groups.
Speaking at the conference Mr. Lee Myoung Su, Member of National Assembly and President of the Korea-Azerbaijan Inter-parliamentary Friendship Group and Na Kyung Won, Member of National Assembly emphasized the importance of holding such a significant event at the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea. They spoke about development strategy of the modern Azerbaijan, recent achievements and shared their views on development perspectives of Korea-Azerbaijan relations.
Mr. Lee Kwang Chul, First Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the Republic of Azerbaijan and Mr. Oh Chong-Jin, Professor of the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies participated at the event with presentations on Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and Korea-Azerbaijan bilateral relations. They shared their views on short history of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, achievements of modern Azerbaijan, and briefed on historical and cultural similarities binding Azerbaijanis and Koreans.
The closing session of the conference was concluded with the presentation of the documentary “Lifelong Mission” which reveals a story of the Azerbaijani delegation to the Paris Peace Conference in January 1919 led by Alimardan bey Topchubashov, the then Speaker of Parliament of the first Republic of Azerbaijan (1918-1920). The documentary filmed by the Baku Media Center with the support of Heydar Aliyev Foundation and Ms. Arzu Aliyeva is the chief producer of the film.
The guests also had a chance to see the photo exhibition at the main corridor of the National Assembly Members Building dedicated to the establishment of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, as well as photos reflecting modern Azerbaijan.