A round table dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Azerbaijani Democratic Republic was held at the Heydar Aliyev Center.

A roundtable was held on June 21 at the Heydar Aliyev Center dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Azerbaijani Democratic Republic on "Multiculturalism and Religious Freedom during the Republic" with the joint organization of the Knowledge Foundation under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Gabala Region Executive Power and the Albanian-Udi Christian Community. The ceremony was opened by the Head of the Department for Social, Political and Humanitarian Issues of the Region Executive Power, Deputy Head of the Region Executive Power Ataya Osmanova; she said that in connection with the implementation of the Presidential Decree on the proclamation of 2018, the year of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the largescale ideological and political, educational activities are carried out in the region. Ataya Osmanova said that the "round table" is devoted to an interesting topic and expressed her confidence that the participants of the event will take an active part in an open exchange of views. After the reports of the senior researcher of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of ANAS, the professor of the BSU, the doctor of historical sciences, Professor Mahabbat Pashayeva on "Multiculturalism in the Parliament of the Republic", the chairman of the Albanian Udi Christian Community Robert Mobilin on "Freedom of Religion and Belief in the Government of the Republic", representative of the Knowledge Foundation for Gabala Region, director of city secondary school No. 2 Tarana Salimova on "Multicultural picture of modern Gabala", the exchange of opinions with the participation of the intellectuals of the region. It was noted that the republican government that existed for 23 months, included first the Ministry of Protection and Religious Affairs, and afterwards the Ministry of Education and Confession. The issue of religion and nations was repeatedly discussed in the parliament, civilized solutions were adopted that did not exist in many countries, efforts were made to establish relations with all states. Diplomatic missions of the USA, Great Britain, Italy, Belgium, Iran, Sweden, Poland, Finland, Greece, Denmark, and other countries were opened in Baku. Independently of religious affiliation, for most of the peoples living in the country - Armenians, Georgians, Poles, Jews - the opportunity for representation was created, deputy seats were allocated. Despite the fact that by the Decision of June 27, 1918 the Government of the Republic declared the Azerbaijani language as the state language, at that time called Turkic, for a certain period it was allowed to use the Russian language in state institutions, the presentation of representatives of other nationalities in the parliament in Russian was also considered acceptable. The speeches also noted facts confirming that modern Azerbaijan is a model of multiculturalism and tolerance for the world. It was emphasized that Gabala is an example in this respect. It was noted that Gabala is the only place in the world where Christian Udis live together and preserve their language and religion. The head of the internal projects department of the Knowledge Foundation, Haji Abdulla, recalled that from the very first days of the foundation, close cooperation was established with the Gabala Region Executive Power and the Albanian-Udi Christian Community, memorable educational activities were held, and the courses of the Azerbaijani language are conducted for the Udi youth. Gabala schoolchildren who won the republican competition of knowledge "Republic is our history and pride", conducted with the organizational support of the Foundation, Lala Aghayeva, Ayshan Karimli and Ayshan Gurbanova were awarded certificates of the Knowledge Foundation.