Great Return

International Music Festival “Kharibulbul” in Shusha. 2021. It was first held in 1989 and was not organized during
Armenian occupation

The restoration of territorial integrity in the 2020 Patriotic War paved the way for presenting and pro- moting Azerbaijani culture in the world comprehen- sively. For the first time in Azerbaijan’s independence history, the country’s cultural heritage could be dis- played with its entire diversity and abundance. One of the priorities of the Azerbaijani government’s cul- tural policy is preserving and protecting the customs and traditions, languages and religious beliefs of mi- norities and small ethnic groups represented in the country. Restoration of shrines pertaining to different religions, including samples of the ancient Albanian Christian heritage that were looted and appropriated by the Armenians in Karabakh during the occupation, is in the focus of the government’s attention. Accord- ing to the President’s instructions, rehabilitation of Albanian-Udi shrines will be carried out in these ter- ritories as well.
The Ministry of Culture is implementing various proj- ects in this field as well. The first stage of the “Let’s get to know our Christian heritage” project, launched in No- vember 2020, is being completed. As part of the project, short videos relating to Christian temples, churches and shrines under state protection in the Azerbaijani terri- tory are made and aired.
As part of the “Let’s get to know our Islamic heritage” project, videos about monuments of Islamic culture lo- cated in Azerbaijan, including mosques, tombs, khan- qahs and caravanserais, have been made and presented to the public this year through the ministry’s website and social media. Recently, the ministry also launched a global campaign called Peace4Culture. The project is aimed at protecting cultural heritage through peace, building sustainable peace-loving communities, as well as studying the contribution of culture to peace-mak- ing and the role of peace in the development of culture.

The Azerbaijani culture is starting a new stage in its development. Karabakh and Shusha stand out for their abundance with every patch and stone built there re- flecting national historical and cultural legacy; the proj- ects undertaken by the government are swiftly bringing us closer to the day when this land will open up and embrace the rest of the world. Mankind in unaware of most of our cultural riches that had been inaccessible to ourselves for many years. From now onward, the Azer- baijani culture, which is now complete and enriched, just like our native land, will be presented to the world community within a variety of new projects.