"Guernica Prize" as a Symbol of a New Era: International Recognition of Ilham Aliyev's Leadership

The "Guernica Peace and Reconciliation Award" bestowed upon President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has become an important international signal. Azerbaijan's experience is today regarded as an example of the transition from conflict to a peace agenda.

The South Caucasus is entering a new historical stage, where the main test is the ability of peoples to free themselves from the legacy of enmity and build a sustainable future. The newspaper "Kaspi" discusses the international significance of this award, the lessons of Guernica, the prospects for Azerbaijani-Armenian reconciliation, and the role of a strong state in overcoming protracted conflicts with Polish political scientist Jakub Korejba.

- What is the international significance of awarding the "Guernica Peace and Reconciliation Award" to President Ilham Aliyev?

- First and foremost, it is international recognition of Azerbaijan's role as a state that managed to go through a difficult conflict, restore justice, and open a new page of peace and creation.

Today, when many conflicts either drag on or turn into chronic wounds of international politics, Azerbaijan's experience looks particularly significant. The Azerbaijani people, having endured the ordeal of war and long years of occupation, managed to conclude this historical chapter, transitioning from pain to recovery, from destruction to construction, from conflict to the prospect of peaceful coexistence. Such a transition from the negative to the positive, from destruction to a constructive agenda, is extremely rare nowadays.

But at the same time, it is also a personal assessment of the leadership qualities of Ilham Aliyev. He has proven himself as a statesman whose decisions matter not only for his own country and people but for the entire region.

- Have you had the opportunity to personally meet with the head of our state?

- I well remember my first personal meeting with President Ilham Aliyev in 2013. Even then, I had no doubt that before me was a person of extraordinary caliber: a leader with a deep sense of national identity, history, and culture of his people, yet at the same time a politician oriented toward the future. It is precisely this combination of historical memory and a strategic forward-looking vision that today makes Azerbaijan's role particularly prominent in the international agenda of peace and reconciliation.

- Can we say that Azerbaijan's experience gives this award special significance?

- Guernica is a tragic symbol, but one that also carries hope. It reminds us of the pain of the civil war in Spain and of how destructive conflicts between closely related peoples can be when memory, identity, and visions of the future collide. Humanity has witnessed similar tragedies in other confrontations — between Poles and Germans, Arabs and Jews, Russians and Ukrainians, Azerbaijanis and Armenians.

But history proves: reconciliation is