The Driving Force is the Idea of Statehood: The Main Legacy of Heydar Aliyev## Conversation

The multifaceted and multi-vector wise and far-sighted policy of Heydar Aliyev, designed only for development and forward movement, has been proven repeatedly both by his personal biographers and by the socio-economic results that the country has achieved over the past half-century.

The merits of national leader Heydar Aliyev to the people and the state are immeasurable. During his rule, indicators in the economic, social, agricultural, industrial, and cultural spheres reached a high level. The priorities of his policy were peace, tranquility, progress, development, construction, and stability, writes the newspaper "Caspian".

The outstanding statesman and political figure provided special support to domestic science and education. In 1969-1982, under his leadership, based on the principles of national self-awareness and returning historical memory to the people, a favorable environment was formed for transforming the idea of statehood into a driving force for further development.

It is also difficult to overestimate the role of ANAS - Azerbaijan's main scientific agency - in the development of domestic science and Azerbaijani society. The creation of this structure in 1945 was a landmark event: the National Academy of Sciences makes a significant contribution to the formation of national ideology, national scientific intelligentsia, achieving high results, integration into world science, etc.

The main center of ideas and discoveries

Heydar Aliyev characterized the role and merits of the academy in the development of domestic science as follows: "The glorious path traveled by the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan is a significant page in the history of our people. Throughout our centuries-old history, we have formed a great science, but it has never been as organized and as powerful, strong, and multifaceted as it is now. Having united all scientific potential, the Academy of Sciences of independent Azerbaijan has demonstrated to the world what our people are capable of."

It was the national leader who defined the main areas of development of domestic science, and now ANAS is the main center of scientific ideas, discoveries, and inventions serving the development of the republic. His decree "On the Status of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan" signed on January 4, 2003, contributed to the expansion of its capabilities and powers, and the successful continuation of creative activities in the format of an independent state.

This has been repeatedly noted in his speeches by the president of ANAS, academician Isa Habibbeyli. According to him, Heydar Aliyev paid special attention to the protection of the native language even during the strict prohibitions of the Soviet period, namely - as a result of his efforts, the Azerbaijani language was enshrined as the state language in the Constitution of the Azerbaijan SSR, adopted in 1978.

For the purity of the native language

- Among his enormous merits, - noted academician Habibbeyli, - is the awarding of the State Prize to the famous orientalist scholar Ziya Buniyatov for the monograph "The State of the Atabeks of Azerbaijan," and saving Bakhtiyar Vahabzadeh from arrest, which threatened the poet for creating the poem "Gulistan," and providing other researchers with state-level support for the aspiration to national freedom.

In the middle of the last century, Azerbaijan was experiencing a deep crisis in socio-economic life, and Heydar Aliyev's rise to power on July 14, 1969, brought the republic out of a very difficult situation. Soon, the country achieve