As the Ganja Patriots Public Union, we pass on our duty to the homeland to the youth of today and tomorrow by instilling patriotism and national pride

Teaching the meaning of the sacred concepts of "homeland" and "patriotism" to teenagers and young people, and instilling them among youth, should be one of the priority directions of non-governmental organisations and youth organisations. Love of the homeland, attachment to the homeland, instilling patriotism and national pride should be a matter for the whole nation.

Love of the homeland means admiring Tomris's courage, Cavanshir's invincibility, the wisdom of Dede Gorgud, the poetry of Nizami, the science of Tusi, the ghazals of Fuzuli, the epic of Koroghlu, the bravery of Babak, the faith of Nasimi, the purity of Uzeyir's music and the poetry of Samad Vurgun.

Patriotism begins with mothers' lullabies. As a child grows, their thoughts about attachment to the land and the homestead, and about the honour of serving the homeland, deepen. Patriotic education, above all, means loving the homeland deeply and protecting its interests. Enlightenment is one of the main means of fulfilling these tasks.

Enlightenment and advertising provide teenagers and young people not only with knowledge, skills and habits, but also educate them in a spirit of patriotism. Love for the native land is expressed in our folk songs, our epics, our proverbs and our folk songs. The sanctity of the homeland's soil and the importance of protecting it from enemies are passionately described in "Dede Gorgud," the pride of our epics. The homeland is equated with the mother. Oghuz heroes, in the words of the epic, "The rights of the homeland are the rights of the mother," stood firm in defence of the homeland and guarded it like the apple of their eye.

Nizami Ganjavi, the great Azerbaijani poet, did not place Ganja anywhere else, and not by chance: he regarded it as a red shawl around his neck, and so the love of the homeland and patriotism did not let him leave the place of his birth.

The homeland begins with the warmth of the family home. Every child understands that the place where they live and study is part of the homeland. Protecting the homeland is the duty of all of us.

The homeland is our existence, our pride and our dignity. Many of our heroes have given their lives for our lands. Heroes who gave their lives for the homeland, for its freedom and independence, are never forgotten and live on in immortality.

Whoever dies for the land is a homeland!

To be loyal to the homeland, to love it and to be devoted to the land is patriotism! A patriot is a person who loves the homeland, is loyal to it, is devoted to its land and nation, and possesses all spiritual wealth.

Let us recall a saying of Samad Vurgun: "A person who does not take pride in the existence of the people he belongs to, and who does not hold its honour as a sacred cause in his heart, cannot feel a sense of belonging to his homeland, and calling him a patriot would be in vain…"

"First the homeland, second the people, then me" is the life motto of us all.

The homeland is not merely a place to roam the earth without worry, to live a life without cares, or to admire one's wealth and beauty. We feel pride in our homeland, love it deeply and consider ourselves indebted to it. Our renowned poet Mammad Araz, expressing the infinite love and eternal gratitude that the children of the homeland feel for native Azerbaijan, wrote:

If the homeland called me a son, what would I not endure,
I would become a stone and rest on its cliff.

The idea expressed in these lines has taken root in the heart and mind of each of us.

The homeland is not only a country. The homeland is me, the homeland is you, the homeland is us. We must be answerable to the homeland's past, its present and its future. A patriot, a person who loves his homeland and country, who respects the state's symbols, who protects it and who always raises the tricolour flag high, is the noble source of the nation's pride.

In our modern era, the future of our homeland is inseparably linked with important factors such as our young people's receiving education at Harbiy Lyceum, at the Military Academy and at educational institutions, and their way of thinking, intellectual level and upbringing in a national spirit.

Our proverbs also contain many instructive ideas about the homeland: "One can live without eyes, but not without the homeland"; "A winter in the homeland is better than a spring in exile"; "I came to the homeland, I came to faith"; "Beside the fire of a foreign hearth, the homeland's hearth is preferable"; "As every bird considers its own nest the best, so every person considers his own homeland the best"; "Even if the homeland is in ruins, it is a treasure"; "The homeland is the house of the people, it is a shelter."

A patriot is the person who defends his native homeland, who becomes the guardian of its culture and traditions, and who holds its flag high.

The Ganja Patriots Public Union considers it its duty to pass on to today's young people and to the youth of the future the commitment to the homeland, national pride, and physical, psychological and ideological strength, and to do so as a duty to the homeland. The young people, for their part, show their abilities and devotion to the homeland in every field, serving exemplarily in the relevant organisations of the Republic of Azerbaijan, in law enforcement bodies and in the Armed Forces.

Under the leadership of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Ilham Aliyev, the Azerbaijani Army, in order to counter the aggressive sabotage and new occupation plans of Armenia and to liberate the occupied lands, achieved incredible successes in the counter-offensive that began on 27 September 2020. As a result of 44 days of military operations, on 8 November the Azerbaijani Army, acting with honour, liberated from occupation the city of Shusha, which had great significance for the Azerbaijani people after 28 years of captivity and which carries symbolic meaning.

The liberation of Shusha, the crown of Karabakh, is one of the unique military operations that will go down in world military history.

Today Azerbaijan has driven the enemy out of Karabakh, has made a historic breakthrough, and on the battlefield has avenged the people killed during the massacres in Khojaly, Ganja, Barda and other cities and districts, and showed the occupying Armenia the place it deserved. This victory, and the leader who brought it to us, is the worthy continuation of the policy of the national leader Heydar Aliyev, and it is the determination, political will of our President and Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev, our powerful army, and our honoured veterans and officers.

In a word, as our President, who has said "Karabakh is Azerbaijan and its cry is a call to action," once again acted in accordance with his word, as he always does. 8 November was written in the history of our people in letters of gold! Thirty years later, under the leadership of our President and Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev, we proved that we will not give up a single handful of our soil.

Karabakh is Azerbaijan! The 44-day heroic war will remain a glorious and proud source of pride for us throughout history!

Ganja Patriots Public Union, Chairman, public figure

Muqamat Suleymanoglu Aliyev (Mugan)