Tuesday, February 2

When things stop making sense...

Azerbaijan truly is a unique country- its rich history, traditional people, colorful culture, beautiful poetry and much more... But unfortunately it is also a country where some things don't make any sense.

You all probably know of International Women's Day, celebrated world wide on March 8th. Here in Azerbaijan, we also celebrate it but we wont anymore or at least it looks that way. During its first spring session, one of the female parliament members of Azerbaijan National Parliament, proposed to replace 8th of March and instead celebrate Mother's day on the birthday of late president Heydar Aliyev's mother, Zarifa Aliyeva (April 28th).

We have streets named after the late president, we have hospital named after late president's mother, we have bill boards with the family's photographs and etc. Isn't it enough? Last year nothing happened on May 9th- victory day in Azerbaijan in the aftermath of WWII, but large celebrations took place on May 10th, which is late President's birthday (not to mention that celebrations took place despite tragic incident that occurred 10 days prior at the State Oil Academy when 12 students were shot dead).

Why do we need a replacement to something we have been celebrating for decades? I don't know and frankly I don't really understand. Why not keep both March 8th and also have a new holiday if the reasoning is to really honor Mrs. Aliyeva. And is it really necessary? You decide...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I hardly agree with you that Azerbaijan has a rich history. Except than that the article deserve a praise.