BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 29. A press conference was held in relation to the international "The Heritage of Qizilbash in Azerbaijan: in the footsteps of history" event, organized by the Azerbaijani Diaspora Support Foundation jointly with the Qizilbash Global Heritage Organization, which was held in Baku on November 26-29, 2023, Trend reports.
"Qizilbash" - was originally an association of Turkoman nomadic tribes who spoke the Azerbaijani language. Later, all those living within the Safavid empire, were called "Qizilbash", regardless of ethnicity. The origin of the "Qizilbash" can be dated from the XV century onward.
Speaking about the significance of this conference, co-chairman of the Qizilbash Global Heritage Organization Babek Huseynli noted that a long period of hard work was put in to hold this conference. He emphasized that the conference is an important platform "to unite Qizilbash people" living in different countries of the world.
He said that currently, there are more than 3,500 members of the Qizilbash Global Heritage Organization, adding that the activities of the organization will be expanded in the future.
Board member of the Qizilbash Global Heritage Organization, former federal secretary of Pakistan Agha Sarwar Raza said Azerbaijan is doing great work "to unite the Qizilbash people".
"Our ancestors lived on the territory of Azerbaijan. Subsequently, they spread to different countries of the world. Azerbaijan is our homeland," Agha Sarwar Raza noted. "Every organization that thanks Azerbaijan for uniting the Qizilbash living in different countries of the world should have a platform. Azerbaijan has also ensured the creation of this platform. This will allow us to attract more members to this organization."
Deputy Chairman of Qizilbash Global Heritage Organization, General Director of Delta Health Group (Canada) Arshi Qizilbash noted great importance of the conference and expressed great satisfaction with his visit to Azerbaijan.
"The history of the Qizilbash goes back to the distant past. In Azerbaijan we saw a very warm attitude, but so far in other countries we faced pressure and did not experience such kindred feelings," he said.
An international conference entitled "The Heritage of Qizilbash in Azerbaijan: in the footsteps of history" was held in Baku on November 27-29 within the framework of the 100th anniversary of great leader Heydar Aliyev.
The conference was attended by members of the "Qizilbash Global Heritage Council" of Pakistan, Türkiye, The US, Canada, UK, Singapore and Afghanistan, deputies of Azerbaijan's Milli Majlis (Parliament), researchers of Qizilbash heritage from Azerbaijan and Türkiye, representatives of various state structures, non-governmental and international organizations.