Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim!
Esteemed heads of religious confessions,
Our qadis, clergy!
Dear participants of the event!

Today we stand on the eve of an important anniversary in the history of our people and our state. Six years have passed since the beginning of the Patriotic War, which put an end to 30 years of Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani lands. The blessed date of our righteous struggle on the path to restoring historical justice is a day of honour and a source of pride for every Azerbaijani. God willing, we will soon mark the 6th anniversary of the Victory we achieved in 44 days, but the significance of 27 September, Remembrance Day, as the pinnacle of our national revival, the strength of our statehood, and love for the Motherland, holds an especially great place in the memory of our people.
On 27 September, the Azerbaijani people entered the great trial of their history. It began a righteous struggle to liberate its ancestral lands, long yearned for, from the occupier, to free its national, religious and cultural monuments from bondage, and to save its mosques from desecration and its wealth from plunder. To put an end to the acts of vandalism and crimes of cultural genocide that the world community had passed over in silence, and to reclaim our devastated cities, villages and settlements, the Azerbaijani Army rose up to restore our rights on Azerbaijani soil. Under the leadership of our victorious Supreme Commander-in-Chief, it carried out the honourable mission of restoring the territorial integrity that international law recognised but could not secure. May the Almighty God have mercy upon the heroic martyrs of the Azerbaijani Army who gave their lives on the path of the Motherland, and grant healing to our valiant war veterans!
In those blessed, fateful days, our clergy stood by the people day and night, providing religious and spiritual service to our soldiers and their families and loved ones. This is our moral duty as clergy, and we carried out this duty with dignity during the days of the Patriotic War as well. We jointly took part in the funeral ceremonies of our martyrs of the Motherland, who represented various confessions, participating together without distinction — Muslim, Catholic, Orthodox, Jewish. Both during the days of the Patriotic War and after our blessed Victory, we, the heads of the religious confessions operating in Azerbaijan, met on numerous occasions, spoke at length about the sacred goals of the Second Karabakh War, and spared no effort in conveying to the world community the truths of our righteous struggle. We worked intensively with all the religious centres and international bodies with which we cooperate to expose the war crimes and inhumane acts committed by the Armenian side against our people, as well as the disinformation and malicious accusations it spread. We made the crimes against the civilian population of Azerbaijan known throughout the world; together, all confessions appealed to the world community, international organisations and religious centres, and issued joint statements. We fulfil our duty before our state and our people through our religious and spiritual service. In those days, as always, we stood together with all the religious confessions operating in Azerbaijan, supporting our righteous struggle shoulder to shoulder. It is a source of pride that our esteemed Head of State, Mr. Ilham Aliyev, in his historic address at Jidir Duzu in our cultural capital, Shusha, specifically noted and highly valued the contribution of Azerbaijan's clergy and believers to the Karabakh Victory. Today as well, Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Jews and Albanian-Udis in Azerbaijan, together with Muslims, surround the families of the Motherland's martyrs with attention and care, and honour their memory with dignity. This unity of ours is a precious treasure of the Azerbaijani people. There is no doubt that, thanks to our multicultural traditions — an inseparable part of National Leader Heydar Aliyev's ideology of Azerbaijanism, which ensure that Azerbaijani citizens of various ethnic and religious backgrounds live in spiritual harmony as members of one family — the strength of the Azerbaijani state is unshakeable, and its victories will continue forever.
Our esteemed President, His Excellency Mr. Ilham Aliyev, raised Azerbaijan to the height of a victorious country and its people to the height of a triumphant nation, fulfilling a father's wish — the testament of the National Leader of the Azerbaijani people. Resting upon the people's support and solidarity, and their deep trust, respect and love for their leader, Ilham Aliyev has been inscribed on the pages of history as the triumphant commander of the victorious nation, the conqueror of Karabakh and Shusha, and the national hero who restored justice.
The large-scale reconstruction work now under way to overcome the bitter consequences of Armenian vandalism on Azerbaijani lands — the restoration of barbarically destroyed towns, villages and spiritual sites, and the clearing of our lands of mines — gives us immense joy. During every visit of clergy to our liberated lands, it is a source of pride to see the new and magnificent mosque building whose foundation was laid in Shusha, to hear the call to prayer rising from our historic mosques, and to visit the restored and rebuilt mosques, places of worship and Christian churches. This is a manifestation of Azerbaijan's tolerant state policy, which values its spiritual heritage and multicultural religious legacy as a national treasure, reviving and preserving it. The traditional attention and care shown to high spiritual values by His Excellency the President of Azerbaijan, Mr. Ilham Aliyev, and by the First Vice-President of our country, Mrs. Mehriban Aliyeva, continues through unparalleled work towards the revival and renewal of religious and cultural heritage in our liberated territories.
Dear participants of the event! The victories of the Azerbaijani people are the fruits of the unity of people and state and of our national and spiritual solidarity. The strength of the Azerbaijani state is unshakeable, and as long as this wise course of statehood continues, our victories will continue. Just as in 2023, when Azerbaijan's sovereignty was fully restored through the anti-terror operation. Today, the representatives of the dissolved separatist regime answer before Azerbaijani justice; their vile deeds are being exposed before the entire world, and justice is taking its place. Khankendi, once turned into a nest of terrorists and separatists, is today on the world's agenda as a venue where Azerbaijan holds international summits. In Khojaly, a memorial to the victims of the genocide is being raised. In Baku, the Victory Arch embodies our proud triumph. Azerbaijan's clergy and all our believers have always supported and continue to pray for the wise domestic and foreign policy and the victorious political course of His Excellency. May the Almighty God protect Azerbaijan and preserve our head of state! May God Almighty have mercy on all the martyrs of the Motherland, on the heroic martyrs of our 44-day Patriotic War! Amen!