President Ilham Aliyev said the Azerbaijani people have always lived with the love of independence. Speaking in front of the destroyed mausoleum of Vagif in Shusha, Ilham Aliyev said that in the official Soviet ideology, khanates were described as anti-national, khans were presented to the public as enemies.
"The official ideology of the Soviet state was as if the khanates existing in the territory of Azerbaijan only exploited the people. The people of Azerbaijan seemed to be waiting for the abolition of these khanates and the establishment of Soviet power. Of course, this is nonsense, the Azerbaijani people have lived for centuries with the love of freedom and independence.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of our history has passed in the colonial format. We have lived in other states. We were forced to do it, not by force, not of our own free will, "he said.