Born 100 years ago, Heydar Aliyev, the first President of the independent Azerbaijan, was remembered in the Ybl Villa where the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Budapest, the International Teqball Association (FITEQ) and the Representation Office of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) jointly organized the award ceremony of the first ”TEQ Cup of Turkic States” (Teqball and Teqvoly). The event was attended by H.E. Tahir Taghi-Zadeh, the Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Budapest, István Iglói-Nagy, the Head of the Department of Sports Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, H.E. Ambassador János Hóvári, the Executive Head of the Representation Office of OTS in Budapest, as well as István Döbrei, in charge of the international relations of FITEQ
In his opening remarks, János Hóvári underlined that Heydar Aliyev – born 100 years ago – is an outstanding historical personality of the Republic of Azerbaijan. It was a special honor that the award ceremony of the competition organized for Turkic students in memory of the late President is held in the Ybl Villa. Ambassador Hóvári stressed that the inclusion of young people in sports and culture is indispensable from the point of view of the cooperation between Hungary and the Turkic world. One of the engines of this could be the excellent product of sports innovation in Hungary – Teqball. The Executive Head thanked FITEQ for its support for the above event. He also expressed his hope that Teqball will enjoy great popularity in the Turkic states as well.
After congratulating the organizers, the participants and the winners of the competition, Ambassador Tahir Taghi-Zadeh emphasized that the relations between Azerbaijan and Hungary have been developing for the past three decades in an uninterrupted way, and the two countries are strategic partners. He reminded of the fact that all countries can be proud of their great historical political figures. In Azerbaijan, it is Heydar Aliyev who deserves respect like Lajos Kossuth in Hungary, or Winston Churchill in the UK and Charles de Gaulle in France. During his ten years in office, President Aliyev stabilized the country, launched economic development and laid the foundations of the state in Azerbaijan. Ambassador Taghi-Zadeh pointed out that the late President had done a lot to develop sports life in Azerbaijan. He also expressed his delight that in memory of the 100th anniversary an excellent competition on a high level was organized. Ambassador Taghi-Zadeh thanked the support of the Representation Office of the OTS for holding the award ceremony in the Ybl Villa.
After the speeches had been made, the winners of the first TEQ Cup of Turkic States were handed their medals and cups. This was followed by the spectacular game of the winning students from Kyrgyzstan and Kazakistan.
