Slovenia to erect Azerbaijani hero's monument

/By AzerNews/

By Amina Nazarli

A monument commemorating Azerbaijan’s brave son, hero of the Soviet Union, Mehdi Huseynzade will be erected in the Slovenian capital this year, Mayor of Ljubljana Zoran Jankovic said in an interview with AzerTAc.

He highlighted his visit to Azerbaijan, saying he was deeply impressed by the trip. “I was struck by the beauty of Heydar Aliyev Center and Seaside Boulevard in Baku.”

The mayor hailed Baku as “a clean and neat city”, noting that he visited the Olympic village built for the European Games to be held in the city in June.

Jankovic said he witnessed an unbreakable link between the people and the head of state.

The mayor also recalled his visit to Gabala, where he viewed the tourist attractions and manufacturing and processing enterprises. He underlined that Gabala juice factory has a production capacity of more than five times than similar facilities in Ljubljana.

He also touched upon the ties between the two countries in the field of tourism. The number of Azerbaijani tourists coming to Slovenia is increasing, he said.

The mayor invited Azerbaijani businessmen to invest in the country. “We can benefit from mutual investment projects. Slovenia has a favorable investment environment. Ljubljana is considered Europe’s green city," the Mayor of Ljubljana added.

Lieutenant Huseynzade was an Azerbaijani guerrilla and scout during World War II. He was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on April 11, 1957.

Huseynzade, whose friends called him Mikhailo, was a Soviet lieutenant, a partisan and an intelligence agent who became famous for daring operations against the German and Italian invaders during the Second World War in Yugoslavia and Italy. He became the hero of the three countries - Italy, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union posthumously.

In the middle of January 1944, Mikhailo along with other fighters grasped topographic maps of the opponent. Next month Mehdi in the form of the German officer made his way into German barracks and, having enclosed a mine to fire extinguishers, blow up the central premise.

On April 2, 1944, Huseynzade with another Azerbaijani guerrilla, Mirdamat Seidov, installed a delayed-action mine in the Villa Opicina cinema near Trieste. The explosion killed 80 and wounded 260 Germans, of which 40 died later in hospital.

In May, Huseynzade and Seidov blew up a casino at Trieste, where 150 German officers were killed and 350 others wounded. Increasing concerned about these attacks, Germans set a reward of 400,000 Italian liras for killing Huseynzade.

A football stadium in Sumgayit was named after him. Monuments in his honor have been erected in Baku, as well as in his hometown of Novkhany, Azerbaijan, and near Nova Gorica, Slovenia.