When I came to Shusha today, I brought the busts of our geniuses Khurshidbanu Natavan, Uzeyir Hajibayli and Bulbul, which were kept in the yard of the Art Museum in Baku for almost 30 years, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said at an event held on the occasion of return of busts to Bulbul, Natavan and Uzeyir Hajibeyli to Shusha,Trend reports.
“The House of Culture was located here, and the busts of Uzeyir Bey and Bulbul used to stand here. The hated enemy destroyed the Shusha House of Culture and shot at the busts of our geniuses,” Azerbaijani president said.
“The bust of Khurshidbanu Natavan was unveiled personally by Heydar Aliyev in the summer of 1982. I was here with my father at that time. There was a bust of Khurshidbanu Natavan not far from here. After desecrating the busts of our genius personalities, the Armenians took them to Armenia to be melted down and sold. Just imagine how mean a person should be to shoot at and insult the memorial busts of historical personalities, take them away and try to melt them down. At that time, Polad Bulbuloglu found out about that and appealed to great leader Heydar Aliyev. As a result of the measures taken, these busts were taken away from the Armenians. I must say that they were paid for. They sold them – just as they have done throughout their existence. We bought the busts back. We brought them back then and placed them in the yard of the Art Museum,” the head of state said.