Azernews.Az

The International Academy of the Cossacks has awarded Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev with the highest order of the Cossacks "Gold Star of the Hero", head of the Azerbaijani Union of Cossacks Viktor Mereshkin said at a press conference on Friday.

"The document undersigned by President of the International Academy of the Cossacks, Army General MikhailoYamnenko, says the Azerbaijani President was awarded for his hard work and assistance to the Cossack community, as well as strengthening friendship between the Azerbaijani and Ukrainian peoples, developing the science and reviving the traditional, cultural and spiritual values and supporting Cossack organizations," Mereshkin said.

"Earlier, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was awarded Golden Star of the Hero," he added.

Mereshkin noted that Azerbaijan's First Lady, president of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, Goodwill Ambassador of UNESCO and ISESCO, MP Mehriban Aliyeva was awarded the "Cossack glory", the highest award, by the "Sicheslavskoje Voysko Zaporozhskoje" led by the Cossack general Nikolay Gordienko, for her charity, kindness, activeness for the benefit of people and assisting Azerbaijan's Cossacks.

"Azerbaijan's cossacks have the honorable mission of presenting the award," Mereshkin said. "We hope that this will happen soon."

"Azerbaijan's cossacks are working for the benefit of their country - Azerbaijan, as these awards are recognition of the merits of our country and the fraternal relations between Azerbaijan and Cossacks," Mereshkin noted.

"The cossacks living here consider Azerbaijan as their homeland and support the country in all spheres," he said. "Cossacks are ready to defend Azerbaijan and fight for the restoration of the country's territorial integrity."