Polad Bulbuloglu: Today, UNESCO needs a resolute person who can offer new ideas

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The Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Russia, the candidate for the post of UNESCO Director General Polad Bulbuloglu commented on his chances to take up this post, APA reported.

Bulbuloglu told reporters that all candidates for the post of secretary general are very strong.

"I would say that this is a political struggle and a struggle of ideas and proposals. Geopolitics is very important. We still have five months ahead, so we’ll see how things develop. In any case, we will work to win," the diplomat said.

Regarding the criticism of his knowledge of English during his speech at the meeting of the organization in Paris, Bulbuloglu said that he speaks English just as well as many ministers of culture.
 
"The language issue is controversial, because, as in UNESCO and in the United Nations, there are 6 major languages, including Russian, which I perfectly master. There were demands for English and French, but I will not speak about the legitimacy of this requirement. In any case, I answered the questions.
 
I'm not a native speaker as British people. We have 5 months ahead and I'm preparing. Moreover, when a person gets into the work environment, the language improves naturally.
 
The important thing is, what a person has on his mind and what ideas he can offer, given what difficulties UNESCO has right now. Today UNESCO needs a resolute person who can offer new ideas, approaches, and reforms. I have huge experience of crisis management. I was a Minister of Culture in the period the USSR collapsed. For several years there was no funding, but we did not shut down any libraries, museums, or theaters in Azerbaijan. We preserved all of the infrastructure,” he said.

The diplomat also answered a question about the hysteria in the Armenian society regarding the nomination of his candidacy for the post of UNESCO Director General, saying that there is nothing else to expect from Armenians.

"There is an Armenian church in downtown Baku, which was restored at public expense. It stores more than 5000 books in Armenian, some of which cannot even be found in Armenia. Azerbaijan helps the Christian world to restore monuments. Can such a country purposefully destroy something? This is another trick of propaganda by our neighbors," he noted. 

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