By Shahin Abbasov 2/06/09
Call it one small step for man, one giant leap for Azerbaijan. After posting the world’s highest rate of economic growth, founding the first democratic republic in the Islamic world and ranking as the world’s champion of business-friendly reforms, the South Caucasus state has now become the first Turkic country to reach the South Pole.
On January 11, Azerbaijani Ecology and Natural Resources Minister Huseyn Bahirov scaled the top of Vinson Massif, Antarctica’s highest peak at some 5,139 meters (16,680 feet) above sea level. In doing so, he made history.
To mark the feat, Bahirov hoisted the Azerbaijani flag on Vinson Massif, and left behind two bronze plates. One plate features the late Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev with the Azeri inscription "I am proud that I am Azerbaijani." A second features Aliyev’s son and current president, Ilham Aliyev, with his 2008 election campaign slogan "Azerbaijan, Forward with Ilham."
A congratulatory satellite phone call from President Aliyev after Bahirov scaled Vinson Massif was the expedition’s most memorable moment, the minister told a February 3 news conference in Baku. "At that moment, I understood that I had displayed great courage and felt the full sense of responsibility" for the accomplishment, a beaming Bahirov said.
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