Sahil Gasimov
Secretary General of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council of Azerbaijanis (EAPCA)
Honorary President of the Congress of European Azerbaijanis
Sahil Mammad-yar oglu Gasimov was born on April 7, 1961, in the Hajigabul region of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
In 1982, he graduated from the Faculty of History and Philology at the Volgograd State Institute in the Russian Federation.
In 1992, he earned a degree in law from the Higher School of Criminal Investigation in the city of Omsk. During the same period, he also received higher political education from the University of Marxism-Leninism in the Altai region.
In the early 1990s, he founded the international tourism company Caspian International in Amsterdam, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and served as its president.
In the early 2000s, he laid the foundation for the first Azerbaijani diaspora organization in the Netherlands and in 2004 established the newspaper Azerbaijan Benelux News, which became the press organ of the Azerbaijani diaspora in Europe.
In 2006, he united 15 Azerbaijani diaspora organizations from Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg (Benelux) and founded the Congress of Azerbaijanis of Benelux (BAK), where he served as president.
From 2004 to 2017, he held various leadership positions in the Congress of European Azerbaijanis, including Vice-President and First Vice-President, and served as its President from 2017 to 2022.
From 2006 to 2021, he was a member of the Coordinating Council of World Azerbaijanis and was accredited as a lobbyist in the European Parliament and the European Commission in Brussels.
For his contributions to diaspora activities, he was awarded the "Progress" Medal in 2011, the 3rd Degree Order "For Service to the Fatherland" in 2016, the "100th Anniversary of the Diplomatic Service of the Republic of Azerbaijan" Jubilee Medal in 2019, and the "Medal for Services to Diaspora Activity" in 2022.
In 2020, he was honored with the "Peace" Award from the World Federation of Peace and Love (FOWPAL) based in New York.
In March 2024, he was awarded the "Golden Man of the Year" award by the Ipekyolu magazine in Turkey.
In February 2020, during the 58th session of the United Nations in New York, he delivered a speech informing the participants about the Khojaly Genocide.
He has conducted numerous lobbying meetings at the European Parliament, UNESCO, OSCE, and in the parliaments of various European countries, making significant contributions to Azerbaijan’s public diplomacy efforts.
For his services in diaspora affairs, he has received international awards such as "Gobustan", "The First", and others.
Over 25 years of dedicated work in diaspora building, Mr. Gasimov has proven himself to be a competent, diligent, and capable leader, showing exceptional initiative and earning recognition as a professional expert in this field.
He has chaired organizing committees of several high-level events conducted under the auspices of the Congress of European Azerbaijanis.
On February 24, 2024, he founded the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council of Azerbaijanis (EAPCA), a transnational lobbying structure headquartered in Brussels, the capital of Europe, and was elected its Secretary General.