Muslim city

Oil, black caviar and Muslim Magamayev – these are most common

associations brought up by the word “Baku.” Also a lot of people know

that the Istanbul episodes of the famous film “The Diamond Hand” were

shot in the city. All tourists still take a photo of the place, where

Kozodoyev fell and said “heck.”

However, nowadays few people know something about the current

situation in Baku and in Azerbaijan in general…

In fact it’s not the oil industry that is flourishing first of all,

it’s construction. The sector has increased 41 times within the last

15 years. Hundreds of buildings are constructed in Baku, living houses

and hotels are among them. Three giant sky-scrapers were built in the

city’s center. Looking like flame they are even called so – The Flame.

The city is very Paris alike, houses à la Baron Osman stand

everywhere; cream-coloured, pink and white limestone, tracery

balconies, shady side streets. There are street cafés are charming.

The only difference is that the Eiffel Tower is replaced by the TV

tower.

The old city is even a different municipality and has its own mayor.

It looks like a miracle – a city full of plants surrounded by a

desert. The old city has preserved its Eastern appearance  -

restaurants, coffee houses decorated with carpets, souvenir stores and

hookah houses. The Shirvan-Shahs mosque and the Virgin Tower are the

main places of interest in the old city.

The city awakes only in the evening, when the sun is setting and cool

wind blows from the Caspian shore. The city is situated on the shore

and its main street is the embankment. It’s called boulevard here. One

can find all kinds of people here: tourists, young guys on roller

skates, and a lot of Russians. Russians are everywhere, Russian

languages is herd spoken all the time.

In fact it’s very fashionable to place children in Russian schools.

One, who doesn’t speak Russian is believed to have extremely bad

manners. Russian people living in Baku are respected as in no other

post-Soviet republic.

The city awakes only in the evening, when the sun is setting and cool

wind blows from the Caspian shore. The city is situated on the shore

and its main street is the embankment. It’s called boulevard here. One

can find all kinds of people here: tourists, young guys on roller

skates, and a lot of Russians. Russians are everywhere, Russian

languages is herd spoken all the time.

In fact it’s very fashionable to place children in Russian schools.

One, who doesn’t speak Russian is believed to have extremely bad

manners. Russian people living in Baku are respected as in no other

post-Soviet republic.

90 per cent of Azerbaijanis are Muslims. However their Islam is not

exaggerated, people don’t prefer to show off their faith. Russian

North Caucasus is so close, but still very different. In Dagestan or

Chechnya all women wear niqab and never jeans or short skirts. In

Azerbaijan women dressed like that are rare. Also Russian Muslims

never drink.

Azerbaijan is a purely secular state. It’s wine-production flourishes

(it was almost destroyed during Gorbachev’s anti-alcohol campaign, but

then was reborn). There are however those who wish to change this

situation and turn Azerbaijan into an Islamic republic (similar to

neighbouring Iran). These are activists of the Islamic Party of

Azerbaijan. It was registered in 1992, but soon was prohibited.  The

irony is that Iranians themselves prefer to spend their vacation in

Azerbaijan in order to have a rest from their own country’s strict

rules.

The country’s authorities have even prohibited wearing hijab in

schools. According to Khidayat Oruzhev, the head of state committee

for cooperation with religious groups, the measure was fair as no

other country allows wearing hijab in schools or universities. He says

that those who want to dress so should enter Islamic educational

institutions, such as Baku Islamic University or madrasah. The state

educational institutions are not places for that.

At least 60 per cent of the Azerbaijani Muslims are Shiites.  The

Islamic Republic of Iran considers itself the center of the world’s

Shiites. However, it does not affect bilateral relations.  “Islam is a

essential part of the Iranian policy-making. The state is an Islamic

republic. In Azerbaijan the situation is different. We are famous for

our tolerance and secularism. People of all religions are equal in

Azerbaijan. We have Orthodox churches and a Catholic cathedral,

synagogue for Ashkenazi Jews and even an Armenian church! Religion and

politics are two different spheres in our country. One does not affect

another,” says Oruzhev.

However, not everything is so good in Azerbaijan. And that explains,

why there are so much Azerbaijani people living in Russia. The country

has been in a conflict with neighbouring Armenia for almost two

decades and the situation is turning for the better.

“The situation surrounding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is on its

crucial point, - says deputy dean of the history faculty of the Moscow

State University, Dr. Alexey Vlasov, explaining, “There are two

possible ways out. The mediator may push the parties towards peaceful

solution, or the situation may soon change for the worse. That means

that a new war is possible. Still I believe the first variant is more

probable. In such case Moscow will give up its role as the chief

mediator and Paris and Washington will force the parties to sign a

peace treaty.”