Ilia Varlamov on Caucasus Jerusalem in Azerbaijan Ilia Varlamov on Caucasus Jerusalem in Azerbaijan Ilia Varlamov on Caucasus Jerusalem in Azerbaijan

Vestnik Kavkaza reports on the visit of Ilia Varlamov, a Russian blogger, to Azerbaijan. The visit was organized within the framework of the “Unknown Caucasus” project of Vestnik Kavkaza.

Ilia Varlamov has published photos of the Red Settlement, the world’s largest community of highland Jews. There are about 4,000 living there, about 18,000 lived there in late 1930s and early 1940s. The village used to be called the Jewish Settlement in 1926. It still has 7 synagogues.

About half of commercial real estate in Moscow belongs to natives of village, including Trade Centers Yevropeyski, Moskva, most of Tverskaya Street, former Cherkizovsky Market. Telman Ismailov, God Nisanov, Zarakh Iliyev and other businessmen were born in the village.

Varlamov noted the difference of appearance of Jewish and Azerbaijani houses on both sides of River Gudyalchay. Most owners of houses in Red Settlement visit the place for a few months in the summer.

Many viewers noted similarities between the highland village and ordinary villages in the Ryazan Region, some reminded about Jewish villages in Georgia. Some visitors have an international position, some have nationalistic.

The blogger noted that the two peoples have no ethnic or religious conflicts, there is no anti-Semitism.

Ilia Varlamov is a blogger and photographer, author of a blog at Live Journal called “Photo journeys and more”, nicknamed zyalt. He is a human rights activist, an organizer of the “Country without stupidity” project. He won the “Glass Screw” prize in 2011.

The blogger has 40943 subscribers, according to December 2, 2011, and holds the 6th highest position in LJ.

Ilia Varlamov is nicknamed Zyalt on LJ and varlamov on Twitter. LJ is a popular source of information and illustrations of events.

Varlamov became famous for his photographs of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s activities.

Varlamov won the ROTOR contest as Blogger of the Year in December 2011.