Chingiz Abdullaev: "Azerbaijan is a unique country – we are located in Asia, but we are also part of the European community "

Interview by Oleg Kushaty. Moscow-Baku. Exclusively for VK

The VK is presenting the next text by Oleg Kushaty as part of the "Unknown Caucasus" project. He has recently visited Azerbaijan and has seen not only Baku, but also the mountainous regions of the country. In the coming days, the VK will publish the texts of Kushaty on Gabala and Ismailli rayons of Azerbaijan.
In Baku, Kushaty met with the famous Azerbaijani writer Chingiz Abdullaev. Abdullaev, only 53 years old, has already written 160 novels and stories. According to experts, in the last four years, he produced a book every one and a half months. His works have been translated into 28 languages. The next presentation of Abdullaev's book will take place in Paris in mid-May. Journalists often ask the writer about the key to his rare productivity. Our talk began with the same question.
- Honestly, I do wonder myself - Chingiz Abdullaev said  - Sometimes I work for 26-28 hours in a row with a couple of five-minute eating breaks. For example, I settle at the desk at 9 AM and finish writing at 11 AM the next day. It is hard to believe. But, I must say, this happens rarely. When journalists ask me this question, I often ask them: "Can you write ten pages of text a day?" Everyone says: "Of course! We need to spend two or three hours at a desk, and everything will be ready." Now let's multiply it by 60 days. It will turn into 600 pages - a great novel in two months. A year will give you six books. "Why do you not write?" - I ask. "It does not happen that way ..." - they answer. And I think it happens that way. Even Dmitry Bykov manages to write a lot.
Before talking about my work, people would say: his dad found clever lawyers who write for his son (my father was chairman of the Presidium of the Lawyers' Association of Azerbaijan). Now no one says that. Although I would like to find smart people who would at least help me a bit. But I do not have them and that is why I write on my own. The "Ogonyok" magazine claimed five years ago that there certainly was no Chingiz Abdullaev. In fact there were four people that gathered - an investigator, a judge, a journalist and a prosecutor - and wrote books. I proposed them a bet: if you can find at least one line in my books which I have not written on my own, I will give you 10 thousand dollars. If you do not find any -
 you give me a ruble and apologize. Actually they have not apologized. When Victor Loshak (editor in chief of "Ogonyok" – V.K.) and Mikhail Gusman (Deputy Director General of ITAR-TASS – V.K.) came here, I told them this story. Loshak was very surprised that such information appeared in "Ogonyok" - he knows me well.
So I work. Although I have many other important things. For example, I am the president of the PEN club, the secretary of the Azerbaijani Writers' Union, a member of the Committee for State Prizes, a member of UNESCO ... I can enumerate my public duties until the evening.

- It is clear that high creative productivity is a matter of self-organization. When one comes to Baku one sees an unprecedented economic breakthrough. It is explainable: it is about the ability to intelligently invest the hydrocarbon money. I am much more interested in the ideological and spiritual trends in independent Azerbaijan. Remember what Brezhnev said: "Azerbaijan is striding wide"? In what direction does Azerbaijan stride today?

- In the USSR, there were only two donor republics - Russia and Azerbaijan. Independence has created new challenges. Our country is marching towards European civilization. In this respect, we are in a unique position – being located in Asia, we see ourselves as part of Europe. Being a Muslim country, we are willing to accept European values. In this respect, we are ahead of Turkey, because the religious party has been winning there for the last several years. Imagine a religious party winning in our elections - it is simply impossible. We are moving towards integration with Europe, but we understand that we will not be so eagerly welcomed, just like Turkey. But still we are moving in this direction. At the end of May Baku will host the "Eurovision" contest, because we came first last year in Dusseldorf. For a country geographically located in Asia, we have achieved great success. In September we will host the Women's Football World Cup, which will be opened by Jennifer Lopez. We have never had such an educated government before. Of course, Heydar Aliyev was an outstanding personality, but Ilham Heydarovich received an excellent education at MGIMO and speaks five foreign languages. He is an example to others. Members of the Azerbaijani Cabinet of Ministers speak four or five languages. In addition to their native tongue, they speak excellent Russian, Turkish, English – these are the languages which are taken for granted. You should agree that it says a lot.


- In 1990 there was a myth that Azerbaijan was moving towards to Turkey ...

- I do not think so. Religious parties, as we have already talked about, would not win even one percent in Azerbaijan. Let us compare the first lady of our country and the wives of the leaders of Turkey. There they are covered with Muslim headscarves. The First Lady of Azerbaijan is a European. This suggests that Western values prevail here. Our many young girls are trying to be like Mehriban: to take care of themselves, be in good shape.
My daughter graduated from the London School of Economics, she works in one of the largest economist firms in the UK. She speaks seven languages perfectly: English, Spanish, French, Italian, Turkish, Azerbaijani and Russian. I think even many Europeans need to catch up with us. I personally speak six languages and I think that this is normal. Although now, looking at children, I understand that I do not speak them so well. After all, language proficiency involves reading books in these languages. When we know the Russian language, we read poems by Pushkin, Lermontov, Tolstoy's prose, Dostoevsky, Chekhov. In this regard, we have great changes and I think that the presidential family is leading this direction,

- In Georgia, there are attempts to replace the Russian language with English. And what is the tendency in Azerbaijan?

- Yesterday, I opened an international conference dedicated to the publishing of books  in Russian by authors from three Transcaucasian republics. I was told there that Georgia is becoming a center of the study of the Russian language. The "Literary Gazeta" has just published my article about the Russian-speaking Azerbaijanis. We have 18,000 students who study in Russian, not a single Russian school or university was closed. Out of nine Azerbaijani writers, three write in Russian, even four, because one writes in two languages. The "White Sun of the Desert" can be considered perhaps the most Russian movie. All the astronauts see this movie before the launch – it is a tradition. The script was written by the Azerbaijani writer Rustam Ibragimbekov. He was also a co-writer together with Nikita Mikhalkov of the famous movies "Burnt by the Sun" and "Urga". We are the only republic in the CISto have maintained respect for the Russian language and Russian culture in general.

- Azerbaijani literature of the Soviet period was also prolific. What are the main objectives of contemporary national authors?

- An author of any country reflects the national aspirations of his people. The National Literature is the concentration of spiritual aspirations of a people. Writers are always in the roots of people's deeds. They form spiritual goals and objectives, which are then pursued by the rest of the people. Take Russian literature. You can argue with Bondarev and Rasputin, but they certainly reflect the deep aspirations of the Russian people. Azerbaijani writers as well. Of course, the biggest pain is the problem of the Karabakh war. We are trying to comprehend what has happened over the last twenty years. We are trying to understand the place of Azerbaijan in the international system. We have a unique country – we are located in Asia, but we are part of the European community. As Muslims, we adopt European values. We have excellent relations with Israel, though many do not even know that Azerbaijan is the second state after Iran professing Shiism. We also have Sunnis, while confrontations in Pakistan, Iraq and other countries are taking place between Sunnis and Shiites. We do not have a single case like that (touch wood!). This is a unique example. If not for Karabakh, Baku would have remained the most polyethnic city. Landau, Rostropovich, Kasparov, and many others were born in Baku. Writers reflect the path of people and think about where to go next. If you want to understand the soul of a people, you should understand its poets and writers.

- Mikheil Saakashvili supports the idea of a united Caucasus. He apparently has in mind political unification. Is it possible to unite the Caucasus spiritually?

- There used to be a Transcaucasian Federation. It is hard to imagine what we could have achieved if in the late 1980s we united and fought together against all our problems, rather than entering into disputes. As it is said, Heaven on Earth was once created in the Caucasus. It was possible to create a unique infrastructure and recreational facilities. The region has many peoples. After all, they used to live together. Look at what is happening in Dagestan and Chechnya; remember the conflicts between the Ossetians and the Ingush, the Georgians and Abkhazians, the Georgians and Ossetians, not to mention the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. It is clear that these outrages were fuelled by external forces, and apparently there were sons of bitches who tried to become rich in these situations. Nikolay Gumilev wrote: "A country that could be a paradise became a lair of fire." But it is not too late to make a difference. I think that Saakashvili is right. We must find common ground with neighbors and build a normal economy. Incidentally, it is not only in the interests of Azerbaijan, but also Armenia, because many people there are emigrating. I am not sure that a political unification of the Caucasus is possible at the moment, but a confederation is of course possible. The peoples have to live without war. For example, France and Germany are currently in a union, but for how long they were enemies!..