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.”
