2012 was a significant year for development of Russian-Azerbaijani ties. Yesterday Ilham Aliyev met the Russian presidential envoy on CIS affairs, Konstantin Kosachev. He sent greeting and congratulations from Russian President and Prime Minister to Azerbaijani President in view of Day of the Republic of Azerbaijan, which was marked on May 28th. The conference devoted to Azerbaijani-Russian relations in the context of establishing Azerbaijani statehood was held in Moscow. It took place in Russian State University for Humanities. Its president, Efim Pivovar, is the head of the Russian-Azerbaijani Friendship Society.
Vera Zabodkina, Dean for innovative international projects, Russian State University of the Humanities, stated that “Efim Pivovar is very much involved in the relations between Russian and Azerbaijan, not only on the practical but also on the theoretical level. He has recently published a monograph about the relations between Russian and Azerbaijan. In 2010 a forum of rectors of universities and deans of faculties of humanities took place in Baku. RSUH continues to develop both the theory and practice of relations between Russia and Azerbaijan in many directions.
We have just marked the 96th anniversary since the foundation of the very first democratic republic in the East. This is very important and we believe that the organizers chose the right time. I would like to note that this was the first republic organized according to European ideas of a parliamentary republic. Although the flag of the country harmonically combined and combines Turkism, Islam and Europeanism, its parliamentary basis set it apart from all the other states of the East.
The events in April marking the 20th anniversary of the restoration of Russian-Azerbaijani diplomatic relations were attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who emphasized the importance of these relations. Relations between Russia and Azerbaijan were not limited to the political sphere. We can also speak about a growth of economic cooperation. In 2011 the commodity exchange reached a record of three billion dollars. A colossal sum. New projects appear every year. Azerbaijan invested 500 million dollars in Russia. Also a significant sum. Azerbaijani capital is working in Southern Russia, while the Russian side encourages it and tries to support Azerbaijani businessmen who are ready to risk and invest.
We are a university of the humanities and this sphere also, of course, interests us. It is difficult to imagine warmer and closer relations. You know that several forums of intelligentsia took place in Baku with great success and another one should happen this autumn. It went beyond our two states and it will again bring together thousands of people from the different ends of the world.
Azerbaijan is so close to the Russian soul, with its warmth, its generosity, its openness, its readiness to help. When we think, after the Eurovision, who was the closest to us, it turns out that Azerbaijan so harmonically fits into the contemporary landscape of Russia and Europe, that we accept it as the closest of relatives.”
Asaf Mekhdiyev, Advisor at the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Russia, noted that “the high level of our relations, which have reached a strategic level. The credit for this should first of all go to our leaders and of course of the unforgotten Heydar Aliyev, whose fund is basically the organizer and initiator of the current conference. Heydar Aliyev played a crucial role in the establishment of the current warm, friendly and strategic relations between our countries. Everybody remembers his famous phrase that “part of his soul is in Russia.” These are not empty words. Russia is the main neighbor of Azerbaijan and the latest initiatives of the Russian leadership in a peaceful resolution of the Karabakh conflict once more confirm the friendly nature of the Russian state. It is difficult to over-estimate the activity of the RSUH and many cultural activists of Azerbaijan and Russian who develop this component of our relations, which is probably the most important.”
According to Eldar Abdulla-zade, Professor at the Russian State University of the Humanities, “the relations between Azerbaijan and Russia in the context of Azerbaijani statehood go back to the past. There have always been three main directions.
The first bloc was of course humanitarian – no other part of the Russian Empire and later no other Soviet Republic could not say that there were so many Russians living there. In the entire history of Azerbaijan - and this is also a reason to be proud – there had never been any conflict on ethnic grounds until 1988. Baku is perhaps the only city where all the world confessions are represented. I do not know any capital of the Soviet Republics with four synagogues. None of the post-Soviet republics has as many Russian-language schools. Azerbaijan was always the first in its number of Russian-language schools and with its tolerance in relations between Russians and Azeris. This humanitarian bloc now results in the large number of Azeris that are currently living in Russia and in Moscow. There is still a lot of work to be done by the Embassy, by the Azerbaijani Congress and other structures. This problem is on a good foundation and it should bear good fruit.
In second place is the educational problem. In Soviet times it was always prestigious to graduate from the Russian school in Baku and to go to Moscow to study. And here we need to bow to Heydar Aliyev for introducing out-of-competition enrollment. People studied there, passed their exams there and then went to Moscow to continue their studies.
The economic bloc is based on the great foundation of the pre-revolutionary period and of the Soviet period. You know that Azerbaijan occupied first place in the world in volume of grape production. Perhaps there wasn't a single person in Moscow or in the Soviet Union who did not know what Agdam means. On Soviet territory there were 78 branches of Azvino. No other republic could claim this. Of course, after the break-up of the Soviet Union, after privatization, this economic bloc could be improved. Vegetable production was in second place. Azerbaijani vegetables had a dominant position, but now it is connected to the customs, with marketing, there is a lot to be done.
If we integrate the humanitarian, educational and economic spheres, on the statehood level we have a big gap with legislative problems. We need to work hard so that in future it will have a proper place both in Russia and in Azerbaijan. We have positive dynamics, many Russians come to study in Azerbaijan, this is a good factor but it needs to be developed. Of course we would like to have Azeris in the Russian State Duma, we don’t have it the way we want. We invite Russians who want to participate in foreign relations to become deputies of the Azerbaijani Parliament. We encourage this. Taking this opportunity, we would like to say that in all these directions – humanitarian, educational, economic – we still have to work, on the level of the presidential administration, governments and parliaments in order to say that Azeris feel comfortable in Russia and Russians feel equally comfortable in Azerbaijan. So that Russian-Azerbaijani relations have the effect on the statehood level that Russians and Azeris want to see.”
Ismail Agakishiyev, Associate Professor at the Department of Post-Soviet Studies, Moscow State University, remembers: “ Last year, Sergei Karpov, dean of the History Department, said a phrase that at first surprised me, but I remembered it. He said that if we want relations between Russian and Azerbaijan to be good, then demand from Azeri that they love Azerbaijan. From a historical point of view I can say that Azeris can take some offence from Russians only on issue – that in the first half of the 19th century it was necessary to conquer the whole of Azerbaijan, which would have been a 50-million-strong independent state with its own schools, universities and academies. I believe that what Russia did in the Caucasus and in Central Asia is similar to the European Renaissance. There would have been no republic if there had not been a civic intelligentsia that was educated in the universities of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Today there are Russian-language schools and a Russian sector at universities is not only fashion. Russian culture, thanks to Tolstoy, Turgenev and Chekhov, went beyond national boundaries, it became a part of world civilization at which the Azeri intelligentsia is looking, and not like at something strange, but as a part of its spiritual culture.
Azerbaijan, both in the cultural and economic spheres, is most of all connected to Russia. In the 1990s not everything was as good as it is now. In the 1990s there was no economic crisis in Azerbaijan – there was a complete economic collapse. And not thousands, but millions of Azeris found jobs in Russia, and not in Turkey or Iran. And Azerbaijan is grateful for this. It will never be forgotten.
We want Russian education to maintain its traditionally high level. The level that existed at Moscow State University, at the Historical-Archival Institute, in medical universities that is maintained, I believe that this is already on a world scale. Azerbaijan now has universities that can be interesting for non-Azeris too. If it had not been for the policy of Heydar Aliyev, there would not have been Ismail studying at Moscow State University. And there are thousands of stories like this. 700 people went there annually. And Azerbaijan would not have been the strategic friend of Russia. The student years, when you live in one dorm, the best years spent in Russia, make you a sincere friend of this country. Of course Azerbaijan is interested in Russians studying at the Diplomatic Academy and the other universities, for example the Institute of Tourism. So that not only citizens of Azerbaijan study in Russia, but also citizens of Russian study in Azerbaijan. The relations between Azerbaijan and Russia are centuries-old and we need to do everything to develop them.”
