Ekaterina Tesemnikova exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza
In Russia, according to various data, from several hundred thousand to more than a million Azerbaijanis live. The official statistics say about 850,000 people, and half of them live in Moscow.
In reality, the life of the majority of these people is interesting both for the Russian and Azerbaijani authorities. The topic was formulated in the early 2000s when the All-Russian Azerbaijani Congress was established. It should be noted that the history of Azerbaijani Diaspora in Russia is not so long. Even though Azerbaijan accessed the Russian Empire in the early 19th century, Azerbaijanis didn’t move to new territories of the big country. Only a difficult economic situation in the early 1990s made thousand people from Azerbaijan search for a better lot. Most of them stayed in Russia. However, they didn’t lost ties with the historic motherland and preserve contacts with relatives.
In 2001 the all-national leader of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev and President of Russia Vladimir Putin initiated an Azerbaijani Diaspora structure which was called the All-Russian Azerbaijani Congress. In 2004 presidents Putin and Ilham Aliyev spoke at the second session of the AAC. The Russian leader said that the structure was established for lobbying interests of Azerbaijani in Russia and interests of Russia in Azerbaijan. A lot has been done in this period, but it is always a time when opportunities for improvement, for more effective implementation of the tasks appear. The current situation shows that there is a necessity to return to beginnings and reconsider the accumulated potential. It should be done in coordination with the authorities of Russia and Azerbaijan. In this context establishing the Russia’s Azerbaijani Organizations Union as a coordinating structure doesn’t seem to be something extraordinary. Ahead of foundation of the AAC there were several Diaspora organizations which were aimed at consolidation of Azerbaijanis, support of compatriots in preservation of culture, language, getting appropriate education. Among them are the community Odzhag, the Federal Cultural Autonomy of Azerbaijanis of Russia Azerros, the Society of Friendship between Russia and Azerbaijan, and other.
The Russia’s Azerbaijani Organizations Union is an attempt of founding a consultative body for organization of common separate arrangements, for example. It will include heads of the current Diaspora structures. However, the RAOU began to be accused of a clash of the Azerbaijani Diaspora in Russia, contradiction to the AAC. Various rumors flooded the information space and obscured the reality. As a rule rumors not only exaggerate difficulty of this or that situation, but also misinterpret tasks and goals of the people. Sometimes they do it on purpose. In fact Azerbaijanis do not invent a bicycle. Establishing of the RAOU is not a negative moment and it is ridiculous to think that it will replace the existing organizations. Each structure of the Azerbaijani Diaspora will continue functioning. There is no tragedy in appearance of a firm connection between the organizations and stronger coordination of activity in favor of Azerbaijanis who live in Russia.
