For a more efficient and successful cooperation with Azerbaijan, Russia must not only understand its traditions, but also the modern life in the country. To do so, it is important to study its political structure and logic behind spiritual development, president of the Institute of Asian and African Studies Mikhail Meyer said in an interview with Vestnik Kavkaza.
As Meyer stressed, it is necessary and important. "We are missing or misinterpret many things in modern interactions. In order to avoid similar mistakes, we must know not only traditional ideas about the region, but also the modern ones. Speaking about Azerbaijanis, today we can no longer be limit our knowledge by the fact that they are Shiite Muslims. They are modern people, who lead modern life. We faced a number of the same cultural issues of modern and recent history," he pointed out.
"I think that if we help people to get better knowledge of the political structure in Azerbaijan, to understand the logic of its spiritual development, we will be able to learn about it and understand it, and thus cooperate better," he said, adding that if it wishes so, it will be easier for Russia to do it, because it has a unique experience of interaction with Azerbaijan and Armenia within the framework of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
"Except for us [Russia], no one really tries to somehow reconcile them. Everyone demands from Russia to intervene, since we are respected by both sides. This implies that we somehow already understand these people, the logic of their behavior and thinking. So the most important task for us today is to see a man through the prism of all this diversity: traditional culture, modern ideas, and hope for the future," he emphasized.
"Of course, even for me it is hard today, since I'm a man who lived most of his life in the world divided into two parts of time. Now it is already in the past, and we must somehow find common ground," he concluded.
