Are we building our future together?

The article from Today's Zaman exposes the shallowness of claims of "One Nation - Two States" policy in Azerbaijan-Turkish relations. Azerbaijan's government is simply not interested in developing deeper, more rational strategic partnership which is based on future and does not dwell on the past. Azerbaijan is building its future balancing on the difference between Russia, Europe and Turkey and this is not real policy. Turkophiles in Azerbaijan - see beyond the hype.


There are linguistic, religious and ethnic ties between Turkey and Azerbaijan, but Azerbaijan also has the same ties with Asian countries. Azerbaijan has coexisted with people in Central Asia with Turkish roots for nearly 200 years (through the Russian Tsardom and the Soviet Union) under the same state, sharing the same cultural, political and economic life. Despite sharing so many commonalities, Azerbaijani people have a more deeply rooted sympathy and love toward Turkey than toward the Turkic peoples of Central Asia. What is the reason for Turkey's deep love toward Azerbaijan and Azerbaijan's deep love toward Turkey?

Intellectual movement between the two countries in the 19th and 20th centuries, the interaction of intellectual thoughts, the quest for strategic partnership in the early 20th century, the liberation of Azerbaijan and Baku by the Ottoman state in 1918, Azerbaijan's financial support and volunteer military support for Turkey's War of Independence in 1921, Turkey's safe haven for Azerbaijani opponents during Russian Tsardom and the Soviet Union and Turkey's quick and free political, economic, militaristic and cultural consultation with Azerbaijan after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 are representative of the events that have facilitated the affection between the two countries.

However, a common strategic future has not been built on this deep love between the two countries in the 21st century. Taking each other for granted, the countries haven't felt the need to build a future together. Activities between businessmen and high-level political meetings between presidents, prime ministers and state ministers were deemed sufficient as long as they adhered to the “one nation, two states” slogan. Considering the deep love between the two countries, why haven't relations between Turkey and Azerbaijan reached the level of relations between Turkey and Georgia or between Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation or even between Azerbaijan and Germany? Or rather, the more important question is: How can the two countries develop their relations to that level? There are no visa requirements between Turkey and Georgia for those staying under three months. There are negotiations under way to allow citizens to travel between Turkey and Georgia with just an identification card. Visa exemptions have boosted travel between the two countries and trade along the border. Turkey signed its second-most comprehensive free trade agreement, which includes agricultural products as well, with Georgia, after Bosnia-Herzegovina.

While Turkey has removed visa requirements for Azerbaijani citizens, Azerbaijan has not and would even like to adopt a stricter visa policy.

Musavat Party Program

A quote from the program of Turkic Democratic-Federalist party Musavat. This declaration accepted on October 26, 1917 at the party's Baku Convention.

In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful!

Human life is a constant war with Nature. Civilization is a reward men earn in this war. Humanity’s main purpose and desire reveals itself in sustaining our civilization and in fair distribution of its bounties. Human civilization in its entirety is a sum of cultural gains of individual nations.

To preserve the gains of our civilization and cultural achievements of Humanity, the existence of cultured nation state is vital. And since this fact is not in dispute – and furthermore, since the fact that a culture of all Humanity is a sum of individual national cultures is also not in dispute – we strongly believe that most rational and normal state must be a nation state.

He is no more

Muslim, I am so sad but also glad that you are back. Hey, even Brits wrote about you.

Let it be known that our soil is the soil to which you belong. Nothing is eternal and our nation will perish one day, but as long as we Azeris remain we will remember you, your sweet songs and your devotion to your Motherland will be remembered. I am happy there is Azerbaijan on the worldmap, for if there was not there would be so much less happiness out there.

Maybe there are better voices in the World and more known , but we do not care in the least. We have given Russia a son - and depth of Russia's love for Magomayev have suprised me - but he returned with his last wish to be buried near his famous grandfather, in whose opera he also sang.

Millions of Soviet women worshipped when You sang Figaro and danced twist. Hysteria of 1960s long past, but all of us remember You for being a Genius. Rest in Peace, Orpheus!

Allah Rehmet Elesim, Muslim Bey!

What to say. It is all in the song. This song.

Send him back...

This upsets me very much

Azerbaijan is secular state where - rightly or wrongly from conservative points of view - gays are not only not left to leave freely, they thrive in our environment. They occupy TV channels and own clubs - no officially sanctioned persecution is even on the cards. But of course we are Muslims, so we should be treating minorities badly, we are monsters. The one party that is truly persecuted in Azerbaijan is Armenians, for obvious reasons.

Of course, speculation on ethnic, political and religious persecution is rife, for poor and useless people to enjoy opportunities of the West. Recently I was approached by an future asylum seeker fromAzerbaijan who wanted to fake his nationality to become an Armenian.

Britain, send this guy back to Azerbaijan - or, maybe keep him - we have enough mouths to feed.

The flag once raised will never fall!

Today is 90th anniversary of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic.

The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR; Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan Xalq Cümhuriyyəti) was the first democratic and secular republic in the Muslim world (pre-dating the Republic of Turkey). The ADR was founded on May 28, 1918 after the collapse of the Russian Empire that began with the Russian Revolution of 1917 by Azerbaijani National Council in Tiflis[1].

90 years of existence - despite the 70-year period of Soviet occupation created us, and as the founding fathers had said - the blue-red-green flag once raised would never fall.

Blue is for our Turkishness and Modernity we are on the road to. Red is for martyrs who died for the Nation and for our freedom. Green is for Islam and tradition we will be faithful to . That flag is us in a nutshell. Salute those created this flag!

Europeans or not?

Azerbaijan has taken first steps towards the full European membership - membership in a trashy brotherhood that is. The first baby step was the Eurovision Song Contest, which is taken too seriously than it deserves here, by me included. Britain, incidentally, took the last place at the contest - as was expected from the nation scorned by continentals. Any other place at European table beyond this trashy contest can not be taken for granted. However can we be fully consider ourselves as Europeans - whatever this means - to the extent they consider us anything at all. Let us count all the pros and cons.

We are Europeans because we:

• Have achieved a 8th place at Eurovision Song Contest in 2008.
• Sang the song in English.
• Have beautiful ladies walking in miniskirts around town.
• Have drinking dens, discos, and tattoo parlors around town.
• Baku looks and feels European city.
• Prefer Italian clothes and shoes, French wine and German cars.
• Hold elections and declare our love of democracy.
• Signed every possible European charter.
• Embarassingly hide our “backwardness” in front of Europeans.
• Secretly long to be accepted into European Union ahead of Armenia.

We are not Europeans because we:

• Live under a authoritarian and extremely corrupt regime
• are ethnically Muslim, some of us practicing
• Are not from Europe and we border Iran
• Have oil resources accompanied with an oil curse
• Have a traditional family values and frown upon pre-marital sex
• Do not enjoy getting drunk
• Ambivalent towards equal rights for minorities, especially gays
• Like our heterosexual men to hold hands in public

It is your call. Are we?

Spring Hath Come

What can be more primeval than the rebirth of Nature. In the Region where the Letter, the Agriculture and Religion were born, Man even before those had celebrated the budding festival of spring, for it was the to cultivate crops, tend animals ready to mate and collect berries and flowers

Thus I claim that Novruz is the oldest celebration known to Humanity. It is for all of us who live in the Middle East and Central Asia - the region where Spring is the best season of all.

Everyone claims with equal validity that Nowruz is theirs to cherish: Zoroastrians, Muslims, Bahais and Alawites. In reality it is as close to the Men's Natural Religion as the day could be. It is just the First Day of Spring, a day when not a single vice and wretchedness is celebrated, but Ours and Nature's Maker is worshipped - The One who made it all possible for us - to breathe, to sing and to make merry.

Nowrūz (Persian: نوروز, various local pronunciations and spellings) is the traditional Iranian new year holiday celebrated by Iranian, Turkic and many other peoples in West Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, Northwestern China, the Caucasus, the Crimea, and the Balkans.
Nowruz marks the first day of spring and the beginning of the Iranian year. It is celebrated on the day of the astronomical vernal equinox (start of spring in northern hemisphere), which usually occurs on March 21 or the previous/following day depending on where it is observed. As well as being a Zoroastrian holiday, it is also a holy day for adherents of Sufism and the Bahá'í Faith.[1] In Iran it is also referred to as an Eid festival, although it is not an Islamic feast. Alawites and Nizari Ismailis also celebrate Nowruz.[2] The term Nowruz first appeared in Persian records in the second century AD, but it was also an important day during the time of the Achaemenids (c. 648-330 BC), where kings from different nations under the Persian empire used to bring gifts to the emperor (Shahanshah) of Persia on Nowruz.[3]

Friends and Foes of Azerbaijan

Now look who's talking at the UN. To get a break from Israeli-Palestine confict dignitaries decided to spend some time pondering heavy thoughts about forgotten war in the Caucasus. Our Shia co-believers in Iran have abstained as was expected, whilst majority of other Muslim countries have voted in favor. Algeria abstained for an unknown reason (Question for Riri - are there Armenians out there or what?) Arbiters of fairness from United States have voted against the resolution for quite understandable reasons, and here they are at one with Mother Russia. What I do not comprehend is India's voting patterns, which are consistenly anti-Azeri (from previous UN resolutions) even though our relationhsip is generally cordial. I wonder if there some kind of Aryan solidarity amongst "Ancient Civilizations" in play.

Whilst we can not and should not act against USA due to our dependent position, some political action should be taken against France and French business interests in Azerbaijan, even if largely symbolic for her unquestionable support of Armenia through the years. Turkey whose EU membership is on the line was not afraid to stand firm against France in the genocide raw last year. Azerbaijan has much less to lose.

General Assembly of UN adopts resolution reaffirming territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, demanding withdrawal of all Armenian forces. Text of declaration can be read at Today.Az

"Seriously concerned that the armed conflict in and around the Nagorny Karabakh region of Azerbaijan continued to endanger international peace and security", the General Assembly on Friday reaffirmed Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, expressing support for that country’s internationally recognized borders and demanding the immediate withdrawal of all Armenian forces from all occupied territories there. B y a recorded vote of 39 in favour to 7 against , with 100 abstentions, the Assembly also reaffirmed the inalienable right of the Azerbaijani population to return to their homes, and reaffirmed that no State should recognize as lawful the situation resulting from the occupation of Azerbaijan’s territories, or render assistance in maintaining that situation. (See below for voting details.)

Vote on Occupied Territories of AzerbaijanThe draft resolution on the situation in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan (document A/62/L.42) was adopted by a recorded vote of 39 in favour to 7 against, with 100 abstentions, as follows:

In favour: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Colombia, Comoros, Djibouti, Gambia, Georgia, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Moldova, Morocco, Myanmar, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Turkey, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Yemen.

Against: Angola, Armenia, France, India, Russian Federation, United States, Vanuatu.

And next we conquer The Galaxy

In case one wonders where oil money will so rapidly evaporate I have an explanation. Baku has declared intent to host Olympic Games in 2016 and submitted a bid in this regard with a consequent action of forming an executive committee with a budget and staff. A first step to greathness has been undertaken.

And The Winner Is...

Azerbaijan's Eurovision Hysteria has been brought to a close today. One of the three was elected to represent our nation in the Eurovision song contest in May - to be judged, to beat Armenia and to shine on European stage. And feed population with more of a European dream. No matter that friendly European Home barely exist, no matter that we will never join so-called European family, being culturally and economically distant from the West. What matters is the effort.

Build-up to the selection was country-wide and support elevated to the highest level. One can find it laughable that interest in this contest consumes average people on the street. But the fact that our country will be finally represented on Eurovision, generates enormous amount of pride.
I compare Eurovision to World Cup football games - they are generators of national pride; pride that gets over the top when teams perform well, or even get to participate in the event which is no more than eleven people passing the ball to each other. And so was today - too far from any actual musical talent.

My favourite rock group did not win, by the way. Our entry will be bland song by Elnur Husseynov. Just the fare for European audiences to show how Western we are.

TV Overdub

Isolation of Azerbaijan from the World, or final step towards independence from nasty neighbours?. Neither - but, probably the right time to buy Cable TV and watch The BBC!

Azerbaijan, Baku / corr. Trend E. Huseynli/ The broadcast of films in foreign languages with low quality dubbing on the TV channels of Azerbaijan have been
stopped. “The dubbing of films in TV channels is of low quality”, the head of the National Television and Radio Council of Azerbaijan (NTRC), Nushirevan Meherremli, said to Trend on 7 January. According to Meherremli, the main issue is the broadcast of films in the native language. The quality of the dubbing will be improved gradually. No TV channel will be made to compromise in connection to broadcasting films in foreign languages, added the head of NTRC. In March, at a meeting of the Council, it was decided from 1 January 2008 to totally ban the broadcast of films (feature and documentary) in foreign languages via Azerbaijani TV channels. As the Turkish language is similar to the Azerbaijani language this was not included on the list of banned films. The Council ordered all TV channels to dub foreign films into the Azerbaijani language from the beginning of next year. Those who ignore the order will be suspended. According to Meherremli, the number of films on TV channels will naturally decrease. The Dubbing Studio has been established at Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Seven republic and 14 regional TV channels function in Azerbaijan.

Snow in Baku

New Year in Baku

I am on the news...

News in Azeri - so no reason to link it.

Great-grandson of famous oil industrialist Hajji Zeynalabdin Taghiyev (1838-1924) presented a gift to the Museum of History of Azerbaijan - a set of dinnerware that had belonged to this great man. The ceremony occured in the Presidium of Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan and was linked to the upcoming opening of the museum to the general public after extensive renovation. The museum is a former residence of the late industrialist.

Imadeddin Nesimi - Engish translation is mine

My translation of Imadeddin Nesimi from Azeri.

Both worlds within me coexist , but this one World cannot contain me.
An omnipresent pearl I am and both those Worlds cannot contain me.

Because in me both Earth and Heaven and Creation's “BE!” were found,
Be silent! For there is no language which contains me.

Through doubt and fear no one is a friend of God and the Truth.
The man who fears dishonours God, and fear does not contain me.

Pay due regard to form, acknowledge it, because the Body and the soul I am,
but soul and body, both, do not contain me.

I am both shell and pearl, the Doomsday scales, the bridge to Paradise.
With such a wealth of wares, those worldly goods do not contain me.

I am “the hidden treasure” that is God. I am his open Eye.
I am the jewel of the Land. The sea , the Land tey don't contain me.

Although I am the boundless sea, my name is Adam, I am a Man.
I am Mount Sinai of this greeat Earth. This wretched Earth cannot contain me.

I am both Soul and Word as well. I am an Era and an Epoch, too.
Remember this : The Place and Time cannot contain me.

I am the stars, the sky the angel, revelation come from God.
So hold your tongue and silent be! There is no tongue that can contain me.

I am the atom, sun, four elements, five saints, dimensions six.
Go seek my attributes! All explanations cannot contain me.

I am the core and attribute, the flower, sugar and sweetmeat.
I am the Night of Power, Great. No tight-shut lips can contain me.

I am a burning bush. I am the rock that rose into the sky.
Observe this tongue of flame. There is no tongue of flame that can contain me.

The People's Choice

Something caught my eye the other day – amongst usual TV fodder there was a report from “democracy week in the provinces”. Just another pathetic initiative, thought I , sponsored by European Union and supported by keen –for- funds local governments – these “hypocrisy weeks” happen by dozen in a week. All are happy in the knowledge which leads nowhere - we are taught principles of democracy and shake hands with our European advisors - Europeans are happy with funds being spend on future “never-will-be-a-member-but-let’s-pretend” program. But what made me think was faces of people in the provinces listening to the gibberish of yet another initiative to teach them how EU works, and how Europeans are multicultural and how press is free. Looking at me were the faces of peasant men and women, old and withered as the soil they work on, like the carpets they weave, unkempt and unbothered by all the madness around them. For seventy years these were the nodding heads in the party meeting to support this or that initiative against “rabid imperialist dogs”, for hundreds of years before that – they were – if touched at all – preached to by an imam about this or that jihad, and before that, maybe by a Christian priest. But those faces and those people with the faces – the soil of the land – they stayed the same, they have not changed - and they are what we call “the nation” – Millet or Khalg. Real nation that I designated by an Azeri world Khalg (it is a better term to use than “nation” which I find a bit limited: maybe “the people” is better), not the nation of nationalist dreamers, communists or puritanic preachers. They kept their clothes, they toiled their land, they kept to their music and their customs. Khalg are a force yet untamed by anyone – they live by their own laws, always adopting to forces outside their control but always surviving to give our culture to a next generation, for no city folk can preserve an oral tradition, beyond studying it – once its dead and gone - in university. Everyone is upset, fed up with “the people”, wanting to change them for the better, for they are conservative lot – they don’t want to change, stoically keeping “the old ways”. For some they are backward force to be educated, for others – they are pagans – not Islamic enough. Seventy years communist city folk wanted to make them model citizens free of prejudices, and yet they still come back to the land, to live among the olive groves, to make bread and sing merry songs during the springtime festivals. They still visit shrines of saints, protect against the evil eye, and marry their girls young. The people – they never disagree with their tutors – inside one ear and out of the other. They will continue to live a true life, which is just this – a life worth living.

Cradle of the Best....

Jeffrey Werbock is a musician who plays Mugham but most of all he is an unusual and inspirational human being. I had a fortune of and meeting him in London, and devoting a full evening to Azerbaijan mugham where he is the authority over us – natives. Yesterday’s session was a great success, and all of us longed to ask him a a question as to how, he, an American without any Middle Eastern blood, devoted his life to study of an Azerbaijani artform, and through this art coming to love Azerbaijan probably more than many an Azeri.

The notes are scarce:

In 1971 he moved to Los Angeles, California and the following year he met an older man from Daghestan who played traditional Azerbaijani music on one of their native instruments, the kamancha. From the first moment of listening to this strange and ancient music, Jeffrey was completely enthralled and this event changed his life forever. With the guidance of Mr. Avshalomov, he began to study the cultures and peoples of the Caucasus Mountains, with a strong emphasis on the traditional music of Azerbaijan. Since then, he has given hundreds of concerts and lecture demonstrations at museums, colleges,universities and community concert venues in the United States, Europe, Israel and Azerbaijan.

But our fascinating conversation revealed much more than his life story. His is a great life to demonstrate positive, life affirming side of any culture and cultural space. In this day an age, where native cultures are disappearing and we are taught to believe that our lives are inferior to Western ones, where the “Clash of Civilizations” is becoming a cliché, a beautiful sound of mugham performed by a Westerner and an opera composed by a Muslim serve to tear down many a wall that the World seems to excel at pointlessly building.

I have great respect for people like Jeffrey, tirelessly working to preserve for posterity a great art, not for the sake of Western consumption, but for the art's own sake. They possess that spiritual intelligence, that is so lacking in many a “civilized” human in the West. We – the educated Rest, have an imprint of the great Western Civilization in us, appreciating its science its churches, philosophers and operas. We, also have a great responsibility on our shoulders, to save for posterity a great gift that God bestowed of humanity – a gift of tradition. Herein is the geat dialectical truth – without a Tradition there is not going forward, no real Progress (but only imitation of it), but without Progress Tradition becomes Dogma.

Technorati Profile

Manmade Volcano Eruption

This is the first example of manmade volcanoe eruption, be it mud volcanoe, anyways. Azerbaijan contains half of the world's Mud Volcanoes and Indonesia another half, probably. It's estimated that 300 of the planet's estimated 700 mud volcanoes sit in Eastern Azerbaijan and the Caspian Sea.[6] In 2001 one mud volcano 15 kilometers from Baku made world headlines when it suddenly started spewing flames 15 meters high.[8]. Now, the first scientific report into the causes and impact of Lusi, the Indonesian mud volcano, reveals that the 2006 eruption will continue to erupt and spew out between 7,000 and 150,000 cubic meters of mud a day for months, if not years to come, leaving at least 10 sq km around the volcano vent uninhabitable for years and over 11,000 people permanently displaced.

The paper by a Durham University-led team and published in the February issue of
US journal, GSA Today, reveals that the eruption was almost certainly manmade and caused by the drilling of a nearby exploratory borehole looking for gas, reinforcing the possible explanation in a UN report from July last year.
The mud volcano, known locally as Lusi, has been erupting for 239 days and has continued to spew mud every day, destroying infrastructure, razing four villages and 25 factories. Thirteen people have also died as a result of a rupture in a natural gas pipeline that lay underneath one of the holding dams built to retain the mud. It first erupted on 29 May 2006 in the Porong subdistrict of Sidoarjo in Eastern Java, close to Indonesia's second city of Surabaya.

What Azerbaijan says

In my words I would have acknowledged the fact of massacres and ethnic cleansing of population that occured, and underscored importance of Turkish society itself to come up to the decision.. Unfortunetely, we are still suffering from "tit-for-tat" mentality. But the resolution is a good step, showing that Azerbaijan is willing to stand up for its friend through thick and thin.

STATEMENT OF THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLIC OF AZERBAIJAN

The U.S. House of Representative's Foreign Affairs Committee adopted the draft Resolution 106, which characterizes the events of 1915 in Ottoman Empire related to relocation of the part of the Armenian population collaborating with invading forces, as "Genocide". The Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan condemns this decision as wrong and biased and considers it harmful for the developments in the region and globally. Azerbaijan supports the Turkish call to examine the archival documents related to the World War I tragedies in this part of the world. It is crucial to learn all details before taking these serious steps. Azerbaijan suffered itself from notorious ethnic cleansing by Armenia, vivid example of which is genocide in Azerbaijani town of Khojaly, where hundreds of women, kids, and elderly people have been killed. Azerbaijan, which is also a victim of numerous terrorist acts and occupation of territories by Armenia, knows well how Armenian diaspora and Government hide their own misdoings through the aggressive propaganda. MFA of Azerbaijan strongly urges the U.S. House of Representatives to refrain from adopting the Resolution 106 in order to demonstrate that the United States Congress is impartial and not under the pressure of lobbies.

Bliss of Perfection - Gift of Eid

This is a poem of great and wise Fuzuli, who from centuries past addesses our love to Creator. On his day of Celebration I want to give you a present of his beatiful verse. Fuzuli is credited with some fifteen works in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish, both in verse and prose. Although his greatest significance is undoubtedly as a Turkish poet, he is also of importance to Persian literature thanks to his original works in that language (indeed, Persian was the language he preferred for his Shi'ite religious poetry); his Turkish adaptations or translations of Persian works; and the inspiration he derived from Persian models for his Turkish works.
... The fundamental gesture of Fozuli's poetry is inclusiveness. It links Azeri, Turkmen and Ottoman (Rumi) poetry, east and west; it also bridges the religious divide between Shiism and Sunnism. Generations of Ottoman poets admired and wrote responses to his poetry; no contemporary canon can bypass him.

O THOU Perfect Being, Source whence wisdom’s mysteries arise
Things, the issue of Thine essence, show wherein Thy nature lies.
Manifester of all wisdom, Thou art
He whose pen of might Hath with rays of stars illumined
yonder gleaming page, the skies.
That a happy star, indeed, the essence clear of whose bright self
Truly knoweth how the blessings from Thy word that flow to prize.
But a jewel flawed I am indeed, alas, for ever stand I am
Blank the page of my heart’s journal from Thy writing wise.
In this journal of my actions Evil’s lines are black indeed ;
When I think of Day of Gathering’s terrors, blood flows from my eyes.
Gathering of my tears will form a torrent on the Reckoning Day,
If the pearls, my tears, rejecting, He but view them to despise :
Pearls my tears are, O FUZULI, from the ocean of Deep Love ;
But they’re pearls - they are!, oh! most surely, that Love of Allah buys!