Of late, prolific information, commentary and rhetoric about contemporary religious extremism is bantered back and forth in the global media and throughout social media. Much is true, deeply disturbing and frightening. Many are threats to the national security of freedom-loving nations, including my nation, Azerbaijan.
The world is, indeed, facing dire circumstances, compounded and exacerbated by a lack of leadership and will by some to stop these religious extremists. Our reality is that ISIL, or whatever the correct acronym is this week, is shaping up to be the first actual terrorist state, as they march their way through Syria and Iraq, torturing, maiming and killing Muslims and Christians alike. In addition, stark examples of ingrained anti-Semitism are rearing their ugly heads in Europe once again after relative silence following WWII.
It sometimes feels like the world is at war with itself and that there is no end in sight. Much of the strife is blamed on Muslims and sadly all Muslims. The world looks at bonafide threats like ISIL and applies their actions and that of other terrorist groups to me and my nation. We are staggered by the growing anti-Semitism worldwide, as anti-Semitic actions, rants and beliefs are applied to me and my country.
Azerbaijan is, indeed, a Muslim-majority nation. We are proud Muslims and we cherish our religion. However, I am not sure that I can remember an instance of an Azerbaijani suicide bomber or the like, save the occasional and very unfortunate incident of Azerbaijanis planning “bad deeds” after being coopted by some of my nation’s less progressive neighbors.
Azerbaijan is a Muslim-majority nation, yet unlike some others, we have a vibrant and emerging democracy. Is it perfect? I can tell you as a member of parliament that it is not. But what is perfect in this life?
Azerbaijan, however, emerged from the ashes of the long dysfunctional Soviet Union to become a parliamentary democracy. It bears noting that before the Red Army marched into Baku in 1920, Azerbaijan had established the first parliamentary democracy in the Muslim world. After the fall of the Soviet Union, we continued where we left off.
Historically, Azerbaijan is a leader and innovator in the Islamic and Turkic world, the Muslim-majority nation that established the first democratic republic and the first secular state with a multi-party parliament. As early as 1918, Azerbaijan enfranchised women — even before the United States and some European countries entitled women to vote. Azerbaijan always synthesized its own cultural values with European and Western ones. Therefore, it was Azerbaijan where the Islamic world’s first symphony orchestra, opera, ballet and jazz music emerged. It also was the first Muslim nation that “allowed” women to be involved in cinema. The first female teacher in the Islamic world was in Azerbaijan as well.
Why have Azerbaijan’s values been and continue to be so closely aligned with the West? The answer is education and a worldview. Up until the 1930’s Azerbaijan produced 60 percent of the world’s oil. In the late 19th century – the early 20th century, “the oil factor” enabled young Azerbaijanis to receive education in the best European and Russian universities. Azerbaijanis have always understood that educated youth is the key to society’s progress and, therefore, Azerbaijan has been investing in education.
Our young nation has dealt with much adversity, yet we have always held to our traditions of tolerance and the rule of law. Our independence has hard fought and we were left with much to modernize and much to build following our independence. It was though the deft leadership of then-president Heydar Aliyev and now President Ilham Aliyev that we were able to parlay our oil and gas revenues into real prosperity for our people.
To add to the adversity, Azerbaijan was invaded by Armenia and 20 percent of our nation is even today occupied. As the Armenian and Russian armies either murdered or expelled all the Azerbaijani residents of this large swath of land, we support nearly a million refugees. Implacable, Armenia continues to hold our land hostage, of course with the regular diplomatic and military support of U.S. enemies, Iran and Russia. We also live in a difficult neighborhood, the only nation in the world to border Iran and Russia. Still we fiercely hold to our independence and our leaders act in the best interests of our people and the healthy development of our nation.
Yet with the hand we have been dealt by fate, we maintain a Western-oriented nation. We have laws that respect ALL people’s rights. We are one of the few nations of the world where Jews have taken refuge from pogroms, expulsions and bigotry…yes, they came to and still reside in Azerbaijan. Even the Pope of Rome paid us a visit. You see, there is hope in the world. And to those who would say that all Muslims are evil, wicked and depraved, I invite them to visit Azerbaijan. Once there, they will find a culturally and religiously diverse nation, progressive in our beliefs, complete with a thriving economy, social structure and rule of law.
The Honorable Asim Mollazade is a member of the Parliament of the Republic of Azerbaijan (Milli Majlis).