Jewish Weekly: Azerbaijan is friend of the Jew

US-based Jewish Weekly newspaper has issued an article headlined “In a tough neighbourhood, Azerbaijan is friend of the Jew” by participant of the 3rd Baku International Humanitarian Forum Rabbi Doug Kahn, executive director of the San Francisco–based Jewish Community Relations Council.

The article reads: “What country outside of Israel has a community composed exclusively of Jews who live there voluntarily and trace their roots to the destruction of the First Temple in 586 BCE? What Muslim country has dramatically expanded its economic and military ties with Israel? What country has a Shiite Muslim majority, no state religion, and provides state support to religious institutions, including Jewish ones?

The answer to all of these questions is Azerbaijan, which became independent from the Soviet Union in 1991. I recently returned from a visit to this small nation surrounded by the Caspian Sea, Iran, Georgia, Armenia and Russia. Azerbaijan is a well-kept secret in almost every way — including its leaders’ commitment to flourishing multiculturalism, the theme of the Baku Humanitarian Forum to which I was invited by the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

Approximately 750 international delegates attended the conference hosted by President Ilham
Aliyev.

President Aliyev spoke eloquently about Azerbaijan’s commitment to multiculturalism and positive interethnic and interreligious relations. He also spoke powerfully about the Armenian takeover of Nagorno-Karabakh, leading to approximately 1 million Azerbaijani refugees and the failure of the world community to respond in any serious way. The organizers’ hope clearly was that we would find shared values with Azerbaijan and support its quest to regain the territory currently held by Armenia.”

The author stresses the tolerance of the Azerbaijani Government and people to the Jewish community of the country.

“We visited Parliament to meet with Yevda Abramov, a Jewish parliamentarian and a leader of the Mountain Jews. He talked about the Jewish community’s loyalty to the country, and reiterated the nation’s commitment to tolerance and cooperation, as well as the world’s double standard in ignoring the Armenian actions in Nagorno-Karabakh. He told us that not only is there good cooperation between Jews and Muslims, but Ashkenazi and Mountain Jews also get along.
We visited the New Synagogue, recently built by the government for approximately $2 million for the Mountain Jews living in Baku. The Mountain Jews come from the Quba region and comprise the majority of the 15,000 Jews living in Quba and Baku. Nearly 300 years ago, the area’s leader, Fatali Khan, allowed Jews to develop a community on one side of the river (free to move anywhere they wanted), and today 4,000 Jews live in Krasnaya Sloboda (the Red Village) — the largest community of Mountain Jews outside Israel.

At their synagogue in Baku, we met Milikh Ilhanonovich Yevdayev, chairman of the Religious Community of Mountain Jews, who told us that 300 to 500 Jews gather for the holidays in Baku, and that they have two schools and a yeshiva.

A delegation from the conference journeyed to the Quba region and visited the Red Village, which contains three synagogues. (There were 13 before the Soviets closed most of them.) We met Boris Simanduyen, head of the community, at a beautiful synagogue on Shabbat afternoon. He, too, praised the commitment of the Azerbaijani government to religious diversity and tolerance.”


/AzerTAc/