Ministry of Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan Baku International Multiculturalism Centre Azerbaijani Multiculturalism Textbook for Higher Education
Political and Legal Sources of Azerbaijani Multiculturalism
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4.5. Political and Legal Sources of Azerbaijani Multiculturalism
The political and legal sources of Azerbaijani multiculturalism are connected with the tribal unions and ancient states that existed in the territory of Azerbaijan. The religious and secular views of the state of Arrata to the north of Tabriz were connected with the gods of the Sumerian and Akkadian city states in southern Mesopotamia. These views formed the roots of the political sources of Azerbaijani multiculturalism. The Kutis and Lullubes, who made up the population of Arrata, worshipped the Sumerian deities – Inanna, goddess of beauty and war, Nanna, god of the Moon, and Enlil, god of the winds and storms. At the same time the population of Arrata also worshipped Suen, the Akkadian god of the Moon, and Adad, the god of storms and rain. Thus, the religious system of Arrata was connected with Mesopotamia, which was one of the ancient centres of civilization in the East. This constituted the first political source of multiculturalism in Azerbaijan. The state of Mannea, which emerged at the beginning of the 1st millennium BCE, succeeded the states and civilizations of the Lullubes and Kutis. Alongside the Kutis and Lullubes other tribes and tribal groupings, including the Hurrians, Turukkis and Urartians, contributed to the civilization of the Mannea state. At the beginning of the 7th century BCE other tribes such as the Scythians (also known as the Iskuzai or Askuzai) added their civilization to the sources of Azerbaijani multiculturalism. Archaeological excavations near Hasanli unearthed a golden bowl which is evidence of the Manneans’ relationship to the theological worlds of Egypt and Asia Minor. The bowl shows the winged headgear of the gods of the Wind, Sun and Moon respectively, which are linked to the Hurrian traditions in Asia Minor. The civilization of the Achaemenid era made its contribution to the cultural, socio-political and theological life of Azerbaijan. In the Achaemenid period, it was not only the Persians but also the population of Azerbaijan that worshipped Ahura Mazda, known as the cult of Mithra and Anahita, the gods of Zoroastrianism. Thus, the Avestan objects of worship were similar in the Albanian and Caspian tribes, who worshipped dogs, while corpses were exposed to the carrion birds as in Bactria. Thus, elements of the cultural layers of the ancient Eastern world left their traces in the initial political sources of Azerbaijani multiculturalism. From the 1st century CE, the political sources of Azerbaijani multiculturalism began to include a new layer of religious and ideological views. The country passed from polytheism to monotheism. The Christian apostolic missionaries Thaddeus, Bartholomew and Elyseus began to spread Christianity in the country. This new ideological layer first penetrated the north of Caucasian Albania. Though the south of the country kept its loyalty to paganism, the Albanian Catholicos Lazar (late 3rd and early 4th centuries) spread Christianity in the country. His work is evidence of the coexistence of paganism and Christianity and the development of a multicultural atmosphere in Azerbaijan. After the proclamation of Christianity as the state religion of Caucasian Albania in the first three decades of the 4th century, the Christian rulers were tolerant and did not subject the pagans
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to violence. During the rule of the Arshakid dynasty in Caucasian Albania, there was no restriction on the activity of foreign missionaries and they were not considered heretics. For example, the monastery in the village of Haku in Caucasian Albania was built by Syrian monks in 338 CE.
Though the Christian world went through an ideological struggle between monophysitism and dyophysitism in the 5th century, clergy with differing views of dogma could serve in the autocephalous Albanian Apostolic Church, the oldest church in the Caucasus. During this period, changes took place in the ethnic composition of the population of the country, and this proved fertile ground for the development of tolerance. Local tribes and incoming tribes lived in 5th century Caucasian Albania. Excavations in Mingachevir have revealed the graves of some people of the Mongolian race who had settled in Caucasian Albania. The burial of the Mongols in the same graves as European races confirmed that there was no racial discrimination in the Caucasus. Marriages between the ‘northern’ peoples and the Khazars took place in this period and continued in subsequent eras too: Javanshir, prince of Girdiman, married a daughter of the pagan Khazar khagan (emperor). Cities in the early Middle Ages clearly displayed the different shades of polyethnic Caucasian Albania. During the reign of Vachagan III the Pious, Christian Albanians, Zoroastrian Persians, and pagan Khazar and Hun tribes lived together in Derbent, where an atmosphere of tolerance emerged. In the middle of the 7th century, Azerbaijan became part of the Arab Caliphate and a new, complete ideology – the religion of Islam – was added to the political and legal sources of Azerbaijani multiculturalism. The spread of Islam in the country sought to understand the religious values of the people of the country, and the monotheist Christians were not forced to adopt Islam. This religious tolerance was enshrined in legal sources. During their first incursion into Azerbaijan in 639 CE, the army of the Caliphate seized Mughan. The army’s commander, Bukeir ibn-Abdulla, signed a treaty with the people of Mughan and issued a decree. According to the decree the population of Mughan had to recognize the Arab Caliphate, be honest towards Muslims and pay taxes. In return, the Caliphate would protect the property of the population of Mughan, their religion and norms. In 642 a similar agreement was signed with the population of Derbent. After the second incursion of Caliphate troops into Azerbaijan, the troop commander Habibi ibn Maslama signed a new agreement with the local population, which stated that the property, churches and temples of the people of Nakhchivan, whether pagan or Jewish, would be secured and the security of the population ensured. In return the indigenous population should pay jizya (a per capita yearly tax historically levied by the Islamic states on certain non-Muslims) and kharaj (a land tax imposed on non-Muslims). In this way Islamic culture entered Azerbaijani multiculturalism and enriched its legal resources. In 687 the Albanian Apostolic Church confirmed its monophysite status, which suited the religious policy pursued by the Arab Caliphate in the region. At the beginning of the 8th century the Albanian Apostolic Church sought to break off from the Caliphate and establish relations with Byzantium. This was the policy of the Albanian Catholicos Nerses Bakur and Queen Sparama, wife of Varaz-Tiridates. Ilya, Catholicos of the Armenian Gregorian Church, informed Caliph Abd-al-Malik about the plan. Caliph Abd-al-Malik thought Nerses Bakur’s action constituted treason and revolt, and threw him in jail. Nerses soon died there. According to the decision of the Barda Church Convention held
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under the control of Catholicos Ilya, all the works written by Nerses were put into trunks and thrown into the Tartar River near Barda as they were considered heretical. In this way, in the early 8th century one of the oldest churches of the Caucasus, the Albanian Apostolic Church lost its status of autocephaly, falling victim to an insidious policy of the Armenian Gregorian Church against Azerbaijan. In 704 the Albanian Apostolic Church signed an alliance with the Armenian Gregorian Church at a church council held in Barda. The Barda Church Convention confirmed the statutes of the newly elected Albanian Catholicos Simeon I (704-706). Based on the statutes of the holy apostles, they included human values such as mercy, justice and goodness to the community. Consequently, these statutes ensured the protection of the Albanian Christian culture as the legal source of Azerbaijani multiculturalism.
From the beginning of 704 the old Armenian language (Grabar) gained the status of the church language of Caucasian Albania. But the use of Grabar in the country’s churches and schools did not mean the ethnic assimilation of the Albanian people. Though Grabar was the language of the church, Arab sources recorded that in the 10th century the Albanian (Arran) language was preserved in the country. The historian Kirakos Gandzaketsi wrote that even in the middle of the 13th century some clergy did not know the Grabar language. Though the Albanian Apostolic Church managed to preserve its autocephalous status in later periods of history, the Church was weakened by inter-church strife in the late 18th century. As a result of the invasion of the Azerbaijani lands by the Russian Empire and the insidious policy of the Armenian Gregorian Church, according to the decree of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, dated 11 March 1836, the Albanian Apostolic Church was subordinated to the Armenian Gregorian Church and Albanian churches began to fall into disrepair. At the beginning of the 20th century the Albanian Apostolic Church archives were deliberately burned by the Armenian Gregorian Church and the Albanian churches were exposed to falsification and plunder in order to realize the dream of ‘Great Armenia’ and to justify the groundless claims of Armenian nationalists to the land and material and cultural heritage of Azerbaijan. After the restoration of the independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the protection of historic monuments has been ensured and restoration work is carried out. As a result, the Republic of Azerbaijan now preserves this cultural heritage. Thus, in the middle of the 7th century the complete ideology of monotheism – Islam – was introduced to Azerbaijani society, and the religion of Islam continued to spread in Azerbaijan, becoming the dominant religion. Although the position of Christianity weakened since then, Christianity’s roots in the country influenced the population’s ethics for centuries. According to the Albanian chronicler Mkhitar Gosh, in the 12th century, some of the Albanian population continued to follow Christianity and one-fifth of the population of Ganja were Christians. This can be explained by the fact that during the rule of the Arab Caliphate, the religion of Islam began to spread from southern Azerbaijan to the Mil-Mughan plains and along the coast of the Caspian and in the Kura and Aras river basins, where Zoroastrianism and idolatry existed. But the people living in the mountainous part of the country – the Arsakh and Uti provinces – were Christians, i.e., monotheists. The Arabs respected their religious beliefs, taking only the jizya (per capita yearly tax) from them and allowing the Christian population to worship in their churches and perform their religious ceremonies. This in turn created a unique cultural layer that added new colour to the Azerbaijani sources of multiculturalism. In the late 8th century, Moisey Kalankatuklu wrote that the territory of Caucasian Albania, restored by Grigor Hamam, stretched from Arsakh in the west, to Shaki and Ereti in the east,
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including the high mountains of Uti. The coexistence of Christians and Muslims enriched the multicultural layers, creating a unique environment. During this period the ruling dynasties pursued marriage diplomacy and arranged marriages with the close relatives of neighbouring rulers. In the 9th century the Suni rulers took as a bride a daughter of the Mehran dynasty; in the 10th century Atrnerse, son of the Albanian ruler Grigor Hamam, married Dinar, sister of the Georgian ruler, Gurgen, and their son Iskhani later became the ruler of Albania.
During this period the Albanian Apostolic Church was dyophysite for 17 years (952-969). The Albanian Apostolic Church had not yet left the Partav union and a multicultural environment developed in the country. In parallel with the feudal states governed by Muslim dynasties in the 9th-12th centuries, in the middle of the 11th century the Christian Albanian principality of Arsakh-Khachin, which covered the banks of the Khachinchay River and the River Tartar basin, emerged. The cultural environment created in the country contributed to a renaissance of socio-political and philosophical ideas and education in Azerbaijan. It created a bridge between eastern and western culture with similarities in architecture, art and music. Azebaijan gave to world culture the geniuses Nizami, Khaqani and Ajami. In the Middle Ages multiculturalism developed in the state of the Shirvanshahs, one of the feudal states in Azerbaijan. The weakening and break up of the Abbasid Caliphate from the second half of the 9th century allowed the Shirvanshahs state to be restored after its early 8th century decline and to cover a large area, including the Greater Caucasus, the southern provinces of Dagestan, Tabasaran and Derbent as far as Movakan, and the western provinces bordering on Georgia. Having different religions, this state preserved the initial political resources of Azerbaijani multiculturalism. The expansion of Islam in Shirvan contined in the 9th century, but Christianity and polytheistic religions were still protected by the local population. The population of this country encompassed a variety of nations and ethnic groups, speaking Turkic, Caucasian, Persian and other languages. According to the sources, the Turkic tribes came to Shirvan in the early Middle Ages; separate groups of the Turkic tribes settled in the south alongside the Huns and Khazars who had travelled from Derbent across Shirvan. From the early Middle Ages the Persian-speaking peoples played an important role in Shirvan as a result of the Sassanids’ migration policy. In the early 13th century the population of Derbent in the north of the Shirvanshahs’ state, in the province of Qushtasfi (the left bank of the River Kura) in the south, the Caspian Sea region in the east and the present Ismayilli, Goychay, Ujar, Zardab and Kurdamir regions in the west were not Turkified. The population of the state of the Shirvanshahs was also varied in terms of religion. The Turkic tribes and the Persian-speaking Mascuts were Christian. According to the sources, the sons of the Mascut ruler Sanesan had the names Moses (Moisey), Daniel and Elijah (Yeliya), while the Huns who had adopted Christianity decorated their flags with crosses. In the Middle Ages Jews lived in the state of the Shirvanshahs, mainly in Shabran. This is evidence that Muslims, Christians and Jews and those of other religions lived together in the state of the Shirvanshahs. In this way the state of the Shirvanshahs maintained different layers of political sources of Azerbaijani multiculturalism. Of the Tats that lived in the state of the Shirvanshahs some were Muslims, some were Jews and some belonged to the Gregorian Church. In the Middle Ages the Jewish Tats lived in Derbent, which was part of Shirvan, in Qusar (Qusar-Chay village), in Quba (Krasnaya Slaboda village), in Shamakhi (Muji village), in Goychay
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(Muji-Haftaran village), and in Qabala and Shaki districts. Later some of them moved to Baku. The Tats that belonged to the Gregorian Church lived in Shamakhi (the villages of Madrasa, Karkanj, Dara-Karkanj, Kalahana, Masari and Saqiyan), in Goychay, Ismayilli (Bank, Rushang) and in Absheron. At the end of the 18th century, during the reign of Fatali Khan, they resettled in Quba. The written sources of the period reveal that the medieval towns of the Sirvanshahs were multi-confessional with populations of Christians, Muslim Arabs and incomers from Iran and Jews all living in their separate neighbourhoods, making their own contributions to the multicultural atmosphere of Azerbaijan. The use of different languages in the state of the Shirvanshahs is further evidence of the multicultural atmosphere. Persian was the official literary language, Arabic – the language of religion and Azerbaijani Turkish – the colloquial language, and they all enriched the political sources of Azerbaijani multiculturalism. When Azerbaijan became part of the Safavid state, the multicultural environment in the country was preserved and the legal sources of multiculturalism were enriched. Tolerance was still shown towards the Christian population and was confirmed in legal documents. This policy began to expand steadily from the rule of Shah Ismail I. He issued a decree ‘On determining the diocese of the Tatev monastery’, on 10 February 1503 (12 Shawwal 908, according to the Hijri calendar), which confirmed the episcopal rights of Simeon, vardapet of the Christian Albanians’ Tatev Monastery in the province of Zangazur. The decree also declared the land to be the property of the monastery and exempted the monastery’s clergy from state taxes and duties. Another decree of Shah Ismail I, ‘On the exemption of the monasteries and clergy of Gizil-Vang from some taxes’ issued on 26 August 1505 (25 Rabi 180
exempted the Albanian Khudavang Monastery and its clergy from 13 types of state duties and taxes. During the reign of Shah Tahmasib I (1524-76) the fair policy towards the non-Muslim population of the country continued and arbitrary behaviour by officials towards them was prevented. A decree issued during the month of Rabi in Hijri year 970 (29 October to 8 November 1562) by Shah Tahmasib I once more confirmed that 16 villages belonged to the Tatev Monastery diocese of the Albanian Apostolic Church. A decree ‘On confirming the rights of Gregor, Catholicos of Ganjasar, as patriarch’ issued on 13 Dhu al-Qa’adah in the Hijri year 977 (19 April 1570), by Shah Tahmasib I once more confirmed that the rights of the Christian population enjoyed official protection. During the reign of Shah Abbas, the movable and immovable property of the Christian churches was officially declared sacred and inviolable, like that of the Muslim religious authorities. Shah Abbas issued a decree during the month of Rabi in the Hijri year 1015 (7 July to 5 August 1606) declaring the lands of the Apostle Tovma (Thomas) and Aylis monasteries to be the official property of the monasteries and giving instructions that the abbots and village elders should collect church taxes. During the rule of the Safavids the rights of the Armenian clergy were regularly protected and their desires, complaints and appeals were taken into consideration; this was reflected in a decree issued during the month of Safar in the Hijri year 1019 (25 April to 23 May 1610). The Safavid state protected the rights and privileges not only of the Christian church and clergy, but also of civilians at the state level. A decree issued by Shah Abbas in the month of Dhu al-Qa’adah in Hijri year 1029 (28 September to 28 October 1620) confirmed the decision adopted by the Council on Religious and Legal Issues. The decree confirmed the property rights of the Albanian prince to the properties of the
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Azerbaijani province of Qushtasfi and Qafan and instructed the governors of the province to ensure those rights were respected.
In another decree issued during the month from 27 April to 26 May 1645, Shah Abbas protected the property rights of the country’s Christians and allowed Philippos, Catholicos of the Armenian Church, to restore the ruined church buildings. The orders issued by the Safavid rulers had a positive impact on the development of a multicultural environment in the country, granting freedom of religion to the population and protecting the property rights of the Christians. Thus, documents based on human principles supplemented the legal sources of Azerbaijani multiculturalism. The political and legal sources of Azerbaijani multiculturalism continued to develop during the period of the khanates. The population of the khanates of Karabakh, Irevan, Nakhchivan, Quba and Lankaran and of the Jar-Balakan community differed from other regions in terms of religion and ethnicity. Mosques, churches and monasteries were all open for worship in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan’s geopolitical position has attracted the attention of neighbouring states since ancient times. At different periods in history non-indigenous ethnic elements streamed into the country and this process continued until the early 19th century. The Russian Empire, which took control of the Azerbaijani territories in the first three decades of the 19th century, began to pursue a policy of resettlement in the country and introduced two new ethnoses – the Germans and Russians – into the ethno-demographic composition of the country. In this way, new layers were included in the political sources of Azerbaijani multiculturalism. At the same time the people could not be reconciled with the colonial policy of the Romanovs of Russia. The tsar exerted pressure on the Muslim population, limited their religious rights and created conditions for missionaries to propagate and disseminate Christianity. During the first Russian Revolution the progressive forces of Azerbaijan demanded equal recognition of the legal rights of the Muslim population of the Empire with those of the Russians, and called for cultural education for the Muslims. These demands were submitted for discussion at the Third Congress of Russian Muslims held in Nizhny Novgorod on 15 August 1906 and chaired by Alimardan Topchubashov, a leading representative of the national movement of Azerbaijan. The Manifesto of 17 October 1905 had a positive impact on the political and legal sources of Azerbaijani multiculturalism, particularly on the public life of Azerbaijani women. Women in Azerbaijan became more socially active and began to publish interesting articles in newspapers and magazines on ensuring the rights of Muslim women. In those years Azerbaijani women took advantage of the achievements of the first Russian Revolution and gained the right to participate in the elections to the Baku City Duma. All these positive changes opened new pages in the political and legal sources of Azerbaijani multiculturalism. After the October Revolution in Russia Azerbaijan declared its independence. The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was established and it brought a new multicultural angle to the history of Azerbaijan. The Declaration of the Independence of Azerbaijan adopted by the Azerbaijan National Council on 28 May 1918 proclaimed the equality of all people living in the country, thereby enriching the legal sources of Azerbaijani multiculturalism. From its establishment the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic fought for its territorial integrity, but did not ignore the traditions of tolerance of the Azerbaijani people. The minorities who contributed to the socio-economic life of the country, including the Russians and Armenians, who made up a large proportion of the ethno-
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confessional composition of the population during the Russian Empire, were allocated places in the country’s legislative body, its parliament. Minority factions were included in the Agrarian Reform Programme and a German settler, Lorenz Kun, became a member of the parliament’s agrarian commission.
The legal sources of Azerbaijani multiculturalism were further enriched by the laws adopted by the parliament of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. One striking example is the law ‘On citizenship of Azerbaijan’ adopted on 11 August 1919. A decision issued on 28 August 1918 provided further confirmation that the government of Azerbaijan attached great importance to the development of democratic principles in the country, paying special attention to the training of national personnel and re-building education. In developing education, the Cabinet of Ministers took into account the interests of the children of minorities and the Ministry of Enlightenment approved education in the Russian language for Russian-speaking pupils. These decisions helped to fill the gaps in the legal resources of Azerbaijani multiculturalism. The enrichment of political sources of Azerbaijani multiculturalism could be seen in other areas of society too. Azerbaijan provided assistance to those in need irrespective of their ethnicity, language and religion. In 1919 the government made significant contributions to the charitable societies of the Russians and Jews, the Armenian and Jewish National Councils, as well as the Muslim Women’s Charitable Society, and others for the care of children, the elderly and other vulnerable people. The April overthrow struck a heavy blow to the democratic achievements of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, though a number of constructive steps were taken on the protection of the rights of minorities. The Constitution of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Azerbaijan, adopted on 5 December 1937, declared the equality of the citizens of Azerbaijan. Article 130 of the Constitution said that the equality before the law of the citizens of Azerbaijan was unshakable and the propagation of national or racial exceptionality, hatred, or negligence were punishable by law. Consequently, the legal sources of Azerbaijani multiculturalism were enriched by that document too. Article 50 of the Constitution of Azerbaijan of 1978 guaranteed freedom of conscience to the citizens of Azerbaijan and the right to define their attitude to religion, to profess any religion or no religion, to express and spread their beliefs concerning religion or to propagate atheism. Article 62 of the Constitution of Azerbaijan of 1978 was based on the principle of respect for national dignity and the principle of strengthening friendship among nations and peoples of the multi-ethnic Soviet state. This document stated the importance of language as a means of intercultural communication. Article 73 of the Constitution declared Azerbaijani the official language of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic and provided for the use of Russian and other local languages spoken by the population in all state and public bodies and on an equal basis. Thus, the provisions of this legal document once more enriched the legal resources of Azerbaijani multiculturalism. After Azerbaijan restored its independence on 18 October 1991, the political and legal sources of multiculturalism were further strengthened. In the first years of independence, on 16 September 1992, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan signed a decree ‘On state support for the protection of the rights and freedoms and development of the languages and cultures of national minorities, small nations and ethnic groups living in the Republic of Azerbaijan’. A law ‘On the freedom of religious belief’ came into force on 20 August 1992, reflecting the development of the legal sources of Azerbaijani multiculturalism in the new circumstances.
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The further development of the legal sources of Azerbaijani multiculturalism is connected with the name of the National Leader of Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev. As is mentioned in Chapter 2, Heydar Aliyev is the political founder of Azerbaijani multiculturalism. Under his far-sighted leadership multiculturalism constituted a main component of state policy. The Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan adopted in 1995 forms the legal basis of Azerbaijani multiculturalism. This can be seen in a number of articles of the Constitution: in particular in the articles ‘The official language’ (Article 21, Para. 2); ‘The right to equality’ (Article 25, Para. 3); ‘The right to nationality’, (Article 44, Paras. 1, 2); ‘The right to use the mother tongue’ (Article 45, Paras. 1, 2); ‘Freedom of thought and expression’ (Article 47, Paras. 1,2, 3); ‘Freedom of conscience’ (Article 48, Paras. 1, 2); and ‘The independence of judges, and the main principles and conditions for the exercise of justice’ (Article 127, Para. 10). The development of the legal sources of Azerbaijani multiculturalism is now connected with the name of President Ilham Aliyev, who is developing the policy of multiculturalism in a new historical context. He has introduced it as an important aspect of the country’s domestic policy. ‘Multiculturalism is a state policy in Azerbaijan. Our history, our traditions actually dictated it. At the same time, it is our way of life. In our daily lives, we operate on these principles. Our people have always been active defenders and supporters of multiculturalism.’ The following political documents adopted during the rule of President Ilham Aliyev have led to the further development of the political and legal sources of Azerbaijani multiculturalism: Decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan ‘On the approval of the national action plan on the protection 186
of human rights in the Republic of Azerbaijan’ dated 28 December 2006; Decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan ‘On the national action programme to raise the effectiveness of the protection of human rights and freedoms in the Republic of Azerbaijan’, dated 27 December 2011. Multiculturalism subsequently developed the state ideology, state policy and way of life of Azerbaijan. A number of institutions and events play an important role in the development of the Azerbaijani model of multiculturalism and in its political and legal sources: the Service of the State Counsellor of the Azerbaijan Republic on Multiculturalism, Interethnic and Religious Issues, founded by instruction of President Ilham Aliyev; the Knowledge Foundation attached to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan; Baku International Multiculturalism Centre; the presidential decree of 11 January 2016 declaring 2016 the Year of Multiculturalism in Azerbaijan and the decree approving an Action Plan for the Year of Multiculturalism. Azerbaijan’s cooperation with the UN, OSCE, Council of Europe, European Union, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and other authoritative international organizations and its ratification of many international conventions on the protection of the rights of ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities have played an important role in the development of the political and legal sources of Azerbaijani multiculturalism. In the early years of independence Azerbaijan joined the United Nations declarations ‘On the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities’ and ‘On the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination’. The second chapter also mentions that the Republic of Azerbaijan signed the Council of Europe’s framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities on 1 February 1995 and
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ratified it on 16 June 2000. At the same time, through its historic law of 26 November 2009, the Republic of Azerbaijan joined the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, which came into force in Azerbaijan on 15 May 2010. Azerbaijani multiculturalism has been strengthened by the Republic’s work in the sphere of international relations, and particularly the international events hosted by Azerbaijan as part of the Baku Process, an initiative of President Ilham Aliyev to promote cultural dialogue which began in 2008, and the declarations adopted at these events. Examples of these events include the World Summit of Religious Leaders held in Baku on 26-27 Aril 2010, the International Humanitarian Forums held in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2016, the World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue held in 2015 and the 7th Global Forum of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) held on 24-27 April 2016. The political and legal sources of Azerbaijani multiculturalism have as old a history as its scientific, philosophical and journalistic sources. They began to take shape in distant times. The political sources of Azerbaijani multiculturalism could be seen in the first tribal communities to emerge in the territory of the country. Its legal sources go back to the latter stages of history. The political and legal sources of Azerbaijani multiculturalism in turn reinforce the multicultural environment in the country by developing the traditions of multiculturalism and tolerance in society. Yüklə 2,25 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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