Ministry of Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan Baku International Multiculturalism Centre Azerbaijani Multiculturalism Textbook for Higher Education
President Ilham Aliyev as the Political Guarantor of Azerbaijani Multiculturalism Today
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2.4. President Ilham Aliyev as the Political Guarantor of Azerbaijani Multiculturalism Today
The successful implementation of the policy of multiculturalism in the Republic of Azerbaijan is now associated with Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the worthy successor to the national leader. As the political pillar of Azerbaijani multiculturalism today, he is engaged in very important work. In the early 21st century a number of Western countries encountered serious problems in managing ethnocultural diversity for reasons both within and beyond their control. Academician Ramiz Mehdiyev notes that the heads of leading European countries (Great Britain, France and Germany) lost confidence in multiculturalism. They officially declared the failure of the policy of multiculturalism describing it as ineffective, because of the reluctance of ethnic and religious minorities in their countries to integrate into society. The common view of these states was expressed by the former British Prime Minister David Cameron in his speech at the 47th Munich Security Conference: ‘Under the doctrine of state multiculturalism, we have encouraged different cultures to live separate lives, apart from each other and apart from the mainstream. We’ve failed to provide a vision of society to which they feel they want to belong. We’ve even tolerated these segregated communities behaving in ways that run completely counter to our values... This hands-off tolerance has only served to reinforce the sense that not enough is shared. And this all leaves some young Muslims feeling rootless. And the search for something to belong to and something to believe in can lead them to this extremist ideology.’ 58
The opinions of the heads of the Western states on multiculturalism were supported in scientific literature as well. For instance, British researcher Trevor Phillips said, ‘We have focussed far too much on the ‘multi’ and not enough on the common culture… We are sleepwalking our way to segregation.’ It is true that the pursuit of the ‘state multiculturalism’ doctrine in Western countries creates the preconditions for the seclusion of communities, especially the Muslim minorities who live in conformity with their own customs, traditions and ethnocultural values and do not integrate into the host society, resisting the liberal values there. Some of them even do not learn English. During his term in office Prime Minister David Cameron imposed a strict obligation on migrants to learn English, saying that if a migrant does not learn English within two and a half years of his stay in Britain, he will be deported from the country. Two views, poles apart, have emerged on multiculturalism at present: pessimistic and optimistic. The pessimistic view is that expressed by David Cameron, while the optimistic view is the one held by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. Relying on the idea of the centuries-old multicultural values of the Azerbaijani people, President Ilham Aliyev declared: ‘The world has no alternative today to multiculturalism.’ What are the reasons for the failure of the policy of multiculturalism in the Western countries compared to the existence of this policy in Azerbaijan? We think there are both objective and subjective reasons. What are the objective reasons? Historically some countries have come into contact with other cultures, having been monoethnic communities with no diversity since ancient times. We can describe multiculturalism in this case as secondary diversity, while in other countries diversity is primary. In the first case it is not easy for alien multicultural values to find acceptance in a country where values are already set. In such a country a hybrid of new values is inevitably artificial. The failure of
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this model in some European countries, therefore, has objective reasons. Diversity arose in the history of other countries since the earliest times, and different nations have shaped one another since those ancient times until the present day. We cannot understand the secret of the failure of multiculturalism in some countries and its success in others without distinguishing between primary and secondary diversity.
The presence of a good multicultural atmosphere in Azerbaijan, that is, the friendly and peaceful coexistence of different confessions and ethnic groups, goes back a long way. The rarity that is primary diversity in Azerbaijan differs markedly from secondary diversity. It is this primary diversity that has shaped the systematic model of relations and survives in the territory of Azerbaijan today. The commitment of poets, writers and scholars to diversity can be seen in fiction and scholarly work down the ages and has helped to achieve political harmony in Azerbaijan, especially in the period of independence. Therefore, it is no wonder that while a number of Western countries declare the failure of multiculturalism, it should emerge as state policy in the Republic of Azerbaijan, and the Azerbaijani president should take real, optimal action to make this policy sustainable. There is no doubt that Azerbaijan has less experience of democracy than the Western European countries. However, its spiritual experience is great. Plenty of examples of ancient democratic principles can be given from Azerbaijani epics, folk tales and classic literature. Much can be said about tolerance in the spiritual life of Azerbaijan throughout its history. This is evidence that the multicultural way of life was originally pertinent to Azerbaijan. Let us consider where multicultural values have failed. This has happened in countries in which a new wave of migration, with hitherto unknown multicultural values and alien views, began after the society had already completed the process of spiritual formation. The organism that had already taken shape was unable to assimilate this artificial anti-body. This is the essence of secondary diversity. From the beginning these values in Azerbaijan were not artificial, because they existed naturally. This is the heart of the matter. Therefore, we should distinguish methodologically between the ideas of primary diversity and secondary diversity. Primary diversity does not actually contain the element of migration, as it is manifest in coexistence from the beginning. As for the subjective reasons for the successful implementation of the policy of multiculturalism in Azerbaijan, first of all, the great work done in this field by the country’s administration should be mentioned. President Ilham Aliyev is taking important steps to strengthen the multicultural atmosphere in the country. He attaches great importance to the policy of multiculturalism in managing ethnocultural diversity in the country. Several of these steps stand out in particular: the creation of the Service of the State Counsellor on Multiculturalism, Interethnic and Religious Issues of the Republic of Azerbaijan by the instruction of the President of 28 February 2014; the creation of the Knowledge Foundation attached to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan by the instruction of the President of 7 May 2014; the creation of the Baku International Multiculturalism Centre by the instruction of 15 May 2014; the declaration of 2016 as the Year of Multiculturalism in Azerbaijan by the presidential instruction of 11 January 2016 and the approval of the Action Plan on the Declaration of 2016 as the Year of Multiculturalism in Azerbaijan by the instruction of 11 March 2016.
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Each of the aforementioned institutions and related documents was designed to enhance the successful implementation of the policy of multiculturalism in Azerbaijan.
We are going to review briefly the role of these institutions and documents in the development of Azerbaijani multiculturalism. The main goal of the Service of the State Counsellor on Multiculturalism, Interethnic and Religious Issues of the Republic of Azerbaijan is maintaining ethnic diversity and ensuring the rights and freedoms of national minorities in the country and the pursuit of state policy related to national minorities, the study of the multicultural environment and its propagation in the world and supervision of the regulation of the policy of religion in the country. Action taken to achieve this goal includes in particular the cooperation of the Service of the State Counsellor with the Knowledge Foundation attached to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Baku International Multiculturalism Centre. The main goal of the Knowledge Foundation is to enlighten the population of the Republic of Azerbaijan, to convey to society the essence of the state’s domestic and foreign policy and the socio-political and socio-economic processes under way in the country. Promoting the ideology of Azerbaijanianism and national spiritual and religious values are among the Foundation’s main tools in achieving this goal. The main goals of the Baku International Multiculturalism Centre are to ensure the maintenance of tolerance and cultural, religious and linguistic diversity in accordance with the ideology of Azerbaijanism, to present Azerbaijan as a centre of multiculturalism to the world, and to encourage the study of multicultural models. All the commitments of the Baku International Multiculturalism Centre are targeted at the development of Azerbaijani multiculturalism. The Action Plan on the declaration of 2016 as the Year of Multiculturalism in Azerbaijan covers three main aspects: events inside the country and internationally related to the model of Azerbaijani multiculturalism, and action to promote the model of Azerbaijani multiculturalism. These events were targeted at studying, improving and disseminating the model of Azerbaijani multiculturalism among the population of the country, especially among young people, the further consolidation of the friendship and cooperation among all the nationalities, ethnic groups and religious confessions in Azerbaijan, their integration into the society where they live, the maintenance of ethnic, religious and cultural diversity in the country and the ethnocultural values at the basis of this diversity, the worldwide promotion of Azerbaijan’s multicultural environment, the introduction of Azerbaijan to the world as one of the main centres of multiculturalism, and the study and propagation of Azerbaijan’s idea of multiculturalism as one of the progressive models of multiculturalism in the world. President Ilham Aliyev highly appreciates the policy of multiculturalism, which is reflected in both foreign and domestic policy. Azerbaijan regularly hosts numerous international forums and conferences dedicated to promoting intercultural and inter-civilizational dialogue in the world. The following have all been held in Baku: since 2011 four World Forums on Intercultural Dialogue; the World Summit of Religious Leaders on 26-27 April 2010; Baku International Humanitarian Forums in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2016; and the Seventh Global Forum of the UN Alliance of Civilizations on 25-27 April 2016. At a time when the heads of European states (Germany, Great Britain and France) where the policy of multiculturalism emerged, declare the failure of this policy in their countries, President Ilham Aliyev appreciates the policy of multiculturalism as the most progressive and best policy to manage ethnic, racial, religious and cultural diversity in society at present and is taking great action to disseminate and promote it. Regretting the increasing lack of
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confidence in multiculturalism in Europe, President Ilham Aliyev says: ‘…we are disappointed by declarations that multiculturalism has failed, multiculturalism has no future. These are very dangerous declarations. I have to say that there is no alternative to multiculturalism in the modern world, because the great majority of countries are multi-ethnic countries. What is the alternative to multiculturalism, if it has failed? This is also clear. It is discrimination, racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.’ Yüklə 2,25 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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