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Spring 1995 (3.1)
2-3, 34-45
A Brand New World!
I really can't believe we're doing this but, if all goes well,
we're on our way to Baku this summer to visit the family of the
Azerbaijani exchange student who lived with us last year. This
is such a different experience for us to think about. Me-a public
school teacher from small-town America who has been happily content
at teaching "do-re-mi" to school children, raising
goats, and playing the organ at church for most of my life.
Last year, Askar Askarov dropped
on our doorstep quite by accident as a 15-year-old high school
exchange student. He filled our house with the joyful sounds
of youth and introduced us to a whole different culture. The
truth is-he has quite profoundly changed our lives.
Our own five children are all
grown and living on their own; Askar was the 35th exchange student
I had ever been involved with-either as local coordinator or
a "mom". And it happened quite by chance. At the last
minute, World Learning needed one more host family and we agreed
to help them out. But Askar turned out to be exceptional. He's
made an incredible impact on our lives. He's charming, has great
"people-to-people" skills, and a grand sense of humor.
Last December I started writing
Askar's family to explain how well their son was doing in the
U.S., convinced that a great deal of credit was due to the training
they had given him at home as a lad. Well, one thing led to another,
and soon we were developing a marvelous friendship across the
miles. And now we're making plans to visit these wonderfully
warm and loving people 10,000 miles away. It will be a first
for us-we've never visited any of our exchange students though
they've often returned to see us.
Askar filled our home with music-sounds
which were different from what I was accustomed to, but which
I miss greatly now that he's gone back to Baku. This teenager
could do things with the traditional compositions of "mugham"
which were very exciting and complicated. He was far, far beyond
me in his musical ability despite all my formal music training.
He has a very highly trained ear for music. We've worn out the
tapes he left with us but we're hoping for more so our house
and car can once again ring out with Azerbaijani music.
This has been a
great experience. The story hasn't ended. Our community is trying
to find a scholarship to bring Askar back for college. I have
a great feeling there's much more to come.
Martha Fisher
Quakertown, PA
December 19, 1995
Major League Publication
|I received the latest issue of
Azerbaijan International today! Your magazine just keeps getting
better; I read it immediately - article by article, cover to
cover. I realize that you receive many accolades for this publication.
Azerbaijan International is major-league magazine and you just
keep on hitting home runs!
Mas'ood Cajee
University of Oklahoma
Norman, OK
December 5, 1994
Who Can Help Us Build
Our Nation?
I recently had a chance
to see a copy of Azerbaijan International for the first time
(Summer 1994: "Environmental Challenges"). The magazine
left a deep impression on me as it contains important information
written with perception and wisdom. It identified our major environmental
problems, describing some of the efforts of individuals and institutions,
which are trying to improve our situation.
Since Azerbaijan is a small country and rich in natural resources,
it is critical that we restore our land and guard against pollution
and the harmful mutation in human genetics that is already being
identified.
The back cover featured a 13-year-old artist's depiction of the
war-a woman paralyzed with pain, tears streaming down her face.
I ask, "Who on this earth can bring solace to people who
have suffered so much?" Only those who cherish this land,
this nation and people and who desire its blessing can help us
solve these profound problems. I hope their efforts will not
be in vain as we search for ways which lead to peace and harmony
in our tormented land.
Dr. Ali Bagirov, MD
Baku
January 20, 1994
Armenia Should Seek
Compromise
The following opinion
was a "Letter to the Editor" published in California
Courier ("Newspaper for All Armenians"), by Harold
Laloian, January 26, 1995. Reprinted with permission from California
Courier.
Now that Armenians control the disputed Karabakh, they must win
a lasting peace. There are four options open to them.
(1) To appeal for Western help. However, this route is a waste
of time because the West will not favor Armenia in this dispute.
It will, instead, continue to support its strategic ally, Turkey,
as well as partake in the riches that Azerbaijan offers. While
the West gives millions to Armenia, they will be giving billions
for Azeri oil. Furthermore, the West's ability and resolve to
interfere in the region is limited. For example, 20 years after
Turkey invaded Cyprus to protect its fellow Turks, it still controls
half of the island.
(2) To rely on Russia's help is wishful thinking. Russia's army
is so disorganized it could not defeat Turkey in a non-nuclear
war. Furthermore, Russian troops in Armenia merely antagonize
Armenia's neighbors (with whom any peace would depend on), since
they view Russia as a colonizing power.
(3) Going on alone is self-defeating. Continued economic blockade
and loss of Middle Eastern economic markets (Armenia's potentially
most important customers), has undermined its future. What good
is it for Armenia if her brightest are forced to move to Glendale?
And why should only the West benefit from the region's potential
riches? Why not Armenians?
The final option-compromise and accommodation with Azerbaijan
to forge a lasting peace seems the best way out. The negotiated
settlement that the CSCE has suggested and agreed to implement
would lend international legitimacy and permanence to the settlement.
If the return of the Lachin Corridor and Shusha are the only
stumbling blocks to peace, then they are a small price to pay.
And if a common market between the two countries can be worked
out, then this strip of Azeri territory between Karabakh and
Armenia would be of little consequence.
In fact, landlocked, resource-poor Armenia needs Azerbaijan for
its economic development more than Azerbaijan needs Armenia.
Soon, with Turkey's help, the Azeris could develop a powerful
military. Armenia should go out of its way to foster trust and
links with the Azeris. Indeed, common goals such as a common
market and military alliances would strengthen both. Allied,
both countries would not need to be so submissive to the political
whims of the larger players of the region: Turkey, Iran, Russia
and the West.
By convincing Azerbaijan to be an ally rather than an enemy.
Armenia, with her well-educated and hard-working population could
have an economic and military future much larger than her small
size would suggest.
Computers to Strengthen
Environmental Movement
We were impressed with
the environmentally focused issue of Azerbaijan International
(Summer 94). Unfortunately, it is unusual for journals devoted
to a particular country to concentrate on environmental issues,
so we are grateful that you dared to "take a stand".
For the entire Soviet period, the toxic assault against Azerbaijan's
air, water, and soil was suppressed information. Even after the
Soviet period, the headlines were full of news about war and
economics, and justly so, but there was hardly a word about the
various threats to Azerbaijan's life support structure-its ecology.
Clearly, Azerbaijanis, like all humans, need to have the basic
economic rights to food, clothing, and shelter. The articles
in that issue of AI showed that, although Azerbaijan is resource
rich and a few environmental remediation projects are underway,
a broad-based environmental commitment is not forthcoming either
from the business or governmental sectors. Such a responsibility
should be borne out of self-interest. It is becoming common knowledge
among the Western business community that a polluted environment
is bad business. Company profits that remain in the marketplace
are consumed by health costs directly linked to environmental
degradation.
Since 1985, our main focus at Sacred Earth Network (SEN) has
been to collaborate with the environmental community-NGOs (non-governmental
organizations) in the former Soviet Union (increasingly called
Eurasia). SEN's main project, the Environmental Telecommunications
Project, provides computer equipment, on-site training, and small
grants to the environmental NGO community in Eurasia. We have
played a major role in creating an environmental computer network
that includes 60 cities in 13 of the 15 former Soviet republics.
We would like to assist Azerbaijan's environmental community.
The current energy and communications infrastructure there is
in such bad condition that we are unsure of how to proceed. There
is not a single environmentally-focused e-mail station in Azerbaijan.
If we receive a formal invitation from the Environmental Ministry,
a business, or a prominent non-governmental organization, we
could supply matching funds to create an independent environmental
e-mail station.
What we need is a sign that there is enthusiasm to follow through
with this project once our specialists leave. We would also be
willing to add an Azerbaijani to our technical support team if
at least half a dozen of these stations were deemed necessary.
In a country where water can be a rarity and when found, is often
polluted and undrinkable; an international effort based on reliable,
inexpensive communications is essential to solve this and other
life threatening problems. Our experience dictates that a small
e-mail network is the most appropriate, democratic mechanism
to assist this effort on grass-roots level.
We can only hope this letter will lead to genuine cooperation
between SEN and the people of Azerbaijan so that together we
can create a clean, sustainable future on Planet Earth. By the
way, we publish an environmental newsletter about our projects
in English and Russian for those who are interested.
Bill Pfeiffer, Executive Director
Sacred Earth Network
267 East Street
Petersham, MA 01366
Tel: (508) 724-3443
Fax: (508) 724-3436
E-mail: sacredearth@igc.org
December 28, 1994
Our Children: Our Mother
Tongue
Here in Sweden, there
is a fairly sizable community of Azerbaijanis (from Iran). We're
quite privileged to live here as immigrants because the Swedish
government provides Azerbaijani language courses for our children.
Although Swedish and English language courses are mandatory,
each child is also allowed to study his mother tongue for a minimum
of two lessons per week just as any other ordinary subject like
mathematics or chemistry. If there are 15 or more students studying
at the same level at a single school who speak the same mother
tongue, they have the right to require that all lessons, except
the Swedish and English, are taught in their own mother tongue.
Considering the number of immigrants living in this country,
the project costs the Swedish government a significant amount
of money but it is viewed as an investment in future citizenship.
Studies show that children who are proficient in their native
languages grow up to be more successful in everyday life. Specific
studies in Sweden (with immigrants from Turkey, former Yugoslavia
and Greece) indicate that children who failed to learn their
own mother tongues as proficiently as they learned Swedish tended
to feel socially outcast from both societies-their own as well
as the Swedish community, and hence were more prone to get involved
with crime. Clearly, being proficient in one's mother tongue
provides stability and a sense of belonging.
Contrary to what many people think, we immigrants bestow a great
gift upon our children when we promote our own mother tongue.
We shouldn't neglect it. All language studies point to the importance
of the mother tongue. Bilingualism and tri-lingualism should
be viewed as intellectual assets which do not interfere with
mental and psychological development, but conversely, enhance
identity and personality.
I hope that in the future there will be a movement among Azerbaijani
immigrants to strengthen the use of our mother tongue among our
children. If the governments where we live don't pay for language
instruction, then we as parents, families and cultural societies
should become actively involved in promoting the Azerbaijani
language as something very normal, healthy and invigorating.
If our children learn Azerbaijani well, it can only help them
grow up to be successful even in societies dominated by other
languages
Manaf Sababi
Uppsala, Sweden
January 20, 1995
Alaska So Far Away
I'm an exchange student
from Azerbaijan studying here in Wasilla, Alaska. As you know,
Alaska is kind of isolated from the rest of the US and here there's
no chance to know what's going on in Azerbaijan even from the
local papers. When I heard about your magazine, I was really
surprised and excited that there was such a publication that
could tell us about Azerbaijanis all over the world. It's really
important for us, the people of Azerbaijan, and especially for
us here in America, many thousands of miles away from our country,
city, family and friends. This way we feel connected with our
national culture, customs and traditions. Thanks a lot.
Rashad Tagiyev, 17
Wasilla, AK
Jan 9, 1995
New 1995 Calendar
The Canadian Azerbaijanis
National Federation (CANF) has just printed an attractive 1995
calendar which features scenes from both the Republic of (Northern)
Azerbaijan and Iranian (Southern) Azerbaijan. Canadian, American,
and Jewish holidays are marked although Noruz (New Year's) and
the National Holidays for the Republic of Azerbaijan are conspicuously
missing. Calendars may be ordered for $15 from CANF, Sheppard
Centre, 2 Sheppard Ave E, Suite 900, North York, Ontario, M2N
5Y7 Canada. Tel/Fax: (905) 479-1666.
From Azerbaijan International (3.1) Spring 1995.
© Azerbaijan International 1995. All rights reserved.
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