Azernews.Az

By Nazrin Gadimova

The Jewish Journal, the second largest Jewish newspaper in the U.S., serving a community of 600,000 Jews in Los Angeles, dedicated its cover story to Azerbaijan.

Titled "The Jews of Azerbaijan: Why they thrive in a Shiite Muslim country" and published on December 19, the article was authored by Rob Eshman, journal's editor-in-chief, who visited Azerbaijan in early November to attend the Baku International Humanitarian Forum.

In his article, Eshman noted that the invitation to the forum "offered a chance to see for himself a country that, from what he had heard over the years, has never quite fit the standard American perception of Muslim = Fanatic and Shiite = Really Fanatic".

Noting that Azerbaijan is in the midst of a fast transition, the author poined out that now its tremendous oil and gas wealth "isn't being siphoned off to feed the Soviet empire, the country's GDP has soared."

He also mentioned that Azerbaijan is Israel's largest supplier of oil.

Highlighting various periods of Azerbaijan's history, Eshman noted that since the collapse of the USSR Azerbaijan has undergone an amazing transformation and has seen its traditions of multiculturalism, secularism and tolerance become even stronger.

Speaking about ethnic and religious tolerance in Azerbaijan and the special attention paid to it by President Ilham Aliyev, the author stressed that "Azerbaijan's tolerance is not a Western import. It's homegrown, even ancient."

Reflecting on his trip to the Guba region and his meetings with members of the region's Mountainous Jewish community, who live in the Red Village - the largest all-Jewish settlement outside Israel, Eshman also mentioned his visit to the recently opened Guba Genocide Memorial Complex.

"Near Guba, we pulled into a brand-new memorial complex of angular concrete and polished granite," he wrote. "Just beside it lay mounds of human skulls, recently excavated at the site of a massacre in 1918 of Muslim and Jewish residents by Bolshevik, Armenian and Christian forces. About 600 people were slaughtered by what our guide referred to as "Armenian gangsters. The exhibit looked as if it had been airlifted directly from Yad Vashem."

Eshman also noted that Armenia continues to occupy 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory in contravention of United Nations resolutions.

The Jewish community in Azerbaijan is one of the most active and influential religious communities. Such institutions as Center of Azerbaijani- Israeli Friendship, "Sochnut" Jewish Agency for Israel, "Joint" and "Vaad-I-Hetzola" committees for the protection and preservation of Jewish traditions, religious schools, Jewish Cultural Center, "Eva" women community, "Hesed - Hershon" charitable society, "Aleph" youth club and many others are operating in Azerbaijan.