President Ilham Allyev attends the first session of the Azerbaijani Parliament | Photo from the President’s Office via Wikimedia Commons
Part XXVIII of the “Back-to-Basics Governance” Series
On February 18, 2020, this journalist wrote that he has long admired Azerbaijan as a secular Muslim-majority country. He wrote in this article that Azerbaijan is not only the “Land of the Future” but also a “Poetry-In-Motion Nation.”
In fact, his admiration led him to write in 2017 this op-ed piece about how the world could bring permanent peace in troubled Islamic countries by adopting Azerbaijan as the “model country” in redeveloping and reinventing the Muslim World.
As written in the 2017 article, this writer said in his essay on mabuhayradio.com that Azerbaijan bills itself as “The Land of the Future.” It is home to approximately 700,00 plus Christians and 30,000 Jews (that have called a mountainous area near the capital of Baku their sanctuary for more than 2,200 years). It did not declare Islam as the state religion but maintained freedom of religion in the country. Perhaps the future of a progressive and peaceful Islamic world lies in Muslims adopting Azerbaijan as the model of a civilized, secular, prosperous, and intelligent society.
Approximately 75% of Azerbaijan’s 9-million-plus Muslim population is Shiite, with the rest belonging to the Sunni branch of Islam. Sunni and Shiite Azerbaijanis live in complete peace with each other, and intermarriage is common.
Perhaps Azerbaijan can spearhead the start of peaceful coexistence between the Sunni and Shiite branches of Islam. It may be a condition precedent to launching the “Abraham-Square Peace Plan.” After all, it is a back-to-basic reply to the argument that there can never be peace in the Middle East if the Sunni and the Shiite faithful of Islam continue to quarrel.
Azerbaijanis have excelled in arts, especially in songs and dances, including ballet, sciences (with several winners of the Nobel Prize), and even in international sporting events. The Azerbaijanis also gave their women the right to suffrage, a year ahead of the American women getting their right to vote. For a country of 10 million, “The Land of the Future” can undoubtedly be an excellent model for nation-building in the Islamic world. And even for the rest of the world, especially in nations with minorities that belong to the Islamic faith, like the Philippines. The Filipino homeland has a Muslim minority, at least two million larger than Azerbaijan’s population.
“Indeed the Middle East can achieve everlasting peace, prosperity, and progress with excellent diplomacy, incentives, and worldwide support. Yes, especially on the socio-economic front in the foreseeable future. Yes, perhaps in two decades or even two generations from today, the countries with a common patriarch, Prophet Abraham, can finally work together in peace and harmony for the good of humanity.”
“The Straphanger” column has also featured Azerbaijan. Ten articles mention Azerbaijan in this column. One of the articles talked about how Azerbaijan could provide Europe with its “Energy Needs of the Future.”
Curious readers may browse further this columnist’s op-ed pieces about the “Land of the Future” on both websites by simply typing “Azerbaijan” in their respective Search boxes.
This journalist’s fascination with Azerbaijan started in 2014 when its consulate general in the City of Los Angeles invited him to a one-day workshop at the University of Southern California (USC). The event discussed the “Caspian Sea Energy Corridor” that Azerbaijan was building. As the only Filipino journalist at the event, he was introduced to the Azerbaijani Consul General Nasimi Aghayev, who later became the dean of the Consular Corps in Los Angeles. He was promoted last year as the Azerbaijani envoy to Germany.
Perhaps H.E. Ambassador Aghayev can lead — with the blessings of the Azerbaijani policy-and-decision makers — a geopolitical task force that can submit to the affected countries the “Abraham-Square Peace Plan,” as improved and modified. After all, Azerbaijan is one of the few Muslim-majority countries that maintain diplomatic relations with Israel.
Indeed the Middle East can achieve everlasting peace, prosperity, and progress with excellent diplomacy, incentives, and worldwide support. Yes, especially on the socio-economic front in the foreseeable future. Yes, perhaps in two decades or even two generations from today, the countries with a common patriarch, Prophet Abraham, can finally work together in peace and harmony for the good of humanity. But negotiations have to start now. And Azerbaijan can make things happen. It can offer the good graces of its diplomatic offices to personify the ancient proverb that “a voyage of a thousand miles begins with the first step.”
