Society 363 / 2013
Sie wollen auch ein ePaper? Erhöhen Sie die Reichweite Ihrer Titel.
YUMPU macht aus Druck-PDFs automatisch weboptimierte ePaper, die Google liebt.
aserbaidschan<br />
Interview<br />
courses, which we plan to start this autumn. People<br />
who are interested have the possibility to apply<br />
online for these courses.<br />
Now your second native country Austria<br />
gave you some impressions of our culture.<br />
What are the most commonalities between<br />
the Austrian and the Azerbaijan culture?<br />
Both Austria and Azerbaijan boast a rich cultural<br />
heritage, which has strongly contributed to the<br />
countries’ identity. One of the main similarities between<br />
our countries is the very sensitive attitude<br />
the historical heritage, architecture and historic<br />
monuments. We are very pleased that our countries<br />
showed mutual recognition to our great composers.<br />
While Uzeyir Hajibeyli’s monument was<br />
unveiled in Vienna in 2006, Wolfgang Amadeus<br />
Mozart’s monument was unveiled in Baku in 2010,<br />
with the participation of our countries’ presidents.<br />
The Austrian culture needs no introduction.<br />
The love for music is shared by both Azerbaijanis<br />
and Austrians. One more characteristic of our<br />
two countries is the constant effort to keep their<br />
traditions alive. Tolerance for different cultures,<br />
religions and nationalities is another similarity<br />
between Austria and Azerbaijan.<br />
These two countries gave the world culture distinguished<br />
musicians.<br />
We will do our best to present this uniqueness<br />
of our culture to all our visitors.<br />
Azerbaijan and Austria exhibit considerable<br />
similarities in other respects as well. Both countries<br />
are about the same size and have nearly the<br />
same number of inhabitants. They have also assumed<br />
a strategically important role in their respective<br />
regions. While Austria is considered as a<br />
gateway to Central and Eastern Europe, Azerbaijan<br />
has for years now been expanding its role as a<br />
springboard to Central Asia.<br />
In 2010, the first embassy of Austria was established<br />
in Baku and now the first cultural center<br />
of Azerbaijan opened in Vienna. Why has this relationship<br />
increased in the past few years?<br />
There have always been special relations between<br />
our countries. We should not forget that<br />
»Both Austria<br />
and Azerbaijan<br />
boast a rich<br />
cultural heritage,<br />
which has<br />
strongly contributed<br />
to the<br />
countries‘ identities.<br />
«<br />
Leyla<br />
Gasimova<br />
Facts<br />
Aserbaidschanisches<br />
Kulturzentrum<br />
Wien<br />
Bellariastraße 8<br />
1010 Vienna<br />
www.azculture.at<br />
Azerbaijan has restored its independence just 21<br />
years ago. Nonetheless, last year Azerbaijan celebrated<br />
twenty years of diplomatic relations with<br />
the Republic of Austria. Austria was also one of the<br />
first countries, where Azerbaijan opened its embassy<br />
in 1995. In 2000, late president Heydar Aliyev’s<br />
state visit to Austria took place. The warm relationship<br />
we have now has been built up throughout<br />
the years. But of course, Azerbaijan’s rapid economic<br />
growth in the past few years, as well as the<br />
opening of the Austrian embassy in Baku have considerably<br />
strengthened our relations in all areas.<br />
It should be mentioned that the Embassy of the<br />
Republic of Azerbaijan to Austria and, in particular,<br />
late Ambassador Fuad Ismayilov put a lot of<br />
efforts into this direction. Azerbaijan remains the<br />
only country in the region, where Austria opened<br />
its embassy. Moreover, it was opened in 2010 - at a<br />
time, when the Austrian government was forced to<br />
close several diplomatic missions abroad.<br />
Azerbaijan’s rapid economic development has<br />
also increased the interest of Austrian entrepreneurs<br />
- Azerbaijan has become a favorable market<br />
for them, in particular after the state visit of Dr.<br />
Heinz Fischer and the Austrian - Azerbaijani Business<br />
Forum in Baku in 2011. The restoration of our<br />
capital city Baku’s main sight, the Maiden Tower as<br />
well as the construction of the Carpet Museum is<br />
being carried out by Austrian firms. Furthermore,<br />
Austrian companies were involved in the construction<br />
of the Shakhdag ski resort and the Absheron<br />
Mariott Hotel. We are delighted that such major<br />
projects are implemented in Azerbaijan by Austrian<br />
companies. We are convinced that the opening<br />
of the Azerbaijani cultural centre in Vienna, in<br />
which president Ilham Aliyev participated himself,<br />
will take the relations between our two countries<br />
to a new level. We would like to express our deep<br />
gratitude to the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and personally,<br />
to the First Lady Ms. Mehriban for supporting<br />
and assisting us in the establishment of this<br />
cultural centre as well as for actively promoting<br />
Azerbaijani culture abroad.<br />
I sincerely hope that the Azerbaijani cultural centre<br />
will help Austrians get to know Azerbaijani culture<br />
better. We invite everyone to visit our centre! •<br />
A precious doll of<br />
Elmira Abbasli<br />
Interior of the Azerbaijani<br />
Cultural Center in Vienna<br />
<strong>Society</strong> 1_<strong>2013</strong> | 85