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The political and economic laws that rule the present-day world are deplorably
far from the principles of justice, and the idea of global ethics might appear
utopian. However, let us look back at the past, and we will see that many
breakthroughs of the current civilization started with ideas and actions that
were in their time also regarded as utopian.
All over the history of Azerbaijan, it was populated by dozens of tribes and
ethnic and religious communities. They contacted each other for millennia
to promote information exchanges between cultures and civilizations. The
indigenous population consisted of Turkic, Caucasian and Persian ethnic
entities. After Azerbaijan was incorporated into the Russian Empire, and later
the USSR, it was flooded by thousands of people of diverse nationalities and
ethnic backgrounds. They were mildly assimilated, just as the indigenous
population with its psychological flexibility. Azerbaijanis have always been
able to put up with aliens just the way they were. They never tried to forcefully
adapt newcomers to their own customs and mentality.
Shortly after the establishment of the Azerbaijani Democratic Republic, the
ideas of equality and ethnic diversity were in the focus of government attention.
The Declaration of Independence of Azerbaijan, made public on May 28, 1918,
said: “The Azerbaijani Democratic Republic guarantees civil and political rights
within its boundaries to all citizens, irrespective of ethnicity, religion, social
status and gender” (Article 4), whereas Article 5 vouched “vast possibilities
for free development” to all ethnic entities in the republic. There were schools
with tuition in many ethnic languages all over the country. The ethnic press,
cultural centres, theatres and educational institutions prospered.
In 1920-1991, Azerbaijan was part of the Soviet Union, and so not an
international legal entity. Its independence was again proclaimed in 1991. The
sovereign Republic of Azerbaijan made its first intergovernmental agreements
on the protection of ethnic minorities’ rights with the other former Soviet
constituent republics because millions of people found themselves outside
their ethnic boundaries in the Soviet era.
The new Constitution of Azerbaijan, endorsed in 1995, proclaimed equal
rights of all its peoples irrespective of language, religion, race and cultural
traditions. Article 44 says: “1. Every citizen shall have the right to retain
his/her ethnic identity. 2. No one shall be forced to change his/her ethnic
identity.” This statement fully complies with the Framework Convention
for the Protection of National Minorities, whose Article 5, Clause 2,
says: “Without prejudice to measures taken in pursuance of their general
integration policy, the Parties shall refrain from policies or practices aimed
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