Young Azeris in Russia commit to keeping identity alive

Through a wide range of initiatives, the Amor association aims to make Azerbaijanis on the Russian side of the Caspian feel at home. Chaired by Aliev's eldest daughter, it aims to distinguish its community from the diasporas of other peoples, focusing on good relations between Baku and Moscow.

Astrakan (AsiaNews) - The president of the Astrakhan session, a Russian city on the Caspian Sea, of the Azerbaijani Youth Association of Russia (Amor), Elvin Gusejnov, gave an interview to Zerkalo.az to recount his experience at the head of this ethnic youth organisation, assuring that ‘Amor is a beautiful school of life’. For over fifteen years, he has led the association, which supports young people on their journey, ‘with great satisfaction’.

He says that ‘our boys and girls have achieved many successes, making the work of our regional structure more and more effective’. TheAmor of Astrakhan organises many events of various levels, always ensuring an active and aggregative approach in the local society, trying to showcase the talents of individuals and the common usefulness of the many activities, allowing Azerbaijanis in the Russian part of the Caspian to feel at home, and to contribute to the life of the whole Russian society.

The association seeks to keep Azerbaijani culture alive, and to pass it on to succeeding generations, with all its traditions, values and customs. This is why performances, festivals and various initiatives are organised to present the history, culture and achievements of Azerbaijan. ‘One of our priorities is the propagation of a healthy lifestyle,’ explains Gusejnov, involving young people in sporting activities, which seems particularly important at the present time.

Dates that relate to the history of the Azerbaijani people are emphasised, trying to bring them to the widest public level, so that people of other ethnicities also get to know the richness of Azerbaijani culture, the life of the State of Azerbaijan and its people. People from very different ethnic groups live in the Astrakhan region, with their own religious and cultural traditions, andAmor tries to interface with many other associations and institutions, to share knowledge and experiences. Activists regularly visit children's homes and homes for the elderly, offering reasons for celebration and shared love; ‘for us it is important that they know us not by words, but by what we are able to achieve in life,’ the president emphasises.

Soon the Miss-Etno 2025 youth festival will start, one of the most ambitious and publicly impressive projects for the region, much loved by the citizens of Astrakhan. Representatives of many ethnic groups, including from abroad, take part in it to demonstrate not only their outward beauty, but also that of their cultural and spiritual values. The competition is considered one of the 100 most important not only in the Caspian region, but in the whole of Russia.

Amor has representations in all regions of the Federation, and the one in Astrakhan, a city of over half a million inhabitants, tries to act as a driving force for the others, uniting all the Azerbaijani youth of the country. The president of the entire Amor association is Leila Alieva, the 40-year-old eldest daughter of the president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliev, and with this activity she aims to spread a positive image of the country, even in these years of conflict in the Caucasus and elsewhere.

The presence of Azerbaijanis on the territory of Russia is not to be understood as a ‘diaspora’, a term that takes on rather negative meanings in Russia, but as a real ‘community’, insists Gusejnov, which forms lively and active aggregations in every region. Azerbaijanis appreciate the good relations between Moscow and Baku, between Presidents Putin and Aliev, and seek to cooperate with governors and regional authorities to overcome any form of mistrust and conflict between ethnic groups, making Azerbaijani communities real protagonists in the life of Russian society.