• ACTIVITY: JANUARY - APRIL

ACTIVITY: JANUARY - APRIL

CIVIL SOCIETY PROGRAM

Debates on Army Building process Army has become one of the most popular discussion issues in Azerbaijan over the last months of year 2007, because of the changes to the law on Army. Human rights violations, cases of the mistaken or intentional crossing over the Armenian territory turned into a field of activity of the various NGOs. A six month project named "Debates on Army Building process" is being carried out by the Reserved and Dismissal Officers Union public association, upon the grant from the Open Society Institute- Assistance Foundation.

According to Mr. Yashar Jafarli, the project leader, organization of this kind of debates is not casual. "Nowadays every family in Azerbaijani society has someone who served or is going to serve in the Army, therefore all the army related issues and news are in the focus of interests of the society"- says Mr. Jafarli.

As to the debates on army building process, Mr. Yashar Jafarli stated as follows: "Debates help people develop their personal merit. The purpose of the project is to develop the standard for debating on army creativity, to direct the citizens and the Azerbaijan society towards discussions regarding current problems in the field of the army building and defining the methods of the solution of these problems".

Here are the topics brought up for discussion at the round table debates:

• "The number of the provisions of legislation permitting conscription postponement should be decreased"
• "It is necessary to restore the previous order of the privileges and advantages for the martyrs’ families, veterans of war and armed forces"
• "We need a completely professional army hiring the candidates on the grounds of the contract"
• "We need a law about alternative service"
• "Social control of the armed forces serves for consolidation of the State organization"
• "Maximal age limit for the active service conscription should be 35 years and active service conscription should be carried out 4 times a year"

According to Mr. Jafarli these topics were chosen on the grounds of the public opinion monitoring: "We have been continuously tracking the press in order to determine the interests of the public regarding the army".

The first debate was held on February 2 at the International Press Center.

Participation at the debates was not limited to those who work in the military field or familiar with this area. Representatives of the NGO’s from the other area have been also invited for a dialogue.

According to Mr. Yashar Jafarli, among the representatives of the mass media, the most active ones were from "Ayna" ["The Mirror"], "Baki Kheber" ["Baku News"], "Impuls" ["Impulse"] and "Vetendash Briliyi" ["Civil Solidarity"] newspapers. In order to televise two of the debates, AZTV was appealed to.

"We’ve presented seven topics to be broadcasted on AzTV. Two of them will be selected and televised for 30 - 45 minutes. This is one of the ways of bringing the debate to attention of the society"-says Jafarli.

It is planned to present the summary of the project results to the Parliament of Azerbaijan.

The Debate on Human Rights

"Resource Center for Democracy and Human Rights" Public Association which is located in Sumgayit has started to carry out a project named "Conduction of a Debate on Human Rights" on the grants from the Open Society Institute- Assistance Foundation.

The main purpose of the project is to organize debates on Human Rights issues in the various fields of the social relations. One of these debates named "Gender Equality" was conducted on February 26. The event was organized by the "Women’s Initiative and Aid for Resolution of Social Problems" Public Association that functions in coalition with the "Resource Center for Democracy and Human Rights".

Representatives of various NGO’s and media entities took an active part in the debate. Among the participants, there were famous gender scientist A. Abbasov, Chief of the Department of New Directions in Philosophy and Gender Researches of the Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences and Rena Mirzazadeh, Doctor of Philosophy, a senior research fellow of the same department.

The topic of the debate was met with a great interest of the participants. At the end of the event, all participants stated importance of regular organization of the such events. The surveys carried out at the beginning and in the end of the debate are currently being studied by specialists. It is intended to continue the this kind of debates in mass media. For this purpose, the video material obtained during the debate was televised by the local "DTV" channel on the same day. Distant debates will also be carried out via "168 Saat" ["168 hours"] newspaper.

Exploitation of the Public Property

With the financial support of the Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation Assistance Foundation "Legal and Economic Education Society" public association started to conduct the project on rationality of exploitation of the public property and establishment of social control with the assistance of the mass media. The project started from January 25, 2007. How rational the appropriate district municipalities of Baku City exploit the lands in their property was the question to be brought up for public discussion within the framework of the project. Duration of the project was 6 months and it was going to be carried out in the form of public debates. The problems discussed at these debates were published as appendix named "Belediye Mulkiyeti" ["Public Property"] to "Obozrevatel" ["Commentator"] newspaper; they were also placed at http://www.newsazerbaijan.az website of "Novosti Azerbaijana" ["Azerbaijan News"] International Information Agency. At the same time awareness raising purpose there were two preview trailers filmed and televised at the local TV channels.

"Round table" conducted

"Legal and Economic Education Society" public association conducted two round - table discussions on March 7, 2007 within the framework of the rationality of exploitation of the public property and establishment of social control with the assistance of the mass media project, at the International Press Center. The discussion were carried out with the financial support of the Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation. The topic of the discussions was "Does the public property exploited rationally?". The representatives of Pirshagi, Garadag, Buzovna, Mashtaga and Mardakan municipalities as well as the representatives of the Ministry of Justice of Azerbaijan Republic, international organizations and the mass media took part in the event. After certain relevant issues had been broadly enlightened by the experts of the project the participants were involved into discussions related to the topic. With the awareness raising purpose. At the end of the event a social advertising presentation was conducted within the framework of the project. It is necessary to point out that the issues discussed have recently been published as an appendix named "Belediye Mulkiyeti" ["Public Property"] to "Strana" ["Country"] newspaper. At the same time, the key items of this appendix were placed at http://www.newsazerbaijan.az website of "Novosti Azerbaijana" ["Azerbaijan News"] International Information Agency. The purpose of this sort of events is bringing up for public discussion the following question: How rational do the appropriate district municipalities of Baku City exploit the lands in their property?

PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM

The Campaign Against AIDS

A press-conference for mass media representatives on "Auto-tour action against HIV/AIDS to regions" was held in the International Press Center on January 25th, 2007. Azerbaijan - American Youth Public Association carried out this initiative with the support of OSI-AF within the "Scaling up response to HIV/AIDS in Azerbaijan" program of Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. It was revealed at the press-conference that Azerbaijani youth lacks knowledge HIV/AIDS and is not aware of ways of HIV transmission and protection against this disease. The source of this problem founded in education and in limited sources to get information especially in the regions.

"Taking into account the necessity of informing the youth about above-mentioned issues we decide to realize the project in Sumgait, Ali-Bayramli, Mingachevir and Zaqatala regions. We organized an auto-tour "For generation free from AIDS" led by previously trained volunteers. The group of 10 young volunteers held meetings with the representatives of health sector, youth organizations for secondary school and university students and regional civil society. They distributed information materials on HIV/AIDS, shirts and caps with campaign message - "Your safety is in your hands". They also discussed with participants the principles of healthy life model and ways to avoid risk behavior which could lead to HIV infection". – Vugar Aliyev, Chairman of Azerbaijan - American Youth Public Association said.

The winners of the competition on Best Article on AIDS

On March 1st, 2007 Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society announced the results of article competition "AIDS, Drugs and Harm Reduction" that was conducted by initiative of the Open Society Institute – Assistance Foundation in the frameworks of "Scaling up response to HIV/AIDS in Azerbaijan" program of the Global Fund aimed to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Presentation of the awards was held in the Assembly Hall of the National Academy of Science. Only three stories out of 86 submitted articles have received awards. The articles vary in content but speak to education on ways of HIV transmission; propagate integration of people living with HIV/AIDS to community and stress their responsibilities and duties. They aim to draw attention of population to the problem of HIV/AIDS and at the same time popularize to the formation of healthy behavior model, publicity of family relations and strong family model. At the end of the presentation ceremony organizers awarded winners with gifts and stressed the importance of such competitions in the future for the community organizers.

Winners:
The First place - Mahir Nematoglu ("A guest for 25 years. It is not going to leave soon"; "Progress leading to death"; "Billions earned". "Merkez" newspaper)
The Second place - Adil Bag?rov ("With your disdain, you may kill us faster than the virus may". "Zerkalo" newspaper)
The Third place - Xalida Babayeva ("I am one of you." "Ayna" newspaper)

Organizations in the field of HIV / AIDS Training on "Organizing the people living with HIV/AIDS and NGOs providing support to them and organizing of observation during ARV treatment" was held on February 23 - 24, 2007 in Irshad hotel.

The training was organized in the frameworks of the Global Fund’s project "Scaling up response to HIV/AIDS in Azerbaijan" with the initiative of OSI-AF. Bogdan Zaika, the expert of Union of organizations of the people leaving with HIV/AIDS in Eastern Europe and Central Asia was the principal trainers in this event. 15 representatives from the NGO "Struggle with AIDS" and National AIDS Control Center that provide the support to people living with HIV/AIDS in Azerbaijan participated in the training.

On the first day of the training the participants were instructed about the process of case work organization in the field of HIV/AIDS, documentation of clients and variety of palliative care services meant improve quality of living for PLWH/A. Duties and responsibilities of social workers providing these services, as well as of adherence during ARV treatment was also discussed.

On the second day of the training, the strategic directions related to the mission and activity of "Struggle against AIDS" PU was determined and its development plan developed.

In six months the Development Plan was evaluated by the experts of the Open Society Institute - Assistance Foundation and corresponding recommendations was given.

Fighting HIV / AIDS in the Regions

From November to December 2007 the project named "Healthy future" in Zaqatala, Gakh and Balaken regions was implemented by Legal Development and Democracy PU. The project was executed within "Scaling up response to HIV/AIDS in Azerbaijan" program of Global Fund with support of OSI-AF.

The head of Legal Development and Democracy PU Zulfiya Mustafayeva stated that taking education work among civil society has great impact, especially in the regions: "The research shows that the populations of above-mentioned regions suffer from the lack of HIV/AIDS related information and they lack skills related to healthy behaviors. Migration also could play a role in spreading HIV/AIDS in these regions. And it is necessary to carry out such information campaigns, as the noted regions are border regions Note, that the volunteers were also involved in the information campaign. In addition, speaking on local television channel, the organization representatives had the best access to the population."

The project executors have built their activity on the principles of "Door to Door" campaigning and achieved successful realization of large-scale information and educational campaign among people. Another problem observed was was non-tolerant attitude towards people living with HIV.

The first film for youth dedicated to drug addiction

The Young Film Makers Association recently presented the film named "Sun City" dedicated to one of the painful problems of the contemporary society - drug addiction. This 25 - minute’s film demonstrating live of children and teenagers who became victim of drug addiction, was made by "Dervish" producer center with initiative of OSI-AF in the frameworks of Global Fund project "Scaling up response to HIV/AIDS in Azerbaijan".

This film was made with the purpose to prevent youth from drug addiction. For this reason, the film made in hip - hop language that is so close to youth. Rap, which is one of the brands of hip - hop, as well as graffiti define the atmosphere of the film. A group of young people tells a story about their friend-rapper who became drug user. The authors of the film believe that this film will play a great role in preventing drug use the teenagers and adolescents and motivate them to follow a healthy life style.

Parviz Ishagov and Orkhan Agalarov, the rappers who are well - known among the young population, acted in the film. They are also the authors of the music and the lyrics. Shooting of the film mainly took place in Sumgayit. The screen-writers of the film are Ali Isa Jabbarov, Aynur Mustafayeva and Asif Rustamov; the producers are Ali Isa Jabbarov and Aynur Mustafayeva; the director of the film is Asif Rustamov and the cameraman is Mirza Alekberov.

Before public presentation, it was planned to demonstrate film for different age groups. Film demonstration was held for senior school students of secondary schools #132, #245 and #190. The film was met with a great interest and created large-scale discussions and after the demonstration students shared their opinions and impressions.

BUDGET EXPENSES TRANSPARENCY PROGRAM

The activity and plans of the National Budget Group

On February 22, 2007, a Conference concerned with the activity of the National Budget Group in year 2006 and the plans of this Group for year 2007 was held at Park Inn Hotel. The representatives of state organizations, deputies, well - known experts, the representatives of the international financial institutions, as well as the representatives of the mass media and NGOs took part at the Conference.
Mr. Ingilab Ahmadov, a member of the board of governors of the National Budget Group, who opened the Conference, talked about the importance and essence of the budgetary process, and informed the audience on the fields covered by the National Budget Group as well as the achievements of the Group.

Trip of the National Budget Group to the USA carried out with the support of Revenue Watch, USAID and World Learning; the meetings with the NGOs as well as the representatives of the state organizations and international financial institutions and; the exchange of experience were also widely reviewed at the presentation.
Among the achievements of the National Budget Group, increased awareness of the community on the budget; successful collaboration with some state organizations; the activities carried out in the regions and; paving the way with foreign partners for successful cooperation, were pointed out. The publications of the National Budget Group as well as its other educational tools were also discussed at the presentation. After the questions and comments of the participants, Ms. F. Nadjafova took the floor with presentation dedicated to the activity plan of the National Budget Group for year 2007. The activity of the Group for year 2007 consists of three main directions and includes Institutional, Program and Network projects. Within the framework of the Institutional project, the National Budget Group is planning the following activities for year 2007: to create and place the database containing detailed information on budget at their website; to prepare the yearly report and the propagandistic materials in order to disseminate the experience of the Group; to integrate broad cooperation with the representatives of the mass media, international relations and the Network projects of the Group.
The Program Project is the main direction planned for year 2007 and it covers the following aspects: budget analysis and expertise; popularization of the budget - related information; public [social] discussions; activities on development of country - level partnerships with the international financial organizations, including improvement of knowledge and skills, and coverage of a larger audience; conduction of large - scale discussions with the state organizations, deputies and civil society during the period of discussion and approval of the budget and; achievement of social influence on budget - related decision making.
Finally, the main purpose of the Network projects, which is the third direction of the plan, is to gather more NGOs, experts and the mass media around the budget - related problems. Creation of groups on various directions - social, education, health, regions and investment - is also planned for year 2007.
At the end of the presentation, cooperation capabilities with the government, the parliament, international financial organizations and civil society organizations were elucidated. The National Budget Group came out with the proposals regarding expertise on every direction, improvement of the knowledge and skills, monitoring of budget expenses, preparation of the publications on budget, socialization of the activities of the Clearing Agency.
Later the questions of the participants regarding the work of the National Budget Group with the government and the parliament, authorities of the Group, financial problems, distribution of the means for year 2007, reviews and expertise, were enlightened.
During the Conference, the members of the National Budget Group - N. Ibadov, Sh. Seyidzadeh, F. Rasulov, Ma Talibi, K. Ganiyev - came out with detailed information concerning the activities carried out in the regional and educational fields.
At the end of the event, Mr. F. Asadov, the Chief Executive of The Open Society Institute Relief Fund, took the floor with the opinions and proposals concerning the activity of the National Budget Group.

EUROINTEGRATION PROGRAM

Discussion of the National Indicative Program

A draft of National Indicative Programme (NIP) within the frameworks of the European Neighborhood Policy was discussed at a round table session, organized by the Azerbaijan National Committee for European Integration (ANCEI). According to Mr. Sabit Bagirov, the Chairman of the Committee, the NIP conveys the collaboration mechanism between Azerbaijan and Europe within the frameworks of European Neighborhood Policy. The Action Plan, signed in November 2006, defines the strategic goals of the collaboration and the ways of realization of the Programme. A draft of NIP is currently being discussed by the government of Azerbaijan. The members of the National Committee express concern over non-transparent activities during the process. They called upon the government to publish the text of the Programmee. The Committee obtained this document from unknown sources and is planning to allocate it in the Internet. The NIP for 2007-2010 will cover specific events.

According to Mr. Erkin Gadirli, the Co-Chairman of ANCEI, the draft Programme has three priority areas:

Priority Area 1: Support for Democratic Development and Good Governance.

Sub-priority 1: Public administration reform and public finance management;
Sub-priority 2: Rule of law and judicial reform;
Sub-priority 3: Human rights, civil society development and local government;
Sub-priority 4: Education, science and people-to-people contacts/exchanges.

Priority Area 2: Support for socio-economic reform (with emphasis on regulatory approximation with the EU acquis), fight against poverty and administrative capacity building.

Sub-priority 1: Promoting mutual trade, improving the investment climate and strengthening social reform;
Sub-priority 2: Supporting the implementation of the SPPRED/SPPRSD, of the State Programme for the Regional Development and of government plans for the non-oil sector (strengthened competitiveness and diversification of the economy);
Sub-priority 3: Sector-specific regulatory aspects, including public accounting.

Priority Area 3: Support for legislative and economic reforms in the transport, energy and environment sectors.

Sub-priority 1: Energy, including reforms of the domestic legislative framework and markets;
Sub-priority 2: Transport, including reforms of the domestic legislative framework and markets;
Sub-priority 3: Environment.

The European Union is allocated 92 million Euros for realization of NIP. 30 million Euros in apiece is allocated for realization of the 1st and the 3rd priority areas and 32 million Euros is allocated for realization of the 2nd priority area.
To the question ‘whether any welfare will be allotted for the Civil Society Institutes’, Mr. Gadirli answered that the government of Azerbaijan would receive the financial aid.
Mr. Wolfgang Shporer, the Coordinator of Europe House in Azerbaijan, stated that the European Union rendered assistance in the technical areas in the past. The NIP, however, concentrates more on development of the democracy and the Civil Society. The NIP provides the Azerbaijanian students with education and the teachers with trainings in the European Universities; it also contributes to realization of joint investigations.

Recommendations on the State Program on Youth Education Abroad

The Azerbaijan National Committee for European Integration prepared recommendations on the State Program on Youth Education Abroad and made presentation of this project. Mr. Hikmet Hajizadeh, the head of the project, stated that the recommendations on the state program were prepared under the assistance of the Open Society Institute - Assistance Foundation. The main purpose of ANCEI is providing moral and intellectual support to integration of Azerbaijan into the European Union. After the Committee familiarized itself with cooperation programs and agreements signed between Azerbaijan and the European Union, business relations were established with the officials of the both parties including the social unions functioning within the European Union, and a detailed document was prepared by the Committee. There are plans about democracy, human rights, politics, economics, demography, environment, and, of course, Karabakh issue, in this document. The problems concerning the mentioned fields will be reviewed based on the recommendations of our Committee. Mr. Hikmet Hajizadeh stated that one of the recommendations presented by ANCEI refers to state program on Azerbaijan youth education abroad.
Although the Head of the Country signed the decree in October 2006, concerning preparation of this project within 3 months, but the project is still not ready. The Committee believe that it is significant to take part in a large social discussion dedicated to approval of this program which is very important for development of our country.
In connection with this, the Azerbaijan National Committee for European Integration decided to research of problems in the education abroad area and work out relevant specific recommendations. The project was prepared on the basis of the educational programs of other countries as well as on the experience of non-governmental organizations engaged in the field of education abroad. Recommendations on the following issues are given in the project: rules of selection for the mentioned program; diminishing bureaucratic barriers during execution of the program; attraction of the international educational organizations to all-round participation in the program; preparation of the program scholars for trips abroad; communication with these scholars and assisting them with adaptation to the local environment after they return home; responsibilities of the scholars in front of the state. Mainly 5 items are present in the recommendations of the Azerbaijan National Committee for European Integration: 1. Selection and preparation of the students; 2. Transparency and civil control; 3. Selection of specialties, level of education, countries of education and universities; 4. Familiarization of the scholars with the aspects of education abroad, communication with them and adaptation of the scholars who finished their education; 5. Responsibilities of the scholars in front of the state.

EAST - EAST PROGRAM

Foreign experience in education

In order to successfully complete the education reform, it is important to study experience of the European Union countries and to have idea exchange. For this purpose, on March 15 - 18, the Forum of Educational NGOs and the Society of Freelance Teachers carried out joint project named “Educational Reforms: European Model - Experience of the Estonian System of Education”, with the support of East - East program of the Open Society Institute Relief Fund.
The project consists of two stages. During the first stage of the project that took place on March 15 - 16 in Baku, seven experts on education from Estonia met the professionals forking in the field of education from secondary and higher schools, the Curriculum Center of the Institute on Educational Problems, the Ministry of Education, State Student Admission Committee, Baku Institute of Training and Teachers. On March 17 - 18, during the round - table discussions and trainings with participation of teachers of secondary and higher schools as well as the experts on education from our country, the Estonian specialists conducted bilateral discussions and trainings on the following subjects: “Application of information technologies at the secondary schools”, “Secondary school: Preparation of plans, programs and text - books. The curriculum”, Modernization of vocational schools”, Application of Bologna Process at universities”, Broadening of the process of training and work of the teachers”, “The results of integration of the Estonian education center into the European education system”.
At the end, new experience on forms, methods and systems gained during realization of the educational reforms, were reviewed, and recommendations on practical directions of the education system, based effective initiatives and attitudes, were prepared. Finally, the organizers signed declaration on continuation of the cooperation in the future.
For the second stage of the project, one - week trip of an education monitoring group consisting of six persons, to Estonia is planned. During the trip, the members of the group will practically familiarize themselves with the activity of the local educational institutions and will conduct experience exchange.

GANJA EDUCATION INFORMATION CENTER

English Language in the Social Reforms

On February 19, 20, 21 and 22, 2007, Elshad Ahmadov, a graduate of the Eurasia Students Exchange Program, which promotes collaboration of the NGOs functioning in the Ganjabasar region, conducted 4 - days seminar named “English Language in Social Reforms” at the Ganja Education Information Center. Director of the OSIAF Genja Information Education Center Hasan Huseynli, graduates of the US schools, representatives of 15 NGOs from Ganja region, took part in the seminar.
During the seminar, Mr. Elshad Ahmadov noted that NGO sector is very active in the Ganja region and almost all the organizations are intended to work with the same donors. “Unfortunately, the organizations, however, do not cooperate with each others. Although some NGOs work at the same social problem, they do not hasten to share their experience and resources. At the same time, the level of English Language, which is an important tool for establishing relations with foreign donors, is not that high in Ganja region. In order to obtain financial means for the future projects, the NGOs should master high level of English Language“.
The speech of Mr. Gregor Robb, a volunteer of “Peace Bridge”, was mainly based on questions asked. He informed the participants on determination of individual, regional and country - level resources owned by the representatives of the NGOs, and on the ways of rational utilization of these resources. He also talked about some issues that would substantially influence the activity of the NGOs.
At the end of the seminar the NGOs amalgamated and worked out a unified project. The project was presented to other NGOs. Creation of a website reflecting this joint activity was planned for the future. Two projects were presented at the seminar.
The representatives of “Debate Center”, “Women in the Civil Society”, “Young Leader” and “The Women Institute and Research Center” non - governmental organizations joined together and presented a project on conduction of a seminar named “About Women Rights” at Gizilja village of Khanlar. The purpose of the project is to inform the women of the village on their rights, to inform them on the ways of struggling with violation, to draw the adolescents away from early matrimony and to inform the participants on harms and complications of getting married with mollas without having an official wedlock.
As to the joint project presented by “AZETA”, “Regional Information Center”, “Helsinki Civil Assembly”, "The Society of Economical Layers", its main purpose was to broaden integration of English - speaking teachers and pupils into the international world. The project will be carried out via seminars, individual meetings etc. The target group of the project will be 50 to 60 8th - 10th grade pupils.
The event that will continue for 4 days is financed by the Department of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the US Department of State.

OUR FUND AS A PART OF THE SOCIETY

Until recent past back to 20 years ago, in order to be considered as a highly educated person, it was very important to know, speak and be educated in Russian in Azerbaijan. Russian Language was the integral part of science, development and our daily life. This was explained by a very popular expression at that time: “We are a Soviet Republic. In order to be educated and to advance in this country, everybody must know Russian”. Afterwards, when Azerbaijan became independent, another expression was used: “Since we were under oppression for 70 years we need to learn Russian language in order to be of high intellectual level”. This state of affairs, of course, kept Azerbaijani language, our mother tongue, down. Today we are neither a Soviet country, nor we are under oppression. Russian language is not as popular as it was before, but it did not lose its influence. In this case there two questions emerge: 1. Can Russian be considered as an indicator of the intellectual level today? 2. What is the difference between people who received their education in Azerbaijani and those who were educated in Russian? The employees of the founcation have different opinions on this issue: some of them believe that Russian is really an indicator of high intellectual level, the others think the opposite.

Fuad Suleymanov
Director of the Civil Society Program
Nowadays the language criterion of both Azerbaijani and Russian speaking population is not an absolute indicator of the intellectual, spiritual or cultural levels. Every individual must refer to his / her will, knowledge, patience and individual capabilities when trying to master science or any other field.
As to the schools teaching in Russian, this is just the requirement of our Constitution and government. Our government should preserve the right of the national minorities to be educated in their own languages: from this point of view, all the schools teaching in Russian, Lezghin, and Georgian languages are at the same level.
As to Russian language spoken among the capital population, this is often encountered among the elder generation and takes place in their daily non - official life. Similar cases can also be encountered in other countries which just obtained their independence.

Ulviya Mammadova
Coordinator of the Women’s Program
The intellectual level should not be estimated by the knowledge of Russian language. I think this opinion is wrong and unfair. Wrong conclusion can be made based on this opinion that the intellectual level of a person who, for instance, does not know Russian well but knows English very well and received his / her education in the USA, is lower than the intellectual level of a person who was educated in Russian. Is it true? Absolutely not.

In general, the more foreign languages a person knows, in addition to his / her mother tongue, the broader opportunities are opened for this person - in presenting his / her home country, in education, in career and in personal life. Unfortunately, Russian language that was a foreign language and the language of necessity approached the level of our mother tongue today owing to sole and longstanding oppression of the Soviet regime. Irrespective of the number of foreign languages known and the language in which the education was received, every person must always respect his / her mother tongue, must not consider himself / herself humiliated when speaking his / her mother tongue, and must not consider people who do not speak Russian as people with “low intellectual level”. This is applied to each and every citizen of Azerbaijan, irrespective of the fact whether Azerbaijani is his / her mother tongue or not. Unfortunately, in spite of the fact that the Soviet regime was collapsed 16 years ago we have not achieved this yet.

Of course, the people who received their education in Russian have some advantages as compared with those who were educated in Azerbaijani. But these advantages have nothing to do with the intellectual level. The people who received their education in Azerbaijani are surrounded with Azerbaijan traditions, mentality and conservatism; this starts from their family and goes throughout the primary, secondary and higher schools. When these people get into the same environment with those who received their education in Russian, which is the language of a nation with absolutely different traditions and mentality, they discover some complexes in themselves. And I would like to point out again that these complexes have nothing to do with the intellectual level; they rather emerge because of differences in growing up and being educated in the spirit of different mentality and traditions. The people who were educated in Russian are more dexterous and this feature is well - known as a factor that helps a person to bring his / her abilities to the forefront. When people who received their education in Russian are asked to come out at a measure or event in Azerbaijani, they use a traditional phrase: “I am sorry but I was educated in Russian and I do not know Azerbaijani well. So I will talk in Russian”. I wish this sort of phrases would not be heard. I am also against reducing the number of Russian language classes at secondary schools with the purpose of avoiding the above - mentioned situation. We have to learn and master Russian language very well because there is a great deal of scientific and belletristic literature in Russian from which we can get a lot of information and which can help developing our education. But we need to learn it as a foreign language. At the same time, I support the idea of diminishing the number of admissions for studying in Russian. Let us learn Russian and learn it very well but let us not allow it to prevail over, and force out our own mother tongue!

Afgan Aliyev
Logistic’s officer
I do not think that a person can achieve high intellectual level by only knowing Russian very well. For this one needs to read a lot. It may happen that a person knows Russian very well but he / she does not read much or, at all. In my opinion, if a person lives in Azerbaijan and does not know Azerbaijani very well, his / her intellectual level cannot be considered as high in Azerbaijan because the intellectual level is estimated by the people of Azerbaijan. In general, in order to achieve high intellectual level, one has to learn the language of the country he / she lives in, as a priority, know Russian and English, and read a lot in all these languages.

The difference is that the people speaking Azerbaijani are real Azerbaijanis with Azerbaijan mentality. As to people speaking Russian in Azerbaijan, I considered them as ones who are still under oppression of Russians. I would not want to see my nation in such a state. I wish Azerbaijanis would love their nation, just as Turks do. No developed country speaks a different language on its territory. According to one philosopher, if one wants to destroy a nation he / she should take away its alphabet. As you know, over the last 100 - 120 years, our alphabet changed to Arabic, old Azerbaijani, Latin, Cyrillic and Latin again. This is a great politics in a small country. It is very good to know many languages. If I am not mistaken, V. I. Lenin, the founder of the Soviet Union, even told: “You are as many persons as many languages you know”.

Rovshan Bagirov
PR director, Mass Media Program coordinator

In my opinion, although Russian language in Azerbaijan is not used as widely as it was during the Soviet regime and tendency to be educated in Russian has diminished as compared with those times, the role of this language as an indicator of high intellectual level is still preserved.

This is linked with the past education and even political system. As a graduate of the soviet secondary school, I may say that not only the level of education was higher but also was the attitude to pupils and students different at schools with Russian language education. They were not treated just as “learning objects”, but as individuals, and were given chances to freely express their thoughts and ideas over broad spectrum of issues. Being persons with free thinking (to the exend it was allaowed under soviet system), these people did not hesitate to express their ideas, opinions and objections to the teachers. Treating a student as a personality is a very important factor for further grow up of the critical thinking. In my opinion, an obedient person that cannot freely express his / her thoughts and ideas, cannot reach a high intellectual level. As to the schools submitting their education in Azerbaijani, the teachers treated the young people in a different way here: the students could not disagree with the opinion of the teachers and they could not act independently or argue. Everything in azeri schools was supposed to be carried out based on the words, thoughts and control of the teacher. This can be consiered as a part of the pro-russian soviet politics in order to keep the minorities dependent from the Russian dominance/imperialism.

Today the situation is different. Nowadays education submitted in Azerbaijani tends to develop more. Azerbaijani language became one of the priorities in the everyday life. It is a very positive situation. Nevertheless, since this situation has just recently taken place, we still cannot say that the Azerbaijani has completely replaced Russian language from the point of view of the intellectual level. Several decades are needed in order to be able to find relevant literature in any field of the science published in Azerbaijani, to translate the world’s scientific and belletristic literature into Azerbaijani, and to completely eliminate the old atmosphere of obedience at the schools which submit their education in Azerbaijani. Although I discommend it but the intellectual level is estimated by a foreign language instead of being evaluated by our own mother tongue, and, unfortunately, this is the reality. There are many reasons due to which it came to this reality but this is an absolutely different issue..

Nazim
Driver

I agree with the opinion that today Russian language is an indicator of high intellectual level. I received my education in Azerbaijani; at that time (during the Soviet regime), the level of education at the school I received my education, was very high. Afterwards I noted that the level of education at that school was not preserved as compared with the period of my education. It was deteriorated a lot. That is why I decided to have my kids educated at a school that submits education in Russian. I did this because I want my children to be well - educated, and have a proper outlook.

Today, although education in Azerbaijani is said to get better, I still think that the specialists who received their education in Russian, are different. Their intellectual level is different as well.