BIMC's report for 2021

     Baku International Multiculturalism Center, which has been operating since 2014 by the decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, has successfully closed last year. On the recommendation of the head of state, the BIMC held conferences, round tables, and meetings not only within the country, but also in a number of foreign countries on ethno-cultural and confessional diversity in Azerbaijan, the implementation of multiculturalism at the level of state policy, and the global role played by this model in intercultural and interreligious dialogue. At the events, extensive information was provided and discussions were held about the ethnic groups in Azerbaijan, their mutual understanding for centuries, as well as integration and management policy in the multicultural society.

     Due to the continuation of the widespread pandemic in 2021, many local and international events of BIMC have been postponed. Some events were carried out online in accordance with the conditions of the pandemic.

     Among the important local and international events taking place in the country in 2021 are the online conference dedicated to the 31st anniversary of the January 20 tragedy, the "Holocaust and Khojaly - through the eyes of modern people", as well as the round tables dedicated to the 29th anniversary of the "Khojaly Genocide", as well as the traditional holiday event with the participation of representatives of ethnic groups and confessions in our country on the occasion of Novruz holiday can be specially mentioned.

     On the occasion of the 98th anniversary of the birth of Great Leader Heydar Aliyev, events held by the branches of the Center in foreign countries dedicated to the 7th anniversary of the creation of BIMC, a round table dedicated to June 15 - National Liberation Day and a video conference on the theme "Heritage of Caucasian Albania" were held online, due to the pandemic, with the ethnic and religious communities of Azerbaijan. At the same time, the organization of trainings for teachers who will teach the subject "Introduction to Multiculturalism", which is included as a main subject in the curriculum for the bachelor's degree of higher schools, was also carried out online.

     Organized by the Multiculturalism Center, round tables dedicated to November 8 - Victory Day with the participation of representatives of minority peoples living in Azerbaijan, leaders of religious confessions and families of martyrs, veterans, as well as numerous interviews in the domestic and foreign media were presented. The issue of cultural terrorism perpetrated by Armenians in the territories freed from occupation of Azerbaijan and the indifferent attitude of international organizations to this issue was also brought into focus by the BIMC.

     Commemorative events dedicated to the 29th anniversary of the Khojaly genocide were organized in the Russian, US, Bulgarian, and German representative offices of BIMC, as well as in Israel and Ukraine with the support of the Center.

     Among the events held abroad, organized by BIMC and the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Ukraine, Azerbaijani multiculturalism at Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University, Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts, V.I. Vernadskyi Tavricheski National University, Boris Grinchenko Kyiv University, Zhytomirskaya Polytechnic University it is necessary to emphasize the organization of lectures and presentations, as well as the essay competition aimed at promoting the model.

     Despite the current pandemic conditions, participation in the VIII Interfaith Dialogue Forum of the G20 Summit held in Bologna, Italy, and within the framework of the Forum, Professor Cole Durham, Vice President of the Interfaith Dialogue Forum of the G20 Summit, Edward Rowe, Executive Director of the US-based Stirling Foundation, Nasreddin Mofarj, Minister of Religious Affairs of Sudan, Meetings with Ethiopia's adviser on religious affairs, Tiquan Tagay, as well as Elizabeta Kitanovich, a human rights defender of the European Conference of Churches, the All-Ukraine scientific conference called "The First Turkological readings", a round table dedicated to Azerbaijan's victory in the Second Karabakh War at the "Ukraine News" Information Agency Center in Kyiv, Ukraine, a seminar on the Second Karabakh War on the occasion of "November 8 - Victory Day" at Sri Sri University of India, an international conference in Turkey called "This victory is a common victory of all of us" and an international conference dedicated to the great victory of Azerbaijan in the Second Karabakh War was held in Israel. At the same time, in accordance with the conditions of the pandemic, the Center organized an international scientific conference "Caucasian Albania: History, Religion and Architecture" in an online format, an international conference with the "Azerbaijani House in Israel" on theme "Armenian Fascism and Vandalism - History and Reality", an essay competition dedicated to the 98th anniversary of the national leader Heydar Aliyev within the Ukrainian branch, a conference dedicated to November 8 - Victory Day, a seminar-lecture on the topic "November 16 - International Day of Tolerance and the Model of Multiculturalism" were held online in the form of a teleconference with Ukraine.

     On the occasion of "November 8 - Victory Day" foreign students studying the subject of Azerbaijani Multiculturalism promoted the right position of Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict on social networks through video appeals and letters. Along with this, on the occasion of "November 8 - Victory Day", scientific seminars on the Second Karabakh War were organized at the University of Sri Sri India, Alexander Ioano Cuza University in Romania, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv in Ukraine, Hokkaido University in Japan.

     At the same time, a delegation of the newspaper “Post”, published in Germany, and the founder of the Management Center, Religion and Values of the University of Geneva, Vice-Chairman of the Geneva Association "Spiritual Appeal", Ventseslav Sabevly, First Deputy Chairman of the Spiritual Board of Muslims of the Russian Federation, Rector of the Moscow Islamic Institute were at Baku International Multiculturalism Center. Meetings were organized with Professor Demir Mukhetdinov, journalists who visited our country from the Republic of Sweden, French journalist and writer Renaud Girard, a group of representatives of the religious community, as well as leaders of Muslim, Christian and Jewish religious communities from Los Angeles, USA.     

     Baku International Multiculturalism Center regularly participated in the meetings of the Working Group of the Inter-Administrative Center "On Science, Education and Culture Issues", which was established for the purpose of centrally solving issues in the liberated territories of Azerbaijan, was active in the process of formulating projects and proposals, and together with the working group visited our territories liberated from occupation.

     During 2021, the employees of the Multiculturalism Center participated in many internationally important events organized in various foreign countries and gave speeches. Such events include the conference on "Combating anti-Semitism in the OSCE region", the 13th session of the UN Forum on Minority Issues, the first and second meetings of the expert committee of the Council of Europe on "Combating Hate Speech", Russia-Azerbaijan Youth Forum and others can be mentioned.

     Within the framework of the project of teaching the subject "Azerbaijani Multiculturalism" in local and foreign universities, which has been implemented by BIMC since 2015 is currently being taught at the master's level in 22 leading universities of the world (Bulgaria, Russia, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Germany, Indonesia, Georgia, Portugal, Poland, Turkey, Italy , Switzerland, Germany, Belarus, Ukraine, Sweden, Japan, India, Romania, Brazil).

     In 2021, the teaching of “Azerbaijani Multiculturalism” continued in 10 foreign universities (Ural Federal University - Russia, Sofia University named after St. Kliment Orkhidsky - Bulgaria, Alexander Ioan Kuza University - Romania, Tbilisi State University named after Ivan Javakhashvili - Georgia, Kyiv National University named after Taras Shevchenko - Ukraine, (Sri Sri University - India, Hokkaido University - Japan, Gadjah Mada University - Indonesia, Freiburg University - Switzerland, Federal University of Brazil - Brazil, Erciyes University - Turkey). It should be noted that according to the relevant order of the Minister of Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the subject "Introduction to Multiculturalism" has been included in the curriculum as the main subject for the bachelor's degree in all higher education schools in the country, and this subject is taught at the master's level in 38 domestic  universities. In 2021, Baku International Multiculturalism Center organized training courses attended by 56 teachers from Azerbaijani universities to prepare those who will teach the subjects "Introduction to Multiculturalism" and "Azerbaijan Multiculturalism", and the teachers who successfully completed the training were given appropriate certificates.

     At the same time, the Center published a collection of international scientific articles "Philosophical and public-publicistic sources of Azerbaijani multiculturalism", "Onomastics of truth: changing historical toponyms in the territory of the Republic of Armenia", "Ethno-cultural heritage of Caucasian Albania - 2", "Poles living in Azerbaijan", " 20th-21st century Talish poetry anthology" and Gurban Said's "Ali and Nino" books in the languages of the few peoples living in Azerbaijan (Talish, Kurdish and Udi) were published. Two more issues of the new international scientific journal of the Multiculturalism Center in English called "International Journal of Multiculturalism" were published last year. 10 documentaries reflecting the culture and history of minority peoples living in Azerbaijan (with English subtitles) were prepared and widely distributed through television and social networks.

     The activities of Baku International Multiculturalism Center in 2021, the events carried out within the framework of various projects, are regularly covered in local and foreign media. Articles devoted to the topic of Azerbaijani multiculturalism on the Turkish TV channel "TRT Deutsch", "Sonnokta", "Yeniakıt", "Habertürk", "Haberofisi", "TRT Azerbaijan", "Yeni Akit" newspaper, "Thought and History" magazine, in Belgium " In the book "Religion and radicalism" "The role of multiculturalism policy in the fight against religious extremism: "On the Example of Azerbaijan" scientific article, "We have the multicultural values inherited by Heydar Aliyev" in the "Atavatan" international magazine of Turkmenistan, "Azerbaijan is a multicultural country" in the German "Post" newspaper, "The return of Nagorno-Karabakh is a frozen conflict in the post-Soviet space" in the "Voice of Ukraine" newspaper. is the first precedent for its solution" was published.

     Last year, the Multiculturalism Center held a scientific research competition in the field of multiculturalism for local and foreign researchers. The goal of the international competition “Multiculturalism scientific research competition 2021” organized by Multiculturalism Center is to support high-level scientific research in the field of multiculturalism. The following research works were honored with an award: “Geopolitics of Azerbaijani Multiculturalism” by Ulviyya Sanili Aydin, associate professor of Manisa Celal Bayar University, Turkey, “A new look at the attitude of consumers to the consumer object and purchase intentions in a multicultural environment” by Muddassar Sarfraz, associate professor of Wuxi University of the People’s Republic of China, and “The importance of cultural diversity, shaping perspectives towards migrants: racism and cultural diversity in the media” by Dr. Brindua-Mariana Amalancei and Dr. Andreia-Irina Suciu, associate professors of Bacău University named after Vasile Alecsandri of the Republic of Romania.    

     All information about the activities of Baku International Multiculturalism Center for 2021 is posted on the Center's official website http://multiculturalizm.gov.az, available in 3 languages - Azerbaijani, Russian and English, as well as on the official Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages.