The protection of Azerbaijan’s secular state structure, the strengthening of national identity and the unification of religious and ethnic diversity around a single idea of statehood have again become a subject of discussion. MP Zahid Oruj, in his remarks, touched on Azerbaijan’s historical traditions of statehood and stressed the importance of preserving national unity and sovereignty.
How can the protection of Azerbaijan’s secular state model and the strengthening of national identity contribute to further strengthening sovereignty in the future?
Political analyst Ogtay Gasimov told Globalinfo.az that one of the main conditions for every state’s independence and sovereignty depends on how its state structure is formed:
“States based on national-ethnic identity and national and moral values, which apply the principle of the rule of law and guarantee the rights of citizens living in the country regardless of their religious or ethnic affiliation, are of course strong states. Such states act as guarantors of citizens’ security and protect their rights. In this sense, after restoring its independence, Azerbaijan chose a secular state model. Over the past 35 years, the provision of the rights of all peoples and ethnic groups living in the country has been enshrined at the constitutional level. There is also a separate presidential decree on this.”
The analyst noted that Azerbaijan has a state model that does not allow national, ethnic or religious discrimination, and that multiculturalism is an integral part of state policy:
“It is precisely for these indicators that Azerbaijan is considered one of the rare countries in the world. Undoubtedly, at present threats to state structure come not only from the military and security dimension but also from the ideological direction. In this sense, one of the main tasks of every state, including Azerbaijan, is precisely to prevent these threats.
Ogtay Gasimov
“For this, strengthening national identity, protecting and further developing national and moral values is becoming one of the key priority areas. These qualities must be instilled in Azerbaijani citizens in the family, at school, at university and at other stages of life, and a civic stance on these issues must be formed in them. These qualities are an extremely important factor.”
Gasimov recalled the president’s speech at the congress of the New Azerbaijan Party (YAP):
“The fact that the President of Azerbaijan specifically addressed these issues at the YAP congress and sent messages on this shows that the Azerbaijani state and authorities take these issues extremely seriously. Comprehensive steps are envisaged to protect national and moral values and to take measures against ideological threats. Of course, the protection of national identity and the unification of religious and ethnic diversity around the idea of Azerbaijani identity and the Azerbaijani state have so far yielded results. We witnessed this clearly in the Patriotic War, we saw the proof. Steps in this direction must be consistently increased so that Azerbaijan’s independence and sovereignty are further strengthened and the state’s immunity against the dangerous challenges of our time is strong.”
Zaira Akifgizi
Globalinfo.az
Read also
