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Finding
richness in a new land: Canadian Azerbaijanis...
August 04, 2004 22:12:02
Hamilton
Spectator (Ontario, Canada)
August 3, 2004 Tuesday
Final Edition
Finding richness in a new land;
Canadians from the former Soviet
state of Azerbaijan
are contributing here while respecting their
past
Special to The Hamilton Spectator
by
Nazila Isgandarova
Bitter territorial wars,
people forced from their homes and made to
be
refugees, and a passionate struggle for democracy. These
are the
wounds of Azerbaijan.
Strong black
oil, Caspian caviar and a history that is vibrant
with
beauty and intellect. This is what Akbar Majidov
thinks of as the
pearls of Azeri society. The bitter
and sweet of Azerbaijan is what
Majidov and his
Hamilton friends like to talk about when they
get
together.
Majidov lives in Hamilton with
his wife and two young sons. He is
originally from
Karabakh, a western region of Azerbaijan, a
former
Soviet state that hugs the Caspian Sea,
sandwiched between Armenia to
the west, Russia to the
north and Iran to the south. He is a member
of the
Union of Azerbaijan Journalists.
Recently,
Majidov and his friends formed a new organization,
the
Azerbaijan Cultural and Education Centre, which
operates in Hamilton
and Toronto.
The members
of the centre hold meetings every Saturday in parks
and
the homes of members.
There are about
1,000 people from Azerbaijan in Hamilton and
the
Greater Toronto Area.
Majidov likes the
cultural meetings. He says they help him learn
the
language and build communication with other
members of society. He
tries to contribute to
Canadian society through facilitating the
strength
and skills of the members of the Azeri community. He is
also
an active volunteer in the Turkish community by
representing their
newspapers Sunrise and Zaman in
Hamilton.
Azerbaijan has a largely Muslim
population. There are many problems.
This country is
split and has not resolved a conflict with
Armenia
over land issues. There are close to one
million refugees.
Several Canadian Azeri
organizations have recently split over
internal
differences and shut down. But many members of the
Hamilton
and Toronto Azeri community have united with
the education centre.
Zeynalabdin Zeynalov,
Ibrahim Aliev, Ilham Babayev and Sahib Hesenov
are
senior members of the Azerbaijan Cultural and Education
Centre.
It's easy to feel their enthusiasm for what
is happening.
Much of the area's small Azeri
population lives in Toronto. Majidov
says he likes
Hamilton because it's a city that makes him
feel
welcome.
He is proud that the area
community celebrated Azerbaijan's
independence day
May 30 in Dundas at Webster's Falls.
Majidov says
the Azerbaijan community has made many contributions
to
Canadian society. Many prominent names are
well-known in the field of
technology, medicine and
science. Among them Dr. Reza Moridi, the
2001
recipient of Canadian Nuclear Society's Education
and
Communication Award, Dr. Ilham Akhundov,
professor in McMaster
University
and Yusif Savalan,
the beloved musician of the Azeri
community in
Canada.
But the centre stands on the shoulders of
lay people such as
Zeynalabidin Zeynalov, Ibrahim
Aliyev, Zemine Zaynalova, Munira
Babayeva and her
husband, Ilham Babayev, Sanan Abbasov and his
wife,
Gulebetin Abbasov.
Zeynalov and Aliyev
are the inspiration for members. Zeynalov was
trained
as an economist and he manages the centre's affairs.
Most of
the time he opens his apartment to members
for the weekly meetings.
After every meeting his
wife, Zemine, invites the participants to
share
delicious Azeri food.
Majidov said one of his
goals is to raise awareness about the
relationship
between Azerbaijan and Canada. He said he hopes
Canada
will support the development of civil society
in Azerbaijan.
* Nazila Isgandarova is originally
from Azerbaijan and converted to
Islam when she was
23. She is a member of the Union of
Azerbaijan
Journalists and has worked as a journalist
since 1995. She is writing
a thesis on Koranic
translations in Azerbaijan. She is an interpreter
at
Settlement Integration Services Organization and the
North
Hamilton Community Health Centre. She speaks,
reads and writes in
Azeri, Turkish, English, Russian
and Arabic.
* Usman Khan is a freelance
photographer based in Stoney Creek and
has worked for
domestic newspapers and foreign wire services
in
Pakistan before emigrating to
Canada.
GRAPHIC: Photo: Usman Khan, Special to
the Spectator; Akbar Majidov,
president of the
Azerbaijan Cultural and Educational Centre, speaks
to
members at a gathering recently. The pearls of Azeri
culture are
black oil, beauty, intellect and Caspian
Sea caviar, he says.
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submitted by Emil
Lazarian
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