A Long Distance Relationship

A month ago, I noticed a new trend going around different social sites such as Facebook and Twitter. The trend included different sayings used in Azerbaijan and translated into English as something ‘national’. The following are few of my favorite of them all that I’ve read so far:

‘Cayxana’ is our national parliament where all the problems are discussed

‘Goz deyib!’ is our national first diagnosis

“Sohbeti tutanlar – like! Tutmayanlar – share! Beyenmeyenler – comment!” is our national way of getting attention

“Toy kaseti” is our national dating tool

“Axot yoxdu” is our national reason

“Qaqa, chashma!” is our national final warning

“Ejdaha” is our national animal

“Qabaqda saxliyarsan!” is our national bus station

“Adam kishi olar!” is our national way of showing support

After reading the different and the original phrases people made up, a nostalgic smile appeared on my face. I began remembering of all the different moments associated with Azerbaijan – the childhood walks at the Boulevard which was filled with beautiful carousels and I even remember the boat ride that was located at one end of the Boulevard. I recalled going to my grandparents’ house or to my aunts’ and having quality family time. Everyone got together on birthdays, New Year’s, or just on a Saturday evening to drink tea from the samovar. We don’t really cherish those moments because we tend to think that they are forever lasting, but the sad part is the feeling you get when you don’t have those moments as often as you’d like. The only thing left are memories. Memories that tend to bring a warm feeling, and that’s the closest thing you have when you’re far away from the place some call home, a place I was born and raised – Azerbaijan. 

Living outside of Azerbaijan for about 10 years, I realized there’s no country better than Azerbaijan for me. It’s the country that welcomed me to Earth, the country that experienced my first words and my first footsteps. The country that taught me how to read and write and how to make new friends. Azerbaijan is my motherland. I've lived in different places such as Canada and Puerto Rico, and my conclusion is no matter where you live, you’re always going to have that connection with the country that you were born or raised at. 

I remember having a sticker that had the flag of Azerbaijan and in huge letters “Azerbaycan.” The reaction from my many uninformed classmates was that of “Leyla’s from Azer-bacon” because the sticker was written in the modified Latin alphabet and the ending “can” was pronounced wrong, so they misread. Instead of me becoming mad and annoyed, I began to talk about Azerbaijan in every project I could. I began all my projects with “Azerbaijan – the land of fire. My motherland.” I began informing everyone about our culture, our history, our food, and about our language. I felt proud when I wore the flag of Azerbaijan and colored my face with the three colors when I found out Azerbaijan won the 2011 Eurovision Contest. I felt the need to stand out and be proud of who I was when surrounding me were only Puerto Ricans who themselves are patriots. I felt left out when I heard the Puerto Ricans talk on and on how they loved their island and their culture, and I always wanted to have a couple of friends from Azerbaijan beside me sometimes so we could go and on about how we miss back home and drive around in the car with Rashid Behbudov and Vagif Mustafazade playing on the highest volume possible.

I have this long distant relationship with Azerbaijan. I tend to love it without really seeing it. I visit it once a year or once every two years depending on the given opportunities, but I know that’s not enough. I keep updated constantly with what’s happening by updates from friends and family back home and constant checkups at different news sites. Even though I’m not there to personally witness the constant changes happening to the city, the activist protests happening, or just to see Rihanna or Shakira perform at our concert hall – I’m proud of it and I try and show it by informing my Puerto Rican friends.

Two months ago or so, the famous local rapper between the Azerbaijani youth – AiD also known as Orxan Zeynalli published on Twitter “Azerbaycanda yashamayib da, olkemizin gozelliyinden danishan, mubahise edenler chatmir mene. Bele zor idi, qalardiz da” (I don’t understand the people who don’t live in Azerbaijan but keep on talking and discussing how gorgeous Azerbaijan is. If it was so gorgeous, you could have stayed!)

I kept thinking about the tweet for such a long time that it actually bothered me a little. I’m actually a constant listener of his music and it’s funny that sometimes when opening his Twitter page, all I read are constant nagging about how the city of Baku is dirty or annoying, so then I come to a question “if you hate Azerbaijan or the city so much – why not move?” It’s ironic actually. Maybe even hypocritical. 

The other comment to his tweet is the following: a person can love the country where he/she was born or raised at without living there. The reason of movement could be the lack of satisfaction of the educational system, the disagreement of the governmental rule, the fact that some people think they could gain more at a different place such as financially or educationally, or even because they just need to get away. Even though there are reasons like those, some Azerbaijani youth were born or moved at a young age and instead of showing the fact that they don’t live in a country the love or have a heritage from down their mouths, we should be proud of the fact that the youth around the world know where they come from, they haven’t forgotten of their culture and traditions, and they inform the different societies around them about Azerbaijan – isn’t that the most beautiful thing we could ask for? If it wasn’t for our Azerbaijani youth living abroad, there wouldn’t have been recognitions of the Khojaly Genocide from different countries. I find that something to be proud of, not the tweets about how bad  mannered the people in the country are or how they act.

Thank you to the youth of Azerbaijan living not only in Azerbaijan, but around the world – it’s because of you, the long distance relationship you have with Azerbaijan is strong and bold! Keep loving the country and cherish every moment!

“El bilir ki sen menimsen. Yurdum yuvam meskenimsen. Ana dogma vetenimsen. Ayirlarmi konul candan – Azerbaycan, Azerbaycan!” (Samed Vurgun)

The Misleading Thoughts

I woke up one morning,  being welcomed by my laptop wanting to be opened to my Facebook Home Feed. As some might know,  Facebook is a social network that serves to reconnect or for some to keep track of each other’s lives, but for me  it’s just a place to see what people are thinking and feeling, in other words – being a very opinionated observer. As I opened my Facebook Home Feed,  I quickly scanned through the statuses, which varied from “Ай Азербайджан! Скучаю!” (Ay Azerbaijan, I miss you!) to some complaining about our motherland and our culture, which got me thinking about the lack of respect.

I came upon a few articles written about how living outside of Azerbaijan is causing people to feel the “freedom” and have more “taste” in life and actually I have to disagree. Some might find this article quite intense, but I already surveyed a couple of Azerbaijanis living outside of Azerbaijan, and they have agreed with me with what I’m going to write  next, so read on.

Some have argued before that the freedom given elsewhere other than Azerbaijan is beyond the freedom Azerbaijan gives, in terms of mentality and also what you can or cannot do or wear in the city. An article written in 1news.az a couple months back by a female journalist, stated that the people living in Baku are living for the people, not for themselves. Walking in pajamas in the city of Baku, smoking a cigarette, and showing public affection in public is beyond unacceptable where it’s perfectly fine to do so in Canada. Another young  blogger stated that the “fashionable” clothes sold and worn in Germany, could never be sold nor worn in Azerbaijan due to the fact that no one would buy them and the lack of fashion taste.

My main conclusion in this article is that for some people, the “weather” has actually caused them to think like two year olds, instead of mature human beings that they are – harsh, I know.  The problem here is that the freedom given in, for example, Canada is too much in which even random naked men could come up to you on the street, where people could do drugs right in front of you not giving the latest care in the world. I mean, I might be super harsh but I’m stating the truth. In Azerbaijan unlike Canada, people care about others and themselves, such as their reputation, the first impression, what people would think of you and so on. To walk around, let’s say in pajamas, is thought of walking around in home wear, as if you don’t care about anything, that kissing in public is not acceptable because they are thinking of the children and the families that might be watching.  The values of the two nations in these examples are shown quite boldly. While countries like Canada value freedom, Azerbaijan values respect and care to the community around an individual. We can’t get too ahead of ourselves thinking that Azerbaijan is still going by “old-fashioned” mentality, but indeed it’s really not.

Azerbaijan’s modern progress includes the way people dress. Every day, my friends upload hundreds of photos of themselves and of others, dressed like models, wearing the latest brands just like the models and icons we see wearing on the cover of various fashion magazines, such as Vogue. After looking at those photos, I always feel the need to do some more shopping! Yet again, the concept of progress is visible. Sure enough, not only Azerbaijan has the progressive side of the fashion taste, but also other countries that we think do not. We must remember that the two dynasties of the world, Canada and the United States of America are not the main countries who bring some food to the table, metaphorically speaking.

Let’s be honest, people will be people and have their own opinions but at least have some respect from where you come from, or for the people who do miss back home. This past week, again on Facebook, I kept reading statuses about how people miss the simple streets of Baku, the small towns, and etc; which is quite the contrast of what was written above. For example, a PhD student in Moscow, Lala Karimli wrote “Mom, you don’t understand how much I miss the streets of Baku, the yellow taxis, the morning wake-up calls of “Malina var, malina!”  and even the simple Boulevard filled with families and friends. I miss Baku. I miss you, Mom!” and Adik Aliyev, a student in Toronto wrote the following a year back when he couldn’t visit home, “Tак хочется сейчас оказаться там. По Ичери Шехер погулять, на Даг Устю парк пойти, посмотреть на Каспий, на Гыз Галасы. Открывать окно утром и слышать как дети во дворе играют и кричат что то на моём родном языке. Хочется в мехеллю свою попасть и на скамейке перед домом сидеть семечки грызть” (I really want to be there. Walk by Old Baku, go to Dag Ustu Park, look at the Caspian Sea, at the Maiden Tower. Open the window early morning and hear how children play outside and scream something to one another in my  motherland language. I want to go to my community and sit on the bench and eat sunflower seeds.) and a second year student in London, England, Gulnara Iskandarova wrote “A lot of girls might die to hear the British talk every day, but I’d die to be in Baku hearing the people talk with different town accents.”  I’m pretty sure if I look more careful, I could find hundreds more statuses dedicated to our city, our country, our home!

I leave off with one note: Azerbaijan, I miss you and love you, just the way you are!