New public association to protect the rights and interests of the Talysh

A group of people made a statement about the creation of the Democratic Talysh Union in the Name of the Azerbaijan Statehood (DTUAS). The founding meeting of the organization was attended by intellectuals, religious leaders and scholars.

The elected chairman of DTUAS is Mehdibek Safarov. The Union proclaimed protection of national and spiritual values, morals and Islamic values. The organization supports the development of the Azerbaijani state on the principles of tolerance, democracy and civil society.

Being indigenous ethnic group, the Talysh people at various stages in history fought for the creation of the Azerbaijani state and made an undeniable contribution to the independence of Azerbaijan, is said in the statement.

 At the same time, the entity is against the involvement of the Talysh separatism in any form and to the detriment of the Azerbaijani statehood.

The main purpose of the organization is to achieve solidarity among all citizens of Azerbaijan, and to counter the trend of artificial assimilation of the Talysh and lack of harmony in the national self-knowledge. The organization aims to revive the Talysh identity through the promotion of the study of the language, history, literature, ethnography and folklore. One of the problems is the Talysh language teaching in schools in a professional manner.

It was assumed to apply to the Academy of Sciences to study the history of the Talysh. The organization also offers the creation of regional radio and TV broadcasting in the Azerbaijani and Talysh languages.

The organization intends to support scholars engaged in the study of the history and culture of the Talysh people, and freethinkers from the Talysh intelligentsia.

At the same time, the organization attempts against denial of the Talysh identity and justification of the assimilation of the Talysh people.

The structure is going to publish its weekly newspaper in the Talysh and Azerbaijani languages. The Statute of the Union will be prepared by the organizing committee. The founders of the organization are Mehdibek Safarov and Eldaniz Guliyev.

In the interview with Turan Safarov said that the decision on the establishment of the organization was taken on November 14 at a meeting with 10 representatives of the intelligentsia of the Talysh and Azerbaijani people.

According to him, the organization will advocate the editor of the newspaper Tolyshi Sado Hilal Mammadov arrested in June 2012.

The other co-founder, head of the Association of Azerbaijani Intelligentsia Eldaniz Guliyev is also included in the Human Rights Committee for Hilal Mammadov.

Commenting on his participation in the new organization, he said that he considered misguiding the policy of the officials of Azerbaijan with regard to national minorities. In his view, ignoring the problems of the peoples of Azerbaijan threatens the Azerbaijani statehood.

This is taught by the experience of the "Arab Spring", where the revolutionary events have mainly come from ignoring the problems and violations of the rights of ethnic and religious minorities, and the dominance of some regional elites over the others, said Guliyev. -06D-