Diaspora

Diaspora

What Americans know about Azerbaijan? â€“ OPINION POLL

What Americans know about Azerbaijan? â€“ <font color=red>OPINION POLL</font>

19 November 2009 08:41 (UTC +04:00)

Numerous nations who reside here are lobbying their countries, and so do the Azerbaijanis.But does it really work with Americans? Do they know much about Azerbaijan? Do they know about this countryâ€™s existence on the whole? Trying to find answers to these questions APAâ€™s correspondent Isabel Levine asked about one hundred simple Americans in DCâ€™s streets.

Washington. Isabel Levine-APA. I was walking across the Potomac River coast in Georgetown, when I met Jack Peterson, a middle-aged fellow from Georgetown University.
- Did you ever hear about Azerbaijan?
- What was that? â€“ He asked turning to me.

-Azerbaijanâ€¦ Itâ€™s a countryâ€¦

- Yes, I do. Iâ€™ve been there in early 90 â€“s, good and cheap caviar! And some nice architectural buildings, reminds of Paris a bitâ€¦
He says he would like to go there once, but so far he doesnâ€™t know much about Azerbaijan.

I head to Farragut West Metro Station and meet a couple of street musicians in the park.
- Hey folks, do you know where Azerbaijan is?
- Azerbaijan? What is that?

-Itâ€™s a post-soviet countyâ€¦ Do you know anything about Russia or Iran? Itâ€™s right in the middle.

- Yeah, Russia, bears and Siberia, yeah. And Iran is some scary place. Hmm, this Aderâ€¦ how do you pronounce it? â€“ It must be an interesting placeâ€¦

I take a few streets down to DuPont Circle and drop at a coffee place. I meet here Dr. Susan Henings, who works at a pediatrician. She says she had some patients from Azerbaijan:
- I was doing routine check-ups for a three year old boy from Azerbaijan, so was in contact with his mom quite a lot. Once she brought me some tasty, but a bit too sweet cookie â€“ bakhlava â€“ that was delicious!

A few blocks up â€“ in a park opposite the White house I start a conversation with an old guy, who sat on a bench reading a morning newspaper:

-Do you know anything about Azerbaijan? Itâ€™s a country, - I add.

- Azerbaijan? Yes, I do. You see, I work in a lobby of this hotel â€“ he points on a presidential hotel which is located right near the white house and usually serves as host place for US presidentâ€™s guests, - I have worked there for quite a long time and have seen many officials, presidentsâ€¦ I remember the president of Azerbaijan staying in our hotel. He was quite aged man, but looked very good for his ageâ€¦
-
-Did you have a chance to talk to him?

- Talk? Oh, no. There were lots of bodyguards and besides that my job is to provide good service to the guests and not make up conversationsâ€¦ but he looked nice and friendly, cheerful.

I say good bye to my companion and go to the National Mall Park. I meet there Jewyll Franklin, who says she works at the National Arts Museum. Asked about Azerbaijan she appears to be quite informed about the natural resources and energy projects the country participates in.

Near the Capitol I come across a young couple with the same question. Lakeisha and Kevin say they have been teaching English in Yekaterinburg for 6 months, and they have met lots of Azerbaijanis there. The couple also says they heard about the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.

I go to Lâ€™Enfant Plaza Business Center and ask my question to a receptionist of the building. He says that even if he isnâ€™t that much aware about the country itself, he saw some pomegranate juices and syrups at a supermarket where he usually shops, and it is said on the package that they are from Azerbaijan.

So far there is not that much awareness about Azerbaijan in US. Why? I ask a famous scientist Lotfi Zadeh, who is a native Azerbaijani:

â€œI think the Azerbaijani Diaspora is quite active, the other thing is that it is not as numerous as letâ€™s say Armenian one. Because you know, there are about 1,5 million Armenians in here, but I donâ€™t think there are as much Azerbaijanis in US. I think the Azerbaijani Consulate-General in California where I live, and other representative offices of Azerbaijan in US are doing a good job. It would be great if we have more Azerbaijani students here in US. They are young and active; they can help in spreading Azerbaijani ideas, culture and valuesâ€.

Vasif Ismatov, an economics student from Azerbaijan in Washington DC points on another reason:
â€œAzerbaijanis donâ€™t live compactly like Jewish people for example, and Azerbaijani Diaspora just doesnâ€™t have such a big history as other ones and isnâ€™t that numerous. Azerbaijani Diaspora in US mostly consists of people who moved here in the early 90-s. Well, there are also Azerbaijanis from Iran, but they donâ€™t usually identify themselves with Azerbaijan. It all just takes time - I think in future the situation will be betterâ€.

Yegana Rasulova, a 36 year old engineer, says itâ€™s more than ten years since she lives in US. She says she really regrets Americans donâ€™t know much about Azerbaijan, but she thinks Azerbaijanis are guilty themselves sometimes:

â€œYou know, our Diaspora sometimes gathers together and what do you think they are doing? Cooking â€œDolmaâ€ or â€œPakhlavaâ€ or â€œPilafâ€. Is that all what we can show? Is that all what we can do? Azerbaijan is so much more and I call on all Azerbaijanis here to propaganda our nation and our countryâ€, - she says.