An excursion for activists of youth organizations was organized in Red Village, Azerbaijan. Among the participants of the excursion were representatives of the Union of Young Diplomats of Azerbaijan, the Platform of Azerbaijani Students and Graduates, the Association of Russian Youth of Azerbaijan.

The tour organized with the support of the STMEGI International Charitable Foundation for Mountain Jews turned out to be rich and informative giving guests the opportunity to see the sights of the village and get to know the traditions, customs, and national dishes of Mountain Jews.

A tour of the Mountain Jews Museum was provided by the deputy director Pesakh Isakov, who spoke in detail about the history of the creation of the museum, about the artifacts collected here from all over the Caucasus.

Then a lecture on the topic "The unity of Azerbaijani people" was held in the conference hall of the museum. Igor Shaulov - director of the  Mountain Jews Museum, who delivered an opening speech said that today, Azerbaijan is one of the main centers of multiculturalism. Multiculturalism is the state policy of Azerbaijan, where representatives of all confessions and nationalities live as a single family. Perhaps the clearest example of this is the relationship between Muslims and Jews in the country. Azerbaijan demonstrates deep respect for the Jewish community. Under the patronage of President Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva, two synagogues and the largest Jewish educational center were built.

At the end of his speech, I. Shaulov expressed his gratitude to the STMEGI International Charitable Foundation for Mountain Jews and its President German Zakharyaev for organizing the trip.

After getting acquainted with the museum, the excursion participants visited synagogues and other historical and cultural sites in the village.

The representative of the Israeli organization ALEF, Abram Ikhiilov, in an interview with a STMEGI correspondent, said that the excursion program was very interesting and informative:

“Today's event is important because we show the leaders of various organizations the beauty of our homeland, the beauty of Red Village Our goal is that more and more people learn about Red Village come here, see the beauty of our homeland with their own eyes. All this, of course, becomes possible with the support of the STMEGI Mountain Jews Foundation and its President German Zakharyaev. With the assistance of STMEGI, various projects are being implemented in the village aimed at its further development.”

The head of the Association of Russian Youth of Azerbaijan Sergey Danilov said that “the purpose of our getting know with Red Village is to show the diversity, multi-confessionalism of Azerbaijan, all nationalities, nationalities living in the territory of Azerbaijan. This is my first visit to the village of Red Village, we were introduced to the museum. The atmosphere is great, the ambience is great. Everything was very interesting. Thank you very much to the organizers for such an event,” said S. Danilov.

Political scientist Ilyas Huseynov, a participant in the tour, expressed his satisfaction with the trip to Red Village: “This region of Azerbaijan is known all over the world as Mountain Jews live here. This is an indicator that Azerbaijan is a multicultural and tolerant country. As part of the tour of Red Village, we visited the Mountain Jews Museum and the synagogue. We got to know the traditions and customs of the Mountain Jews better. Mountain Jews are patriots of Azerbaijan. As is known, Jews living in Azerbaijan participated in the Patriotic War. Israel provided support to Azerbaijan in terms of military-technical equipment. In the post-conflict period, our countries have become even closer and signed new contracts. This is an indicator that the Jews living in the territory of Azerbaijan play the role of a living bridge in the rapprochement of the two states. I want to express my gratitude to the organizers of the tour, especially the STMEGI Foundation.”

Rafael Nabizade is a member of the Union of Young Diplomats of Azerbaijan, said that Red Village is the only settlement on Earth with the exception of Israel where Jews make up the majority of the population: how Jews and Muslims live in neighboring houses and work together. The Jews of Azerbaijan play a very important role in the social and political life of the country, in its popularization in the world, in strengthening relations with Israel. We Azerbaijanis, remember very well the support of Israel by the Jewish people during the 44-day Patriotic War,” R. Nabizade said.

Source: STMEGI.com