Our events are also attended by Armenians of Norway who behave as meek as a lamb: head of the Norway-Azerbaijan Youth Organization

Major international conference entitled "Young leaders of government, science, business and media sectors in Europe” will start in the United States in a few days. Organizer of the project is the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State. The conference will last for 3 to 4 weeks and during that time the participants will visit Washington, New York, California and Wisconsin where they will hold meetings with state and federal officials, senators, professors and civil servants.

Representative of a developed European country like Norway to the conference is Azerbaijani Ramil Aliyev. It was U.S. Embassy in Oslo that  recommended his participation in the conference for his active work as head of the Norway-Azerbaijan Youth Organization.

In an interview with Day.Az Ramil Aliyev spoke about Azerbaijanis in Norway, the organization they lead and local Armenians.

Day.Az: What did you do in Baku and when and under what circumstances moved to Norway?

Ramil Aliyev: In Baku, I  majored in Philology of the English and Arabic languages at Khazar University. Then with the help the Ministry of Education I was admitted to the University of Cairo (Egypt) to the Faculty of Economics and Political Science. In 2003 I was admitted to the master’s degree of the University of Tromso (Norway) to the Department of Peace and Conflict Resolution and two years later received my first master's degree. A year later, I received a second master's degree from the University of Oslo Department of Observation of Human Rights and Practice. At the moment I am writing another master's thesis on the theme "Free Trial and the Right against Torture."

One of the main reasons for moving to Norway was the opportunity to continue my education here in the direction in which I wanted.

In the early days of his stay in Norway I became a witness how Azerbaijanis lived without close contact with each other and had no powerful lobby. All of their events were local in nature, as if performed for a narrow circle of persons, one can say for themselves.

Q: Then you decided to establish own organization?

A: Yes, that's when I decided to establish a Norway-Azerbaijani Youth Organization (NAYO) that lead now. This is not commercial, not political, and not a religious organization. Our goal is promotion of Azerbaijan. That's why our audience includes not local Azerbaijanis, but representatives of other nationalities living in Norway.

At this moment we are already well known not only in Norway but also abroad. Our organization has offices in four different cities in Norway. During the year the audience of our projects, which involves not only local Norwegians, but also representatives of other nationalities, covers more than 5,000 people.

Over the past four years we have implemented several major projects related with the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, the Norwegian Institute of Business Management and held seminars at the University of Oslo, including the one dedicated to the Khojaly genocide. We have organized concerts, books, information and photo exhibitions.  

So, in August of last year, our organization played a significant role in sending 53 Norwegian scouts to Azerbaijan. In January of this year, 31 Norwegian student visited Baku. We organized a photo exhibition in Baku in March and invited 12 Norwegian colleagues and one local journalist. Finally, , we had a concert with participation of Azerbaijani singers in Oslo in June.

As a result of our intense activity NAYO was elected member of the Norwegian Youth Consulate in April this year. It includes 72 local youth organizations and our organization was the first established by representatives of non-local nationality.  
 
We are ready to render every assistance to those who come from Azerbaijan to Norway next year to the "Eurovision - 2010".

Q: How many Azerbaijanis, according to your estimations, live in Norway? In what fields they are engaged in?

A: As to Azerbaijanis of Norway, it is worth noting here that there are large number of people from South Azerbaijan. They all call themselves Azerbaijanis. If we talk about numbers of all those who consider themselves Azerbaijanis, there are about 3,000 people. They are involved in different spheres.

The majority of Azerbaijanis live in Oslo and nearby cities, as well as in the city of Stavanger. They work mainly in oil companies in this city.

Q: For sure, Armenians also live in Norway…

A: Naturally, as in any country in the world. Here they are not active. I never heard of any Armenian diaspora organizations in Norway. Given that all of our events are open I have heard that they attend them. They behave as meek as a lamb, show no reaction and therefore do not pose any problems for us. Considering that during our events we regularly highlight the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh, I think their presence in this case would only benefit them, because this way they can understand what is truth and falsehood and to change their opinions and attitudes to the conflict.

/Day.Az/