Family Life In Azerbaijan: A Unique Cultural Insight

Family life in Azerbaijan is steeped in tradition, with an emphasis on loyalty, mutual love, honesty, tolerance, and respect for older people and parents. Children usually live with their parents until they marry, and basic familial expectations include prioritising the family, showing respect, and remaining loyal to regional traditions. Azerbaijan has a unique family type in the East, with respect for adults being a fundamental value in parent-child relationships. While large families were once common, the concept of a smaller family has become more prevalent since the end of the 1980s. The country's relationship with oil has had a significant impact on its economy, with falling oil prices causing a drop in GDP in 2015 and 2016. Despite these economic challenges, Azerbaijan has made notable improvements in areas such as access to clean water and electricity.

Family values: loyalty, mutual love, honesty, tolerance, and respect for elders

Loyalty, mutual love, honesty, tolerance, and respect for elders are the core values of Azerbaijani family traditions. Each family member must adhere to the rules and principles associated with their personal status and place in the family.

Loyalty

Loyalty is a fundamental value in Azerbaijani families. Family members are expected to prioritise one another and remain loyal to their regional traditions. This loyalty extends beyond the nuclear family to include strong kinship ties with extended family members.

Mutual Love

Mutual love is another cornerstone of Azerbaijani families. This value is reflected in the expectation that children will live with their parents until they marry, and sometimes even after.

Honesty

While there is little information on the role of honesty in Azerbaijani families, it is one of the core values emphasised in family traditions.

Tolerance

Tolerance is also emphasised in Azerbaijani families. This value is reflected in the country's celebration of International Family Day, which aims to direct attention to family problems.

Respect for Elders

Respect for elders is a fundamental value in the parent-child relationship. Before the 20th century, large families were common, and family leadership belonged to married or elderly men. Today, while families are smaller, respect for older people remains a key aspect of Azerbaijani family life.

Children often live with parents until marriage, rarely beyond

In Azerbaijan, it is customary for children to live with their parents until they get married. This is a result of the strong emphasis Azerbaijani culture places on family, with basic familial expectations including prioritising the family unit, respecting and caring for family members, and remaining loyal to regional traditions. Children rarely continue to live with their parents after marriage.

The country's family structure has evolved over the years. Before the 20th century, large families were the norm, with kinship ties being emphasised and family leadership belonging to married or elderly men. The eldest son would receive the largest share of the inheritance and would become the head of the family after his father's death. During this time, there were two types of Azerbaijani families: broad patriarchal families, in which two or three generations lived together, and small families, which consisted of a husband, wife, and their children.

By the end of the 20th century, however, the concept of a smaller family had become more common, and strong relationships with extended family members became less frequent. This shift may be attributed to various factors, including the increasing trend towards urbanisation, with 55% of citizens now residing in cities, and the efforts of the government to promote birth control, educate women on pregnancy, and improve healthcare, thereby increasing child survival rates.

While family dynamics have changed over time, the importance of family remains a cornerstone of Azerbaijani culture, with children typically living with their parents until they start their own families.

The status of women has evolved: women have the right to vote, hold high government positions, and serve in the military

The status of women in Azerbaijan has evolved significantly over the last century. The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, formed in 1918, established gender equality rights, making Azerbaijan the first Muslim-majority country to enfranchise women. Women gained the right to vote, and the country became the first in the East to accept a woman's right to vote.

Today, women in Azerbaijan enjoy the same legal rights as men, including the right to participate in politics. There are no legal restrictions on women in politics, and they are free to vote, hold high government positions, and serve in the military. In 2020, there were 22 women in the 125-seat parliament, including the Speaker of the National Assembly, Sahiba Gafarova. The percentage of female members of parliament increased from 11% to 17.6% between 2005 and 2020. Additionally, women hold various other high-level positions in the government, including cabinet ministers, regional ministers, state committee chairs, and ambassadors.

Military service for women is voluntary, and currently, there are around 1,000 women serving in the Azerbaijani army. Women have a long history of serving in the military, dating back to World War II, when around 10,000 women from Azerbaijan fought as part of the Red Army. During the Nagorno-Karabakh War in the 1990s, 2,000 of the country's 74,000 military personnel were women, with 600 of them directly participating in military operations.

While women in Azerbaijan have made significant progress and advancements, societal discrimination remains an issue. Women are underrepresented in top business and high-level positions, and gender-based reprisals against women in activism and journalism are a concern, as reported by Amnesty International in 2021.

Azerbaijan's relationship with oil: oil funded Baku's opulence, not rural infrastructure

Family life in Azerbaijan places a strong emphasis on loyalty, mutual love, honesty, tolerance, and respect for older people and parents. Basic familial expectations include prioritising the family, respecting and caring for family members, and remaining loyal to regional traditions. Children typically live with their parents until they marry, and it is rare for them to continue living with their parents after marriage.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, large families were common in Azerbaijan, with kinship ties being emphasised and family leadership belonging to married or elderly men. During this period, the eldest son would inherit the largest share and become the head of the family upon his father's death. However, by the end of the 20th century, smaller families with two to three children became more common, and strong relationships with extended families became less frequent.

Now, onto Azerbaijan's relationship with oil. Azerbaijan has a long history with the oil industry, dating back to the 3rd and 4th centuries when petroleum was used in trade. The country is considered one of the birthplaces of the oil industry, with Baku, its capital, being a major oil producer.

The State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), fully owned by the state, is a significant source of income for the government. However, the company has been criticised for its opaque management, with complex contracts and middlemen allegedly enriching the country's ruling elites.

Oil has indeed played a pivotal role in shaping Baku's opulence. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the discovery and exploitation of oil fields in and around Baku led to significant architectural changes in the city. The oil industry brought about the establishment of administrative, social, and municipal institutions, which made decisions regarding the city's illumination, roads, buildings, and transportation. The income generated from oil also funded the construction of gardens, parks, hotels, casinos, and luxurious stores.

On the other hand, oil revenue has not necessarily translated into substantial improvements in rural infrastructure. While oil production has brought wealth to the country, it is unclear how evenly this wealth has been distributed beyond the capital.

Azerbaijan's oil reserves are substantial, ranking 20th in the world, with approximately 7 billion barrels of proven oil reserves as of 2016. The country's oil production in 2016 was 843,546.25 barrels per day, and it exported 78% of its production that year.

In conclusion, while oil has undoubtedly contributed to the grandeur of Baku, there is a perception that it has not significantly benefited rural areas in the same way.

Azerbaijan's relationship with fire: fire symbolises the country, from Zoroastrian temples to Baku's Flame Towers

Family life in Azerbaijan is steeped in tradition and respect for the elderly. Basic familial expectations include prioritising the family, respecting and caring for family members, and remaining loyal to regional traditions. Children often live with their parents until they marry, and sometimes continue to live with them after marriage.

In the past, large families were common, with kinship ties emphasised and family leadership belonging to married or elderly men. Today, however, most families have two to three children.

Azerbaijan's relationship with fire is deeply symbolic and rooted in its Zoroastrian history. Known as the "Land of Fire", the country has vast supplies of oil and natural gas, which have played a crucial role in its economic development. Fire holds a sacred place in Zoroastrianism, one of the world's oldest monotheistic religions, and is believed to bridge the spiritual and physical worlds.

Azerbaijan's Zoroastrian fire temples, or "Ateshgah", are built around natural flames fuelled by escaping methane gas. The most famous of these is the Surakhani fire temple, a popular tourist destination just east of Baku. The temple was erected around a naturally burning flame and served as a place of worship for Zoroastrians, Hindus, and Sikhs. While the original flame was extinguished in the late 1960s due to the diversion of its methane source, the site was reopened as a museum in 1975, with the fire reignited by gas piped in from Baku.

Another notable fire temple is located outside the village of Khinaliq in the Greater Caucasus mountains. This temple, like others in Azerbaijan, is built to keep the sacred flames of Zoroastrianism burning. Visitors to this remote site can witness the ever-burning fire, which is fuelled by methane gas escaping from a crack in the ground.

In recent years, Azerbaijan has sought to reclaim its Zoroastrian roots and acknowledge its complex cultural history. Baku's Flame Towers stand as a modern symbol of the country's enduring connection with fire.

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