Babek Maharramov BAKU: MULTICULTURAL CAPITAL OF AZERBAIJAN Baku, which is within the borders of Azerbaijan today, is also the capital of Azerbaijan.
Capital Baku has a long historical history. Geographically located on the Absheron Peninsula, Baku
has hosted many different civilizations. Historically, groups with different religions and ethnic
identities lived in Baku and this enriched the city's culture. Baku, as a place where groups with
different cultures lived, continued its existence under the sovereignty of states such as Sassanids,
Umayyads and Abbasids in different periods. In these periods, the indigenous inhabitants of Baku
had frequent relations with Persians and Arabs and were culturally influenced by each other. Baku,
which continued its existence under the rule of Tsarist Russia and later the USSR in the 19th
century, had cultural interaction with the Slavic peoples and especially the Russians in these
periods. Declaring its autonomy after the disintegration of the USSR, Azerbaijan continued to
approach with tolerance to different ethnic groups that immigrated here during and before the
USSR. Today, Christians, Jews, Malakans, Lezgins, Avars, Talyshs, Russians etc. in Baku. Many
different religious and ethnic groups live. Especially the multicultural and tolerant politics
determined under the leadership of Azerbaijan's President Heydar Aliyev makes Azerbaijan and the
capital Baku a center of attraction for multiculturalism, as it has been for centuries.
The main purpose of this study is to examine the elements that make up the multicultural structure
of Baku, which has a long historical past, and which ethnic and religious groups live in the city. In
addition, the ways in which multiculturalism as a state policy improves the city will be discussed
within the scope of the article.
Keywords: Baku, Multiculturalism, Tolerance, Politics
