Azerbaijan among leading states for religious tolerance - US journal

Azerbaijan is among leading states for religious tolerance unlike Armenia, a California-based publication said.

The conclusion was made by the editor of La Opinion, a major Spanish-language newspaper in Los Angeles, after he visited Azerbaijan.

Gabriel Lerner wrote in a story carried by the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles that the local community and Jews in the eight-million nation have lived side by side for many years without tension. For comparison’s sake, he indicated that whereas 12,000 Jews live in Azerbaijan, one could hardly come across 10 Jewish families in another South Caucasus republic - Armenia.

He said that in Azerbaijan’s Guba district, which is home to a large Jewish community, Jewish cemeteries look neat and the homes of the Jews living there are luxurious. Referring to MP Yevda Abramov, Lerner emphasized that Jews had fought with Armenians in the battles for Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh. Moreover, many Jewish youngsters stand ready today to fight for Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity.

Israeli ambassador in Baku Arthur Lenk has said in an interview with the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles that the two countries were enjoying high-level relations and that his country was meeting its demand for oil owing to Azerbaijan.

The mentioned article was the second story on Azerbaijan published by the California magazine, which comes out in 150,000 copies.*