| Description |
In the early 2000s, the policy of diaspora-building noticeably intensified under the influence of then Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev. The new president, Ilham Aliyev (2003), inherited established institutions and developed practices of constructing an ethno-national diaspora. At the same time, under the new president, the political project for the construction of an Azerbaijani ethno-national diaspora started to be implemented with an even greater intensity. The aim of this policy is to form a united and hierarchically co-subordinated bureaucratic structure (pyramid) of diaspora organisations. At the head of this bureaucratic diaspora is the Azerbaijani president (who heads the Coordinating Council of Azerbaijanis of the World) and also (a step down) the head of the State Committee for Work with Azerbaijani Diaspora. In this way, the Azerbaijani political regime strives to control, as closely as possible, the activities of diaspora organisations. The authorities of the country of origin believe that diaspora Azerbaijanis should tell “the truth about Azerbaijan”. This “truth” refers, in part, to the success of the political regime that rules the country. But there is also the need to lead the country out of the “dark zone”, i.e. from the situation where few people internationally know that Azerbaijan exists. These (and some other) goals behind diaspora-building are subordinated to the most important of them: the diaspora’s fight for the resolution of the Karabakh conflict in favour of Azerbaijan.
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