Three years after his wife, Azerbaijani First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva, helped lay the cornerstone of one of the biggest Jewish educational complexes in Central Asia, President Ilham Aliyev hailed the new Chabad Ohr Avner day school as a beacon of religious tolerance 150 kilometers from Iran.

Speaking in the capital of Baku at the school’s grand-opening ceremony, Aliyev, whose moderate Muslim nation was among the first of the former Soviet republics to pursue diplomatic relations with Israel, noted Azerbaijan’s long Jewish history and praised the 12,000-strong minority community.

“For generations, they have shown how well they get along with other people,” said Aliyev, who was flanked at the podium by Israeli Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar, Chabad-Lubavitch emissary and Russian Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar, businessman and President of the Federation of Jewish Communities in the CIS Lev Leviev, and Aliyeva. “These children are proud of the fact that they are Jews, and the fact that they are citizens of Azerbaijan.

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“We call on all other nations to treat minorities like we do,” he added, “with respect.”

An estimated 200 people attended the Monday ceremony at the school, a complex of 30 classrooms set on almost four acres of land overlooking the Caspian Sea. Completed this summer, the new building serves about 400 students.

In his speech, the president referred to his late father, former president Heydar Aliyev, and his policy of pursuing economic growth and integration with the West. The senior Aliyev signed off on the school’s construction after meeting with Leviev, President of the Federation of Jewish Communities in the CIS, in 2005.

Businessman Lev Leviev and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev cut the ceremonial ribbon at Monday’s grand opening ceremony of the Ohr Avner Chabad Jewish day school.
Businessman Lev Leviev and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev cut the ceremonial ribbon at Monday’s grand opening ceremony of the Ohr Avner Chabad Jewish day school.

Policies enacted by the father saved the country from a civil war and an economic downturn, said Aliyev. Since its independence in 1991, Azerbaijan has witnessed a decrease in the poverty level from 49 percent to 11 percent, he added.

For his part, Lazar, a Chabad-Lubavitch emissary, praised the Azerbaijani government as among the region’s most tolerant. In a meeting with Aliyev at the presidential palace prior to the ceremony, he said that he hoped the Jewish community could commission further development projects.

Said Lazar: A school “like Baku’s state-of-the-art educational complex should be established in Quba,” a northern Azerbaijani city home to the largest populations of Mountain Jews.