SHUSHA, Azerbaijan, July 6. The experience of
modern Azerbaijan is of particular interest to the Buryat people,
said Zurtan Khaltarov, founder of the “Buriyad Gürün” (“Buryat
Government”) movement, Trend's correspondent reports from the event.


He made the announcement during a panel discussion on "Modern
forms of colonialism: actions bringing tragedy, slavery and
suffering to peoples" held as part of the international conference
"Cultural and ethnic diversity: lessons from history, contemporary
challenges" in Shusha.


“The experience of modern Azerbaijan is of particular interest
to the Buryat national movement. Azerbaijan has demonstrated that
preserving historical memory, strengthening national identity, and
ensuring the effective functioning of the state are interconnected
processes. Azerbaijan has created a model of sustainable state
development in which culture, language, and historical memory are
viewed as strategic resources of the nation,” he said.


According to him, for the Buryat people, this experience shows
that cultural revival and institutional self-assertion do not
contradict modernization but, on the contrary, can become its
foundation, ensuring the preservation of national identity amid
global political and economic changes.


"The Buryats are the largest indigenous colonized people of
Siberia. We live on lands stretching from the Yenisei to the Amur.
Unlike some pseudo-national Buryat organizations, which focus
primarily on cultural and folkloric activities and have failed to
formulate a unified political agenda on issues of historical memory
and collective rights, the modern Circassian movement demonstrates
a higher level of international mobilization,” he said.


Khaltarov noted that over the past decades, Circassian
organizations have successfully united their diaspora and made the
issue of recognizing the Circassian genocide a central element of
their national identity and political agenda.


An international conference on the topic "Cultural and ethnic
diversity: lessons from history, contemporary challenges" is taking
place in Shusha.


The event is organized by the “Center for Cultural and Ethnic
Diversity” Public Association in partnership with the “Silk Road”
Public Association for Cultural and Historical Research.


Representatives from Azerbaijan, the U.S., France, Lithuania,
Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, Israel, Türkiye, and Georgia
are participating in the conference.