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The personality cult around the ruling family of Azerbaijan has worked its way into the books used by every schoolchild in the Republic, says Shahla Sultanova in an article written in IWPR.

“Open any schoolbook in Azerbaijan and you will spot a picture of the late president Heydar Aliyev, perhaps followed by a photo of his son Ilham who succeeded him as head of state. The pictures of Heydar Aliyev are captioned “Founder of Modern Azerbaijan” or “Azerbaijan’s Greatest Leader,” Shahla Sultanova says.

According to the article, stories featuring the late Aliyev, and even proverbs attributed to him, can be found in textbooks aimed at different age-groups.

“In the first-year textbook for Azerbaijani language, pupils read an exchange between a boy and his grandmother, in which she explains that Heydar signifies strength, and was the name of a great leader who will be remembered forever. In the third grade, he appears in a story called “A Wise Leader”, in which a child refugee from the war in Nagorny Karabakh assures the president that everyone has faith in him. Pupils a year older get to read his sayings, such as, “To be a leader and to educate, one needs the moral right,” the author says.

Malahet Murshudlu, chair of the Free Teachers’ Union, disagreed, and likened the constant flow of praise to the enforced adulation for Lenin and Stalin in earlier times. “From an early age, children’s minds are being shaped within this ideology,” she said.
Rafiq Ismayilov, who has written many of the textbooks used to teach Azerbaijani, acknowledged that quotes from Heydar Aliyev probably improved one’s chances of getting a work approved.

“No one openly ordered or recommended that I include texts about him, but it’s important to do so in order to get a textbook approved. I sense that education ministry likes it and wants it, I believe my books are really good for schools. Of course I want to get them approved,” he said.