Often found at theaters and museums, Kwon Mee-yoo has covered a wide range of cultural fields from K-pop and dramas to theater and fine art for over a decade. Now as K-Culture Desk editor, she tries to connect Korean culture with global readers through fresh perspectives.
Azerbaijan invites Korea to reconstruction of liberated regions
Ramzi Teymurov, ambassador of Azerbaijan to Korea, speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at his embassy in Yongsan District, Seoul, Oct. 4. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk
By Kwon Mee-yoo
By Kwon Mee-yoo
Azerbaijan may be little known in Korea, but the Caucasus country, situated at the juncture of Europe and Asia, has grown in stature in Korea in the past decade. The country now seeks to further extend bilateral relations in a sustainable way through post-war reconstruction of the Karabakh region.
"Located in the heart of Eurasia, Azerbaijan is kind of a window to the West as well as a window to the East. In Korea especially, Azerbaijan is known as the Land of Fire for its rich natural oil and gas resources," Azerbaijan Ambassador to Korea Ramzi Teymurov said during an interview with The Korea Times at the Embassy in Yongsan District, Seoul, Oct. 4.
Azerbaijan regained its independence Aug. 30, 1991, following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
"Unfortunately, our early years of independence were challenging as we were facing economic difficulties as well as conflict with neighboring Armenia, which ended up with 20 percent of our territory being occupied by Armenia. Last year, there was conflict again and as a result of this historic victory, Azerbaijan liberated its long-time occupied territories and restored its territorial integrity.
“As a diplomat, it is unfortunate that we couldn't resolve it through diplomatic ways, but we strongly hope that this will give new opportunities for the development of the country and entire region."
The Flame Towers in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan / Courtesy of Embassy of Azerbaijan in Korea
Growing awareness in Korea
Ambassador Teymurov, who presented his credentials in August 2014, said his arrival to Korea was almost at the end of the first wave of Azerbaijan-Korea relations.
"I must highlight that our bilateral relations became more dynamic in the year 2006 when the late President Roh Moo-hyun visited Azerbaijan, when the country was experiencing a construction boom. Korean companies definitely had an interest to go to Azerbaijan and the Korean government as well,” Teymurov said.
"The number of construction projects started to go down due to the accomplishment of the major infrastructure projects and, in addition to that, we were also negatively affected the global oil crisis. However, during this period of time, I discovered that, unfortunately, there was a lack of knowledge about each other.
"So we worked very hard, first of all, to bring Azerbaijan to Korean society as there was a lot of misunderstanding about Azerbaijan, especially during the conflict. We observed it last year when people were looking at Azerbaijan as a very conservative, Islamic country. But we are trying to explain that Azerbaijan is a multicultural country. Its religious tolerance policy was always highly appreciated by many countries and world leaders, including Pope Francis."
The Azerbaijani ambassador emphasized the importance of promoting Azerbaijan in Korea to remove misinformation in Korean people's minds as well as to present the country with its diverse fields to the Korean community.
"I don't want Azerbaijan to be only known in Korea as an oil and gas country. There are other aspects of the country that there is a lack of knowledge about. So in the past eight years, we did a lot to change this dynamics and today easily five or six out of 10 people would know where Azerbaijan is. I hope that if the number of exchanges of people increases, this definitely will bring up new opportunities for bilateral economic relations," Teymurov said.
Azerbaijan-Korea relations saw another breakthrough when National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug visited the Caucasus country in August and met President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev.
President Aliyev and Park discussed cooperation on infrastructure, especially in the Karabakh region and President Aliyev told Ambassador Teymurov to organize a business forum in Korea inviting Azerbaijani and the Korean authorities and companies in the relevant fields.
"Park had a very productive meeting with the president of Azerbaijan and my president invited Korean companies to take part in the reconstruction of the Karabakh area. The major issue is that the region almost totally collapsed, and no infrastructure is left there. Azerbaijan has the commitment of returning almost 750,000 IDPs (internally displaced people) to the liberated territories, but there are no houses they can go back to as well as no schools, no hospitals and no basic infrastructure," the ambassador said.
"We have definitely our own potential to develop it, but at the same time, due to the volume of the conflict affected areas, we need assistance from friendly countries like the Republic of Korea. Therefore, we are looking forward to seeing Korean companies actively participating in reconstruction projects."
Shusha, a city in the newly liberated Karabakh region / Courtesy of Embassy of Azerbaijan in Korea
Rebuilding Karabakh region
Azerbaijan plans to develop the territories based on green and renewable energy as well as in the form of smart grids, and the ambassador has high expectations for Korean companies in the fields of green energy and urban planning to actively participate in reconstruction projects.
"We already started one of the pilot projects of a smart village in the liberated territories and we are expecting the people to be able to go back to their new homes in the smart village by the first half of next year. (Smart village projects) contain infrastructure, such as a motorway, airport and railway as well as telecommunications.
"And we can also cooperate with Korea on the (removal of) landmines. The land mined areas in the liberated Azerbaijani territories are about twice the size of (Korea's) DMZ with full of landmines."
The embassy is preparing for the Azerbaijan-Korea business forum in Seoul. It will cover a wide range of topics from infrastructure and transportation to agriculture and tourism.
"We will invite all relevant agencies from Azerbaijan to come to Korea and give briefings to Korean companies about the projects and investment opportunities in the reconstruction of the Karabakh region," Teymurov said.
"We are now in negotiations with several Korean partners on how to organize this business forum as we want to make sure that Korean companies specializing in these areas will have an opportunity to participate in this business forum."
Ambassador Teymurov thinks that the Karabakh reconstruction projects could bring a second wave in bilateral relations.
"But I myself and my government would like to see Korean companies as not only contractors but investors. Because without investment, bilateral economic relationship cannot be sustainable," he said.
"What we observed in 2006, 2010 and 2012 was that Korean companies came to Azerbaijan on a contract base, open their offices and when they finished, they left the country. This is not sustainable. We want to have Korean investment in Azerbaijan and vice versa for sustainable relations."