Country: Azerbaijan

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A family group in Baku stadium (photo: UNFPA in Azerbaijan)

Azerbaijanʹs struggle to promote the value of girls

Imams against sex-selective abortion

Azerbaijan is struggling to change the mind-sets of families aborting female foetuses. Imams who have weighed in on the issue have become indispensable in up-ending this practice. Experts say the country urgently needs to implement an action plan or it will face dire consequences. Ayse Karabat reports from BakuMore

The UNFPA in AzerbaijanAbortion in Afghanistan: Trying to break a major societal tabooFighting forced marriage in Kyrgyzstan: Bride abduction is not coolDesperate measures: Pakistani women seek abortions as birth control
Duo ″Ya Tosiba″ – vocalist Zuzu Zakaria and electronics whizz Tatu Mosak (source: YouTube)

Album review

″Love Party″ by Ya Tosiba: Sufi in the house

A wonderfully subversive and witty album, Ya Tosiba′s ″Love Party″ slyly pokes fun at authority and present day life in Azerbaijan. With electronics simulating traditional instruments from the region, it draws on the Sufi ′meyknana′ tradition for its lyrics. Review by Richard MarcusMore

Interview with Michael Dreyer of the Osnabruck Morgenland Festival: A hub connecting the Orient and the OccidentThe 13th Sufi Soul Festival: The musical path to AllahQantara dossier: Musical worlds
Arab tourists in Baku, Azerbaijan (photo: azvision.az)

Azerbaijan′s enlightenment

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A nation at odds with itself

As the first Muslim country to grant women the vote in 1919, Azerbaijan is rightly proud of its enlightened heritage. Yet increasingly, tensions are arising between an evolving 21st century ″anything goes″ interpretation of religious tolerance and the secular legacy of its literary founding fathers. An essay by Nermin KamalMore

Muslims and Jews in Azerbaijan: Intercultural dialogue in the South CaucasusVeit Helmer's Absurdistan: Lysistrata in AzerbaijanPolitics and oil in Azerbaijan: The magic of numbers
Shia Muslims protest in Pakistan following a terrorist attack in Lahore on 22 January 2014 which killed 24 Shia pilgrims (photo: AFP/Getty Images)

Sunni-Shia tension

Islam versus Islam

The religious element of the conflicts raging in the Middle East today is a major reason why they are proving so difficult to defuse. An essay by Shahid Javed BurkiMore

Iran-Saudi conflict: The Middle East′s Cold WarIran-Saudi conflict: Playing the sectarian cardQantara dossier: Sunni-Shia tension
Dhafer Youssef Band performing at the Morgenland Festival in Osnabruck on 21 September 2014 (photo: Morgenland Festival Osnabruck)

Interview with Michael Dreyer of the Osnabruck Morgenland Festival

A hub connecting the Orient and the Occident

The Osnabruck Morgenland Festival has acquired a reputation for top-class Oriental music. Marian Brehmer spoke to the festival's founder, Michael Dreyer, about the challenges of organising the annual festival, and how un-political a festival of the Orient can beMore

Website of the Morgenland Festival OsnabruckInterview with Kinan Azmeh and Dima Orsho: "All we can do is sing and play our hearts out"Oriental Music Festival in Germany: The silenced sounds of BaghdadInterview with the Kurdish singer Aynur Dogan: Resisting the wind
Performance of Marc Sinan's "Dede Korkut" (photo: Thomas Aurin)

Interview with the composer Marc Sinan

A modern-day Bartók of Turkic music

Dede Korkut, the best-known of the epic stories of the Oghuz Turks, and the music that goes with it form the basis of Marc Sinan's new docu-fictional musical theatre production, "Dede Korkut – The Story of Tepegoz". Astrid Kaminski spoke to the composerMore

Islam in European Classical Music: As-salam alaykum Resounding from the MinaretThe Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra: The Orient in the Mirror of Western CompositionsQantara dossier: Musical Worlds
A Persian "Haft Sin" table featuring seven foods and objects all beginning with the letter "s" (photo: Imago/UPI Photo)

Nowruz: one of the world's oldest festivals

"My paleness is yours, your colour is mine!"

The Iranian New Year celebration "Nowruz" has been a feature of Persian culture for more than 2,500 years. The roots of this festival lie in the ancient Persian religion of Zoroastrianism. Today, more than 300 million people all over the world celebrate Nowruz. Shohreh Karimian looks back at the history of this new year celebration and explains some of its customsMore

Photo gallery: NowruzIranian musician Shahram Nazeri: The Persian nightingale and the flowers of hopeIran and the Legacy of the Persians: Persepolis: A Political Compass

In brief

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Most Recent Photo Essay

Iran bearing the brunt: with a high number of deaths and cases, Iran has been a regional epicentre of the outbreak. Several top officials have been infected and there are concerns the number of cases are higher than reported. The government has cancelled Friday prayers but health workers have complained they are under-equipped. Iran has asked the International Monetary Fund for emergency funding

Coronavirus in the Middle East: Lock down or play down?

Countries such as Kuwait and Israel have instituted virtual lockdowns in the face of COVID-19, while religious gatherings have been limited at a time of year ripe with ritual. Others have been slower to act. By Tom Allinson