Our nation is one that respects the elderly people. This is a tradition that dates back to ancient times. It is also part of the Islamic principles: “Respect your elderlies [Shabaniyah Supplication].” Grandparents are like a candle around whom all other family members flock, like butterflies. Whereas, in Western cultures, grandparents are often ignored. They don’t attend to the generation that they believe ‘looks to the past.’ Even when they respect the elderly to some extent, they don’t actually appreciate them. We, on the contrary, do appreciate the elderly. They gradually managed to do these [in order to promote a culture of ignoring the elderly] via an imposed, forced culture; of course, forced in a new manner! Imposition can be done by pointing the gun towards someone’s head and forcing them to do a particular thing; or else, by means of mass communication, a concept, or an idea is so repeated over and over throughout the society until it is instilled in the minds of the people and—whether they want it or not—this idea is reflected in their thoughts, words and actions.
Statements during a meeting with poets, literary intellectuals and artists of Eastern Azerbaijan. July 30, 1993
In Islam and Islamic culture, family is steady. Grandparents get to see their grandchildren and grand-grandchildren. They pass over their traditions. The first generation delivers their heritage to the next generations: they are not raised detached, alone and apathetic. August 15, 1995
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