Invitation

The National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Azerbaijan is pleased to graciously extend greetings and a warm welcome to all those who are interested in traveling to Azerbaijan for pioneering, travel teaching, Year of Service, and/or visitors simply visiting this sacred “Land of Fire.”

The following guidelines will provide much information for the friends who may be traveling to Azerbaijan for the first time. If the friends follow these guidelines carefully, their trip to Azerbaijan will be smooth and hopefully more memorable.  Adhering to these guidelines will also help the office of the National Spiritual Assembly to better serve the needs of our beloved volunteers, who have devoted themselves to assist this community.

The National Spiritual Assembly of Azerbaijan is ready for a rapid growth of its communities, while providing a more systematic deepening and consolidation of its localities, outside of Baku, at this time.  To meet these challenges, volunteers are being invited to seize these service opportunities currently available.

Guidelines for the volunteers

These guidelines are based on the letters from the Universal House of Justice, decisions of the National Spiritual Assembly of Azerbaijan and the experience gained by the early pioneers in this country.  Often the guidelines seem to run counter to intuition, or to the way individual volunteer will know that he/she is acting in line with the Baha’i Administration. 

 Failing to fulfill the guidelines will almost always cause some kind of difficulties and problems for both the volunteers and the Baha’i Administration in Azerbaijan.

Where to Start

First of all please download our YOS-Form, fill out as carefully and completely as possible and send back by email.

The best way to start is to go through the proper Baha’i Administrative channels.  The following would provide a good starting point:

1.       Contact the National Spiritual Assembly in your own country and ask them to convey to the National Spiritual Assembly of Azerbaijan your intentions about traveling here.

2.       We need the letter from your National Spiritual Assembly so that we know a volunteer is intending to visit with the purpose of serving the Azerbaijan Baha'i Community.  This letter will serve as the volunteer’s Baha’i identification. 

3.       Azerbaijan National Office is ready to assist and serve all those who are intending to travel to our country, but please be advised that the office is short of human resources and can really only help those who come specifically to serve. 

4.       When making a request for service, you must include in your request your intention for traveling to Azerbaijan, intended length of stay, number of people traveling with you, their ages, language skills, and other relevant information.

5.       If you are intending to travel as a visitor for a short period of time and/or you are here on professional work related trips, please include your curriculum of vitae and cover letter so we could arrange interviews with the press or meetings with like-minded Azeris. This is particularly true for Baha'is with professional or vocational experience. Please inform us of any special capacities you have, interests or services you can offer to the Baha'i community.

6.       The office of the National Assembly will keep in touch with the volunteers who are intending to come and will make sure that all their questions are answered in a timely fashion.  The volunteers, and especially the western volunteers who are detail oriented and organized planners, are urged to be patient as the Office of the National Assembly is very very young, small, and short staff. 

7.       Once you receive an invitation from the Azerbaijan National Office, then you are on a formal list for service opportunities.  You should start getting ready to come.

8.       Advise the Azerbaijan National Baha’i Office of your arrival time and flight No. Please do this at least a week in advance so that arrangements could be made for meeting you at the airport. 

9.       Please note that the National Spiritual Assembly of Azerbaijan does not have any dedicated funds for supporting the volunteers financially.  Volunteers in need of financial assistance should make their requests from their perspective Continental Board of Counselors.

Obtaining Azerbaijan visa

Obtaining Azerbaijan entry visa is very simple.  If you are traveling to Azerbaijan and you do not have a visa, you should ask for an invitation letter from Azerbaijan National Baha’i Office.  The invitation will give you the opportunity to obtain visa from your nearest Azeri consulate. 

1.       In order to receive invitation from the National Office you need to provide the following information: full Name, date of birth, place of birth, Nationality, passport number including the date of issue and expiration, and the dates that you intend to travel to Azerbaijan.

2.       If there are no Azeri counselors in your area, you can travel to Azerbaijan without a visa and upon entering Baku, request for a one-month visa at the Airport.  The cost of this visa is $40 USD.  You need to have your photograph.

3.       If you don’t have $40 USD and are not sure what to do, you need not to be worried as the immigration personnel will take your passport and give you a slip.  Your passport will go to the Ministry of External Affairs and you may obtain it the next day after paying $40 USD to the bank. 

4.       In order to receive a three-month visa, you must first have a one-month visa.  In order to receive a one-year visa you must first have a three-month visa. A three-month visa would costs $80 USD, while a one-year visa costs around $500 USD. 

5.       The passport volunteer can easily obtain visa by him/herself.  A visa application-form, one passport size picture, and a slip from the bank that the fees have been paid is all that is needed.   

6.       Regarding the extension of visa once in Azerbaijan: single entry visas can be extended through the same procedures as stated above. Multi-entry visas can be obtained at a higher cost.

 Please bear in mind that it is your responsibility to extend your visa. Extension of visa can also be carried out through Baku Baha’i Center, but it is your responsibility to set the process in motion.

Arrival to Baku

Upon your arrival to Baku Airport, after passing through the visa authorities and the customs, someone who is holding up above their head number “95” will meet you.  This person will take you to your hotel until the next day when you contact the National Baha’i office.

 If you are not met at the Airport you should go to the lobby’s information desk and ask for a telephone.  If there is no one at the desk, you should approach those who usually hang around the airport with a mobile telephone in their hand.  Give them the telephone number of the National Office and they will dial it for you at a cost of probably $2 to $3.  The National Office is open until 7:30 PM.  You can also take a Taxi to the city for a cost of $15-20.  The taxis in Azerbaijan are safe to ride. 

·         Upon arriving to any cities, besides Baku, where you are planning to stay for more than one week, register your visa at a nearest police station.  This is the law of Azerbaijan.

·         Travel as lightly as possible.  Everything can be found in Baku. Azerbaijan has been catering to the foreigners for a number of years and is wealthy in all aspects.

·         This Republic is quite rich in music, culture, food, fruit and wonderful vegetables, but bring all the medicines you might need.

·         Bring lens solutions with you.

·         Western hygiene material is found at every drug store in Baku.

·         Drink bottled water.  One should avoid drinking un-boiled water in Azerbaijan.  Tea is always safe.

Address of the National Spiritual Assembly

All the information about the National Spiritual Assembly is already written and annually updated in the Baha’i International Directory.  It is as follows:

Mailing Address

National Spiritual Assembly of the Azerbaijan

Central Post Office

P. O. Box 96

AZ1000, Baku Azerbaijan

Street Address 

Azerbaijan National Baha’i Office/Baku Baha’i Center

Agha Dadash Gurbanov off of Salatin Asgarova

Building 6, Apt. 44

AZ1009 Baku, Azerbaijan

 Telephone/Fax:

National Office    (994)  (12)  497-30-41,  497-56-26

 E-mail: weboffice@bahai.az

Cost of living

Cost of living in Baku, like every other major capital cities in the world is high.  The regions of Azerbaijan are cheaper.  In Baku, one-room apartments are between $100 to $200 USD depending on the location.  In the regions a house can be rented for about $50 USD.  In the major cities, the cheapest accommodation costs $20/night, in the provinces perhaps $12/night, (two to a room). Azerbaijan is not a cheap country to live in but it is quite reasonable.  

·         Volunteers must be self-supporting and to have arrange their financial need well before arriving to Azerbaijan.  Those who might have problems with their financial budgets should make a formal request to the office of Continental Pioneering Committee in their continent for assistance, before arriving to Azerbaijan.

·         The volunteers should not plan on home-stays while staying in Azerbaijan. The Azeris are extremely hospitable and will always extend their hospitality towards any guests especially from other countries but that should not provide a reason for home-staying.  Below are two extracts from letters of the Universal House of Justice for your consideration: 

"The local believers are very hospitable, but their resources are slender and they work very hard. Visiting Baha'is should never rely on hospitality or ask for it. Otherwise a visit which is intended to help can become a burden."  

"You mention that you can pay your fare, but that you would need local hospitality. You say that Mr. … told you that this would be available in ….. However, in many of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe the local friends are so overburdened with the difficulties of living in the current state of their national economies that visiting teachers are strongly advised against accepting the hospitality of the local believers." 

Azerbaijan Baha’i Community recognizes that volunteers sacrifice a great deal in carrying out their services with much economy, naturally the expense of a hotel and the lack of personal contact may therefore seem difficult.  It is also true that the length of stay may be extended if hotel costs were eliminated. However, after a careful consideration of this matter, the National Spiritual Assembly of Azerbaijan has decided to request all volunteers to refrain from asking for free home stay accommodation.

·         Those who are interested to rent their accommodations from the Baha’i families should contact the Manager of the Baku Baha’i Center for assistance.

Money Exchange

It is recommended that money be brought in US dollar bills (1990 or later). Insist on new notes without marks or writing.  Currencies other than US dollars are also changed.

·         Do not bring travelers checks if you will be staying in small cities, and there are no needs.  Theft is very low in Azerbaijan especially from the foreigners.

·         In the larger cities Credit Cards are accepted but cash dollars can only be obtained on a VISA card.

·         The currency of Azerbaijan is Manat.  0.87 Manat is one US dollar. With 2 Manats one can eat lunch, pay a normal taxi fair, and buy one kilogramm of fruits.  Bread is 0.20 Manat. Bus fair anywhere in the city is around 0.20 Manat. Metro is 0.05 Manat. Round trip from the Baha’i center to the airport cost about 15 Manats.  Traveling anywhere in the country from Baku in bus costs around 10 Manats.

·         Some parts of Azerbaijan are particularly poor, and the foreign currency exchange rate makes all foreigners relatively wealthy, despite their financial status at home. Please act with sensitivity and restraint, and do not spend extravagantly.

Language

The official language of Azerbaijan people is Azeri with Latin alphabet.  In the regions of Azerbaijan the Azeri language is spoken quite well, but there are those who are quite fluent in Russian as well.  In Baku, however, the number of the Russian speakers is much higher.   

As years pass by, the proficiency in the Azeri language is becoming more and more vital for the expansion of the Faith in Azerbaijan.  This Baha’i Community will always welcome the Russian Speaking volunteers, but if you are interested to learn a language to serve in Azerbaijan, you are recommended to start with Azeri.

Weather

The weather in Azerbaijan is quite interesting. There are 11 different climates in the world.  Of these 11 climates, you can find 9 in Azerbaijan.  There are mountains, rivers, valleys, and desert all in a country a bit larger than the State of Main in the US.

 Baku is very hot in the summer (35-38 C degrees) and cold (0 to 5 C degrees) in the winter with not much rain except for fall.  The regions are all different climate.  Lack of gas and heating systems in the regions make the winters quite difficult but the summers are wonderful. 

Some interesting Internet sites

There are a number of interesting sites on the Internet on Azerbaijan.  The friends are encouraged to look through these sites to familiarize themselves about the region prior to coming to Azerbaijan. Some of the suggested sites are listed here. 

Employment Opportunities

Azerbaijan, as a nation, has been going through a very difficult period of transition in market economy.  Unemployment is high.  Those who do work, support those who don’t.  

The volunteers who travel to Azerbaijan should not plan on finding a job after they come here because it would be quite difficult.  If one is able to secure a job before coming to Azerbaijan, then it is perfect planning.  Otherwise, any slight expectation or hope that you will find employment after your arrival to Azerbaijan is misleading.

Families with Children

Families with children are quite welcomed to come to Azerbaijan for service.  The educational system in Azerbaijan is going through reform but there is still a long way to match to the western standard level of education at the classroom level.  There are schools in Baku for the wealthy at higher costs, and there is an American school at $16,000 a year. 

Inviting the Friends to your country

Many volunteers invite the local Baha'is to their own countries as a sign of courtesy.  This warm and gracious gesture, if not sincere, would create complications both for the community and the Baha’i Administrations.   

·         It is very important for the foreign volunteers in particular the Americans, not to extend invitations for the sake of courtesy.  This can have a bitterly disillusioning effect on an Azeri who has dreams of going to America. 

·         The National Spiritual Assembly of Azerbaijan feels that the Azerbaijan Baha'is would be able to render a great deal of service by visiting other countries, but it should be simply their own initiative.

Traveling to other CIS countries

All the former Republics of the Soviet Union have their own laws and regulations on obtaining visa.  

• Armenia

Azerbaijan and its neighboring country Armenia fought for more than ten years and are considered enemies at the present time.  They don’t have any kind of diplomatic ties and therefor traveling from Azerbaijan to Armenia is impossible.  The only way to go there is through Georgia.  The volunteers who are interested to travel between these two countries are advised to consult with the National Spiritual Assembly and the Continental Board of Counselors before making their travel plans.  

• All the other CIS countries can easily be visited by obtaining a visa right in Baku. 
   
• Iran

Those who are interested to travel to Iran, should seek the advise of the Universal House of Justice and the Continental Board of Counselors.  The National Spiritual Assembly can not advise anyone on traveling to Iran. 

• Turkey

Traveling to Turkey is quite simple as the two countries have a good diplomatic relationship.  You can purchase your ticket at any time and travel there.   

Please remember! When you travel through other CIS countries, you are under the jurisdiction of that country’s National Spiritual Assembly.  It is only courteous to inform the respective National Offices before visiting their community.

National Teaching/Pioneering Committee

At the present time, Azerbaijan National Teaching/Pioneering Committee is the responsible body to help all volunteers organize their itinerary while traveling in Azerbaijan.  National Teaching/Pioneering Committee is ready to advise the volunteers on the targeted teaching plans and the priorities of the National Spiritual Assembly. 

·         National Spiritual Assembly, in consultation with National Teaching/Pioneering Committee, and the Auxiliary Board Members in Azerbaijan has set certain goals for pioneering, teaching, consolidation, and proclamation in Azerbaijan.  The Committee will decide where to send the volunteers as they arrive to fulfill these goals.

·         The Committee usually meets with the volunteers after their arrival and consults with them before dispatching them to any regions.

·         National Teaching/Pioneering Committee and the National Baha’i Office will arrange for helping the volunteers to settle down in a service location.

·         The National Spiritual Assembly hopes that the Baha’i teachings on respecting the elected institutions will be carefully followed. All foreign Baha'is are looked upon as an example of how a true Baha’i should behave. Consequently, consultation and cooperation with the Local Spiritual Assembly in the area of your service is very important. Where Assemblies do not exist, please draw the local Baha'is into all your activities and consult with them about how best to proceed on any matter.  

Patience

Patience is mother of all virtues.  Serving in Azerbaijan will give you a good chance to practice this particular virtue to its fullest.  You must have patience in all things and not loose your calmness simply because your time, energy, effort, knowledge, wisdom, and/or your many years of Baha’i experience is not being used.  Be patient and observe your surrounding.  Try to figure out what the friends are doing, and why they are doing it this way.  Try to join the efforts that the National Spiritual Assembly has set forward, even if you feel it is a very slow process. 

The culture of Azerbaijan and its people goes back at least thousands of years.  As an ancient community that possess a rich, wealthy and spiritual depth in its roots, this culture has taken a turn, during the Soviet systems, to a very complex and a more elaborated way of life.  As an outsider, you must try to understand the Azeri culture first, and then introduce your ideas and thoughts.  This is more effective than simply ignoring their views.  Lack of patience in service can simply make a volunteer disappointed and dissatisfied to the point that they would loose their enthusiasm and turn bitter.   

A volunteer, who has risen in the name Baha’u’llah to render services in His path, needs not concentrate on his/her achievements in Azerbaijan.  He/she must plan the future plans but not plan the future results.  From a pioneer point of view, you should be proud that you have responded to the call of Baha’u’llah with absolute obedience.  Even if a volunteer comes to Azerbaijan and sits at the Baha’i center for six months without any tangible achievements, he/she must be 100% sure that this is exactly what Baha’u’llah want them to do.

Essence of Service

Every volunteer will experience in his/her lifetime that the essence of Baha’i service is nothing but servitude.  And service opportunities given to an individual are actually doors of the Kingdom of Baha’u’llah that will only be opened to the sincere ones.   

To find true service one has to try with heart and soul.  True service is not an ordinary form of a physical or a tangible thing.  True service can sometimes be described as a very special form of an invisible spirit.  Some servants and loved ones of God have been invested with an eye to see this invisible spirit.  Yet some have been deprived of this inner eye.  Those deprived ones, however, should not despair.  All they have to do is to sincerely implore, and beseech Baha’u’llah to grant them this inner eye so they could recognize where the service opportunities are hidden.  Baha’u’llah will open the doors of service to everyone because He would not turn away any sincere soul from His Kingdom.

Most Effective Volunteers

Those volunteers who manage to become true exemplars of the Baha’i teachings, in this Baha’i community, and teach the principles of the Faith by their deeds, not their words, are the most effective volunteers.  Other factors that directly influence the effectively of a volunteer is as follow: 

·         The degree of volunteer’s obedience toward the entire Baha’i administrative body in Azerbaijan

·         Patience of the volunteer toward the community’s activities

·         Turning away from backbiting and fault finding

·         Serving with absolute love and affection

·         Never criticizing the Azerbaijani people

·         Teaching by deeds and not by long lectures

• Often a foreigner may have the opportunity to meet local dignitaries and people of importance, newspapers, magazines, radio, television stations, local colleges and libraries.  The National Spiritual Assembly of Azerbaijan reserves the full right to approve and arrange each and every one of these visits.  Due to the current circumstances of the Baha’i community in Azerbaijan, please consult with that Baha’i National Office before making any appointment with these entities.

The National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Azerbaijan truly hopes that your stay in our country and our Baha’i Community would be a spiritual experience and a special, memorable time for you. 

 You are welcome to Azerbaijan!