AZE.US
Iqbal Aghazade, chairman of Azerbaijan’s Umid (Hope) Party, has sharply criticized performers who appear on stage in revealing outfits, calling on the government to establish limits for public performances.
“If you want to undress, go and do it in your own bathroom or at the beach. Do not appear like that before the public and undermine society’s values,” Aghazade said in a video address.
He argued that performers holding honorary state titles, including People’s Artist and Honored Artist, should be held to particular standards because of their public status.
Aghazade rejected the argument that Azerbaijan should embrace such performances simply because they are common elsewhere in the world.
“We all speak about national and moral values, as well as Azerbaijan’s state and historical traditions. There is nothing like this in our traditions. Why should there be?” he said.
The politician also criticized the lyrics and music of some contemporary songs, arguing that the government should pursue a more systematic cultural policy. He stressed, however, that he was not advocating the creation of an ideological state.
“I support building a state governed by law, not an ideological state. But a legal state also has its own ideological and legal foundations,” Aghazade said.
He also turned his attention to cosmetic surgery, claiming that some people alter their appearance so extensively that they no longer resemble the photographs in their identity documents.
“We cannot allow everyone to be made to look the same. A symposium should be held with plastic surgeons to ask what exactly they are trying to do,” he said.
Aghazade argued that Azerbaijan faces a broader problem in determining who becomes a role model for younger generations. In his view, entertainers often enjoy greater wealth and visibility than scientists, teachers and intellectuals, making show-business figures more influential in society.
“The state must establish worthy public role models – scientists, teachers, doctors, musicians, lawmakers and public officials,” he said. “Today, such examples do exist in Azerbaijan, but there are too few of them.”
Aghazade also criticized corruption and social inequality, saying that reports of vast sums of money being discovered in the possession of detained officials send the wrong message to the public, while intellectuals and academics frequently struggle financially.
According to him, cultural standards, public ethics and the status of educated professionals should become subjects of a broader national debate.
AZE.US