Dr. Altay Goyushov

Dr. Altay Goyushov is professor of Turkic history at Baku State University. He is also one of the leaders of the “Republican Alternative” (“REAL”) movement, which promotes liberal democratic concepts and values, and a frequent commentator on local and international media on issues relating to religion, history, and civil society in Azerbaijan. A noted scholar and public intellectual with an active social media presence, he has lectured at the Baku-based Free Thought University, a NED grantee, and has held prestigious fellowships and visiting professorships in Italy, France and the United States, including the Bourse Directeurs d’Études Associés at the Fondation de la Maison de Science de l’Homme in Paris, a Fulbright Scholarship at Georgetown University, and appointments at Sapienza-Università di Roma, UCLA, and the Institut Français d’Études Anatoliennes. During his fellowship, Dr. Goyushov is analyzing the emergence of Islam and Sunni/Shia tensions in contemporary Azerbaijan, looking at the First Azerbaijani Republic as a case study for strategies in managing tensions between secularism and political Islam.

Articles and Op-Eds

“The Two Faces of Azerbaijan’s Government,” Foreign Policy Magazine, December 8, 2014.

“The crackdown in Azerbaijan,” openDemocracy, March 17, 2015. 

Interviews

“Azerbaijan and Iran Find Common Cause,” Transitions Online, December 2, 2014.

“Altay Goyushov Speaks with Voice of America,” Voice of America, January 13, 2015.

“Exclusive Interview: Dr. Altay Goyushov,” Leksika, April 9, 2015.

“Azerbaijan: Memoir Explores the “Lost Dream” of Pre-Soviet Baku,” Eurasianet, April 10, 2015. 

Presentations 

“The Crackdown on Independent Voices in Azerbaijan,” National Endowment for Democracy, January 12, 2015.

“The Politicization of Research in Central Asia and the Caucasus,” Harvard University, January 30, 2015.