Ministry of Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan Baku International Multiculturalism Centre Azerbaijani Multiculturalism Textbook for Higher Education
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Ukrainians
Large-scale migration to the Caucasus, including Azerbaijan, took place in the late 19th century in order to develop industry and assimilate the new lands of the Russian Empire. Most of the migrants were from Ukraine. For a hundred years the Ukrainians have sought to preserve their language, customs and traditions and to maintain and develop relations with their historic homeland. At the beginning of the 20th century, a Ukrainian Society was formed in Azerbaijan, helping to shape the Ukrainian diaspora. On 4 June 1907, the Taras Shevchenko Prosvita (Enlightenment) Society was founded in Baku on the initiative of the Ukrainian intelligentsia (Golovnya, Golubyansky, Remennikov, Melnikov, Mishon, Lizogub, Seredin). At that time the Prosvita was one of the most important societies in Baku. In 1920-30 civil war in Ukraine and Russia, forced collectivization and the forcible resettlement of repressed people from Ukraine led to the rapid migration of Ukrainians to other
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countries, including Azerbaijan. Most of the Ukrainians came to Azerbaijan during the difficult war years.
While the Slavic peoples living in Azerbaijan during the Russian imperial and Soviet periods called themselves Russian, it was already noticeable in the 1989 census that the Ukrainians’ sense of identity had grown. Against the background of an absolute or relative decline in the number of Russians in the country, the number of Ukrainians increased by 20 per cent. Those who used to identify with Russian culture, despite their Ukrainian roots, had already begun to identify as Ukrainian. This was of some political significance. According to the 1989 census, 32,300 Ukrainians lived in Azerbaijan. According to official information as of 1 January 2002, 29,000 Ukrainians lived in Azerbaijan, making them the eighth largest of the other peoples living in Azerbaijan. According to official figures, 12,794 people left Azerbaijan for Ukraine in 1990, while 4,355 came to Azerbaijan from Ukraine. The Ukrainians began to get together in organizations in Azerbaijan in the mid-1990s. In 1992 they were active in setting up the Sodruzhestvo (Solidarity) society of peoples living in the Republic of Azerbaijan, which brought together different national organizations and societies (Russian, Tatar, Jewish, Lezghi etc.). In 1992, the Lesi Ukrainka Ukrainian Cultural Centre was established in Sumqayit. A Ukrainian branch of the Sodruzhestvo society was set up in 1994 and formed the basis of the Taras Shevchenko Ukrainian Society, which was created on 1 November 1997 with the support of activists from the Ukrainian diaspora and the Ukrainian Embassy. As of 1 October 2002, the society had seven regional organizations. From 1998, the Ukrainian language has been taught at Baku Slavic University. On 17 October 2001 the opening ceremony of the university’s Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Centre took place. A Ukrainian Sunday school opened at the Centre on 2 March 2001 on the initiative of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Ukrainian community, the Embassy of Ukraine to the Republic of Azerbaijan and the administration of Baku Slavic University. Pupils at the Sunday school learn the Ukrainian language and literature and get acquainted with the history, culture, customs and traditions of the Ukrainian people. Various cultural events are held there. The Centre closely cooperates with the Ukrainian Embassy, the Ukrainian diaspora and Ukrainian higher educational institutions. The Ukrainians living in Azerbaijan united under the idea of ‘My Homeland-I serve Azerbaijan’ and share the joys and sorrows of the modern history of Azerbaijan. This concerns primarily the Nagorno-Karabakh problem. School No. 245 in Baku’s Khatai District bears the name of the Ukrainian Ruslan Chernegin, who died in a battle in Nagorno-Karabakh. Military pilot V. Seregin was posthumously honoured with the highest award, National Hero of Azerbaijan. Members of the Ukrainian diaspora in Azerbaijan are mainly Orthodox. The Eparchy of Baku and Azerbaijan has five Orthodox churches, three of which are in Baku. Poles The roots of Azerbaijani-Polish relations go back to the distant past and include commercial and diplomatic ties. Azerbaijan and Poland were linked by old trade routes passing through the Black Sea as far back as the 10th century. From the second half of the 15th century a substantial number of Polish Catholic missionaries worked in Azerbaijan. In the first half of the 19th century Polish military and civil servants came to Azerbaijan. As the oil industry developed, Poles with different professions came to Azerbaijan. They included oil engineers
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Pawel Potocki and Witold Zglenicki who were the first specialists in the oil industry in Baku. They planned drilling work in the oil fields at Bibi-Heybat Bay. Their research played an important role in the development of oil production in Azerbaijan. The Poles living in Baku worked in various industries, got involved in social activities and contributed greatly to cultural life, construction and oil production in the country. In those years Azerbaijan exported petroleum, kerosene and agricultural products to Poland and imported sugar, equipment, machinery, fabric and other goods from Poland. The Poles who came to Azerbaijan also included architects, lawyers, physicians, teachers and others, who were active in society in the city and had a positive impact on the flourishing of capitalist Baku. The names of many Polish architects, particularly Skorewicz, Ploszko and Skibinski, will remain forever in the memory of the Azerbaijani people. For example, the building of the City Duma, now the Baku mayor’s office, is a masterpiece of the period. The building was designed by the city’s chief architect, Jozef Goslawski, who worked for the city for 12 years until his death (1892-1904). He also designed a school for Muslim girls. Another Pole, Konstanty Borysoglebski, was Baku’s chief architect for four years (1909-13). Polish architect Ignacy Krzysztalowicz designed the office of the governor of Yelizavetpol (Ganja). Eugeniusz Skibinski designed the railway station building, while Kazimierz Skorewicz designed the Grocery Store (former Taghiyev Passage). Polish architects designed some of the most beautiful and outstanding buildings in Baku. Some 500 buildings in the city were designed by Polish architects. In the early 20th century the plans of Pawel Zemski and Alexander Kaminski were also used in the construction of the city. 350 Of the 2,193 Poles living in Northern Azerbaijan in 1897, 519 had been born in Azerbaijan. Polish children were second in number to Russian children among the migrant populations. In 1909 the Baku Polish House was registered; the society’s main goal was to protect the cultural identity of the Polish people. At the beginning of World War I the Baku Polish Committee for the Organization of Aid to the War-Ravaged Population of the Kingdom of Poland was established. The Enlightenment and Open House society also started to operate at this time. All the Polish societies came together in the Council of Polish Organizations in Baku. As a result of World War I, which broke out in 1914, there was an increase in the number of Polish refugees in Baku. According to figures provided by the Baku Security Administration, as of 31 December 1916 there were 2,568 refugees living in Azerbaijan, of whom 84 were Poles, while as of 15 December 1917, there were 1,949 refugees, of whom 155 were Poles. The Polish intelligentsia, especially engineers and lawyers, were closely involved in the establishment of a new democratic state in Azerbaijan. Polish lawyer Wonsowicz was a member of the first Azerbaijani Parliament established in 1918. Polish officers played a great role in the formation of the Azerbaijani army. Many Poles returned to Poland after the persecution following the Bolshevik coup of April 1920. The societies and associations operating in Baku and Ganja were banned. According to the 1990 census, 900 Azerbaijanis of Polish origin lived in Azerbaijan. In 2001 work began to set up the Polonia-Azerbaijan Polish community organization, which was registered on 7 June 2002. The Polonia Polish Cultural Centre has been functioning since 2012.
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Jews Unlike other incoming peoples, Jewish settlement in Azerbaijan has an ancient history going back some 2,500 years. After the Babylonian invasion of Israel in 586 BCE the Jewish people spread more widely in Central Asia. The migration of the Jews began when Babylonian ruler Nebuchadnezzar II moved the Jews to Babylon. Thousands of Jewish nobles and craftsmen were forcibly moved from Jerusalem to Babylon between 597 and 586 BCE. After the invasion of Babylon by the Achaemenid Empire in 539, the Jews became subjects of the Achaemenids like other numerous peoples. The Achaemenid Empire also took control of Azerbaijani territories. Azerbaijan’s favourable geographical position on important trade routes, as well as the tolerant attitude of local people towards foreigners, created the right conditions for dozens of peoples, including the Jews, to live in these lands. At present there are three Jewish communities in Azerbaijan – the Mountain Jews, European Jews (Ashkenazi) and Georgian Jews. The total number of Jews in Azerbaijan is 16,000. They include 11,000 Mountain Jews, approximately 6,000 of whom live in Baku, 4,000 in Quba and 1,000 in other towns. There are 4,300 Ashkenazi Jews, most of whom live in Baku and Sumqayit, and approximately 700 Georgian Jews. The Jewish communities are amongst the most active religious communities in the Republic of Azerbaijan. Thanks to the attention of the government of Azerbaijan a new Ashkenazi synagogue opened in Baku in March 2003. The synagogue has a larger prayer hall for the Ashkenazi and a smaller one for the Georgian Jews. It was built on the site of the old building that had served as a synagogue and provides all the facilities necessary for the European Jews to perform their religious rites. At present there are 352
two synagogues in Baku, three in Quba and two in Oghuz, all of them open for worship. In 1990 the Society for Azerbaijani-Israeli Cultural Ties was established and started to publish a newspaper, the acronym of which is AZ-IZ. The Azerbaijani-Israeli Friendship Centre and Jewish agency Sochnut also operate in the republic. In 1992 diplomatic relations were established between the Republic of Azerbaijan and Israel and bilateral ties have been developing ever since. Greeks Greeks began to appear in the south Caucasus after the Russian-Ottoman War of 1828-29. In Northern Azerbaijan the first Greeks were settled in the village of Mehman (Karabakh). Greeks made up a very small proportion of the population of the country. According to the 1897 census, 278 Greeks lived in the Baku governorate and 658 lived in Yelizavetpol (Ganja). The number of Greeks increased during the demographic explosion in capitalist Baku in the early 20th century, and in 1907 800 Greeks who had migrated from Asia Minor were recorded in Baku. On the eve of World War I Greeks living across the governorates of Azerbaijan established a Philanthropic Association with the aim of assisting Greeks on low incomes. Thanks to the efforts of the Greek Philanthropic Association, a Greek Centre, a primary school offering four years of study and the Embros football club opened in Baku at that time. The school had 89 pupils. Before the revolution of February 1917, 2,161 Greeks lived in eight towns in Baku and Yelizavetpol governorates. According to the Soviet census of 1923, there were 1,168 Greeks in the urban population and they lived in Ganja, Sabirabad, Nakhchivan and
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other towns. At that time 58 Greeks lived in the village of Mehman in Karabakh. The Greeks could not escape the repressions that raged across the country in the 1930s: 35 of the 904 Greeks living in Baku were arrested and the Pontia cultural centre was closed. During World War II the Greeks were also forcibly deported within the USSR. In 1942-43 the Greeks living in Azerbaijan were exiled to Northern Kazakhstan and Siberia together with Greeks living in other regions of the USSR. The deportation of Greeks continued after World War II as well. In May 1949 the Soviet government took a decision to exile the Greeks from the Caucasus, including Azerbaijan, to southern Kazakhstan in order to prevent the establishment of a ‘fifth column’ in the southern borders of the USSR. The Greeks were destined to travel a long way in freight cars and live torturous years in the Kazakh steppes. Due to the deportation thousands of Greeks living in Baku lost their ‘small homeland’ and all their possessions. The special settlement process continued until 1956 and only after the rehabilitation and removal of restrictions from special settlers were most of them able to return to Baku. Other Greeks were deported to other towns of the USSR. During the political instability and economic recession on the eve of the collapse of the Soviet Union, most of the Greeks moved to Greece. Only after the return of Heydar Aliyev to political power in Azerbaijan did the situation stabilize. In the independent Republic of Azerbaijan diaspora societies became active in the sphere of democracy, paving the way for the creation of new societies too. In 1993 the Embassy of Greece opened in Azerbaijan, and in July the following year a Greek cultural centre opened in Baku on the initiative of the Greek ambassador, Panayiotis Karakasis. After some decades Azerbaijan was able to bring the Greeks together again. 354
The Greek association Argo was set up in 1997 and celebrates the national and religious holidays of Greece together with the employees of the embassy. This initiative was taken again after an interval of 60 years. Every member of the community is proud to belong to the Greek nation and at the same time considers themselves a patriot of Azerbaijan. In contrast to the neighbouring republics emigration has almost stopped in the past eight years, when only three families have left Azerbaijan. The benevolent international atmosphere in Azerbaijan helped the Greeks to integrate. Their success is also the result of their industriousness and eagerness to acquire new skills. Most of them have made worthy contributions to the well-being of Azerbaijan and the centuries-old history of the diaspora there. Germans In the autumn of 1818, 486 German families were settled in the southern Caucasus and founded the first eight German colonies there. The first wave of migration of Germans to Azerbaijan started in 1819. Two colonies were founded in Northern Azerbaijan – Helenendorf and Annenfeld. As the number of Germans increased, offshoot colonies were created: Georgfeld, Alekseyevka, Grunfeld, Aigenfeld, Traubenfeld and Yelizavetinka were recorded in the districts of Goygol, Shamkir, Qazakh, Tovuz and Aghstafa of Yelizavetpol Governorate in the early 20th century. The Russian Empire’s administrative system in the Caucasus rendered significant assistance to the German colonists and it was decided to grant each German family up to 35 desyatins (one desyatin is equivalent to roughly one hectare) of land. Even more important, the Imperial Treasury provided loans of 3,000 roubles to each family to build houses and buy cattle. Although the German
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colonists were engaged in various fields of agriculture, many were involved in viticulture and wine-making. In the early 20th century the German Vohrer Brothers and Hummel Brothers had major wine producing companies. The Germans opened the first medical centre, pharmacy, school and club in Yelizavetpol Governorate. In 1912 they installed Azerbaijan’s first hydroelectric power generator on the River Ganjachay in Helenendorf and they also built a power station near the village of Zurnabad. The Germans living in Azerbaijan were Lutherans and suffered no restrictions in holding their religious services. Lutheran churches were built in Helenendorf in 1857, in Gadabay in 1868, in Baku in 1899 and Annenfeld in 1911. Despite the close cultural relations between the Germans and local people they preserved their ethnic identities. After the USSR joined World War II, in October 1941 the German community was completely exiled from Azerbaijan to Kazakhstan. After regaining independence Azerbaijan increased its attention to its German history. With the consideration and care of the government German cultural monuments in the country have been preserved and restored. Azerbaijan’s historical atmosphere of tolerance has had a positive impact on the development of German-Azerbaijani relations in recent times. The steps taken to protect German heritage, which is considered one of the assets of multicultural Azerbaijan, are obvious examples of the government’s policy of tolerance and multiculturalism. This is further confirmed by the instruction of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev of 30 August 2016 on the 356
200th anniversary of the establishment of German settlements in the South Caucasus. The instruction says: ‘Guided by Paragraph 32 of Article 109 of the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan, to ensure a due celebration of the 200th anniversary of the creation of German settlements in the South Caucasus and in view of their significance in promoting Azerbaijan as a centuries-old centre of tolerance with multicultural traditions, I hereby resolve that: The Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan shall jointly develop and implement a special programme to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the creation of the German settlements in the south Caucasus. Yüklə 2,25 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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