Ministry of Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan Baku International Multiculturalism Centre Azerbaijani Multiculturalism Textbook for Higher Education
Azerbaijanism and Multiculturalism
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2.2. Azerbaijanism and Multiculturalism
people. The struggle of the Azerbaijani people for national liberation forms the basis of this idea. The history of the national liberation struggle of the Azerbaijani people is intertwined with the emergence of the idea of Azerbaijanism. This process began in the second half of the 19th century, when Azerbaijan was a province of tsarist Russia. National minorities suffered from discrimination, exploitation and Russification under tsarist Russia’s policy of inter-ethnic relations. The struggle of the Azerbaijani people at that time was the main driving force in the formation of the idea of Azerbaijanism. Prominent Turkish sociologist Ziya Gokalp and Indian political scientist R.S. Chavan have observed that the national movements of peoples of the Orient go through three consecutive stages: cultural, political and economic. They begin with cultural revival, acquire the form of a political movement, and then reach the stage of working out economic programmes. Azerbaijanism followed that pattern, beginning as a cultural movement. From the second half of the 19th century the cultural Azerbaijanism movement was led by outstanding figures from the arts and the enlightenment movement. They continued a tradition led by Mirza Fatali Akhundzada of criticizing religious fanaticism and the old customs and traditions that hindered the development of the people. They urged the people to acquire knowledge, science and education. As a result of these efforts, national schools were opened, which used new teaching methods. Efforts were made to improve the literary language and secure the adoption of a new alphabet. New libraries and reading halls opened, while national newspapers and magazines were published. This work by prominent representatives of the Azerbaijanism movement began to shape the national consciousness of the Azerbaijani people. This process played an important role in the people’s comprehension of their cultural and ethnic unity.
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The transition of the idea of Azerbaijanism from the cultural sphere to the political sphere is connected with the theoretical and political work of Ali bay Huseynzada, Ahmad Aghaoghlu, Alimardan Topchubashov, Mammadamin Rasulzada and other prominent figures. For the first time, representatives of political Azerbaijanism began to defend the political rights of the Azerbaijani people. They used all legal means to do this: for example, they wrote petitions to the tsar, held meetings with senior government officials, organized a congress of Muslims living in Russia and took an active part in the work of the State Duma (parliament). The participation of representatives of political Azerbaijanism in the State Duma should be highlighted in particular. In April 1905 the Azerbaijani parliamentarians submitted to the Duma a petition ‘On behalf of the representatives of the Muslim population’ drawn up by Alimardan Topchubashov. The petition demanded the defence of the political, economic and cultural rights of the Muslims living in Russia and the elimination of the remnants of feudalism. Though the petition was not adopted by the tsarist government, its drafting and submission are evidence of the highly developed level of political Azerbaijanism. In the early stages of their work, the supporters of political Azerbaijanism could not disseminate their ideas openly, because at that time the identity of the Azerbaijani people was determined on religious grounds. There was no assertion of their Turkic identity. The supporters of the ideas of political Azerbaijanism saw pan-Islamism as the greatest obstacle to the national liberation struggle of the Azerbaijani people. Mammadamin Rasulzada wrote: ‘Historical experience shows that pan-Islamism is leading to the formation of a reactionary, theocratic movement, on the one hand, and hindering the formation of national ideology in the Muslim world and the independence of the Muslim peoples, on the other. 48
We must accelerate the development of national consciousness in the Muslim world, because the formation of national identity brings about social progress and national independence.’ The concept of Azerbaijanism at that time brought three directions together: Turkicization, Islamization and modernization. The concept was first put forward by Ali bay Huseynzada in the journal Hayat (Life) in 1905. Later the concept became the official doctrine of the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan, and was reflected in the state’s tricolour. The concept of political Azerbaijanism underwent an important transformation: up until 1918 the concept’s proponents favoured federalization and wanted to build political relations with Russia on the principles of federalism; after the massacre of March 1918, however, they rejected federalism and used the concept of Azerbaijanism to support the acquisition of political independence. The Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan was created on 28 May 1918, marking a qualitatively new stage in the development of the concept of political Azerbaijanism. This created the right conditions for the transition to the economic stage of the national movement. But the occupation of Azerbaijan by Bolshevik Russia did not allow this transition to be completed. The development of the idea of Azerbaijanism was temporarily stopped and a new period began in the life of the Azerbaijani people – the Soviet period. Though the Azerbaijani people achieved economic, scientific, technical and sociocultural development during Soviet rule, their culture was under constant pressure from the central government. The Bolsheviks pursued a policy of Russification in all parts of society, though they managed to gloss it over with democratic and internationalist slogans and by granting cultural autonomy and self-government to some regions where national minorities lived. The policy, however, served the development of the totalitarian Soviet state.
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A major component of Soviet nationalities policy was constructive work in the political, economic, social and cultural spheres in all the union republics. It should be noted that what had been backward, non-Russian regions achieved great success as a result of this policy. On the one hand, the reforms strengthened Soviet power in these regions and made Russification easier, on the other hand, they prevented the rise of a national liberation movement. The totalitarian system in the Soviet Union created favourable conditions for Russification in politics, the economy and culture.
The Soviet policy of Russification led to a revival of Russian chauvinism and to pressure on the values of the national cultures of the non-Russian peoples. The contradiction between communist values and the values of national cultures grew over time. In new historical conditions this contradiction manifested itself in national liberation movements in many non-Russian republics, including Azerbaijan. But the national liberation of the Azerbaijani people was opposed by the Soviet totalitarian system, which formed the basis of Russian chauvinism. At the end of the 1980s the process of the fall of the Soviet totalitarian system started. It was first manifest in the Soviet Union lagging behind the developed countries in terms of its macro-economic figures, and in the vacuum on the issue of national minorities. Mikhail Gorbachev’s policy of perestroika (restructuring) accelerated the collapse of the Soviet totalitarian system, creating favourable conditions for the birth of national liberation movements in the majority of the Union republics, including Azerbaijan. The failure of the Soviet Union to make full use of the Union republics’ potential, to ensure their socio-economic development and to tackle environmental problems was amongst the factors that led to the republics demanding greater powers from the Kremlin. The majority of the Union republics used the conditions created by the policy of perestroika to protect their own sovereignty, although some republics took opportunity to occupy the territory of neighbouring republics. For example, the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic made claims on the territory of Azerbaijan, appealing to the Kremlin to authorize the annexation of Nagorno-Karabakh (Mountainous Karabakh), ancestral Azerbaijani territory, to Armenia. This action by the Armenians was directed not only against Azerbaijan – it was a serious obstacle to the national liberation movement in other republics for two reasons: first, Armenia’s territorial claims on Azerbaijan turned the national movement of the Armenians into an aggressive force, and second, it gave the Kremlin the opportunity to suppress the national liberation movements that had begun in the non-Russian republics. Thus, by the end of the 1980s Armenia’s territorial claims were the greatest obstacle facing Azerbaijan and the national liberation movement of the Azerbaijani people. The claims started the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. The Azerbaijani people rose up to defend their territory, turning the national liberation struggle into a mass movement. The movement’s situation was not good, however, as it faced two thorny issues: first, it had to defend the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan from the aggression of Armenia and, second, it had to restore the state independence of Azerbaijan from the Soviet empire. Resolving these two important issues required a political force able to lead the national liberation movement of the Azerbaijani people in the right direction in these new historical circumstances. To meet this historical necessity the Popular Front of Azerbaijan was established by the end of 1988. The creation of the Popular Front of Azerbaijan (PFA) was an important event in the development of Azerbaijanism. The PFA enjoyed the support of the people in the first months of its work, but later for reasons beyond its control (the interference of the intelligence services of other countries, military assistance from Russia to Armenia) and within its control (differences of opinion
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and divisions within the PFA leadership and the leaders’ inability to lead the national liberation movement) they could not fulfil the historic mission entrusted to them. Forces hostile to Azerbaijan made skilful use of the PFA’s inexperience. To suppress the Azerbaijani national liberation movement, the Kremlin presented it as aggressive and on 20 January 1990 it brought Soviet troops onto the streets of Baku, murdering a large number of civilians. The army’s attack on civilians meant that the situation was spinning out of control. But the action by the Soviet leaders could not break the national liberation spirit of the Azerbaijani people. On the contrary, it gave the movement a new impulse. On 18 October 1991 Azerbaijan restored its independence. This marked the beginning of the third stage in the history of the national liberation movement of the Azerbaijani people. But the restoration of state sovereignty did not solve the Nagorno-Karabakh problem. As a result of Armenia’s military aggression, 20 per cent of the territory of Azerbaijan was occupied. The occupation and accompanying policy of ethnic cleansing created over one million refugees and internally displaced persons in Azerbaijan. The problem of Nagorno-Karabakh, therefore, played an exceptional role in the birth of the Azerbaijani national liberation movement. For the Azerbaijani people the national liberation movement’s main goal was to solve the problem of Nagorno-Karabakh. A major reason for the public’s insistence that Abdurrahman Vezirov, Ayaz Mutallibov and Abulfaz Elchibey respectively had to leave the country’s highest state posts was their inability to protect and restore the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani people invited the National Leader of the Azerbaijani People Heydar Aliyev to rule the country, as he was the only person able to restore the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and to save the country as a whole. 52
With the return of the National Leader of the Azerbaijani People Heydar Aliyev to power a completely new stage began in the history of the concept of Azerbaijanism. This stage marks the peak of the entire historical development of Azerbaijanism. President Ilham Aliyev said in this regard: ‘The years of 1993-2003 were the years of development and stability. It was in those very years that the foundations of our statehood were laid, and the national ideology, that is, the idea of Azerbaijanism, was supported by the people’. As a brilliant bearer of the ideology of Azerbaijanism, Heydar Aliyev managed to realize the idea of national statehood, to build a modern state in Azerbaijan and fulfil the people’s desire for independence through his wise policy, firm conviction and historical farsightedness. The return of Heydar Aliyev to the political administration of the country exerted a great influence on the development of Azerbaijanism and the Azerbaijani people’s fight for freedom. Based on the idea of Azerbaijanism, the National Leader of the Azerbaijani People Heydar Aliyev ensured the comprehensive development of the country. For the first time he introduced multiculturalism as an integral part of the concept of Azerbaijanism. Academician Ramiz Mehdiyev in his book The National Idea of Azerbaijan in a Period of Global Transformation refers to eight stages in the birth and formation of the national idea of Azerbaijan from 1828 to the present day. Each stage begins with an important historical event. The seventh stage of the formation of the national idea of Azerbaijan covers the period from 1993 to 2003, when the National Leader of the Azerbaijani People Heydar Aliyev was in power. Highly appreciating the work done by Heydar Aliyev in shaping the national idea, Ramiz Mehdiyev writes: Section II Chapter 2
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