Ministry of Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan Baku International Multiculturalism Centre Azerbaijani Multiculturalism Textbook for Higher Education

5.6. Multiculturalism in the Language Policy of the Republic of Azerbaijan


Linguistic and cultural diversity in Azerbaijan:


a general view

Azerbaijan is one of the rare countries where different cultures and languages coexist in conditions of mutual recognition and acknowledgment. There are six languages in Azerbaijan from the Indo-European language group (Kurdish, the language of the Mountain Jews, Tat, Talysh, Khalaj and Armenian), eight languages from the North Caucasian language group (Avar, Buduq, Khinaliq, Qriz, Lezghi, Rutul, Sakhur, Udi) and one language from the Kartvelian group (Ingiloy) besides Azerbaijani, which is the official language of the country. We should also take into consideration the languages of different peoples that migrated to Azerbaijan too (Russians, Ukrainians, Tatars, Georgians, Meskhetian Turks, European Jews or Ashkenazi).

Taking into consideration the languages of all the minorities, languages from the Indo-European, Semitic-­Hamitic, Turkic and Caucasian language groups are used in Azerbaijan. According to the 2009 census, 8.4 per cent of the people of the Republic of Azerbaijan are from minorities. The complex nature of the language map is connected with the minorities living in border zones. According to sociolinguistic research, these areas are potentially sensitive to separatism which is why a very cautious policy is pursued towards national minorities in post-imperial states (for example, restrictions on the use of minority languages). Stephen May writes that national conflicts are often concealed

330 in the early stages beneath demands for language rights. Today

such ‘a cautious’ policy is conducted in some countries, where such problems exist. But there is another political attitude which is manifest in the struggle of minorities to develop their languages, to pass them down to future generations, to use their languages in everyday life, to take pride in their national identity, to express their thoughts in their own languages freely and to create the necessary conditions and opportunities for this. The first political attitude sees language and cultural diversity as a problem, while the second appreciates this diversity as a national and social good. Azerbaijan chose the second political attitude towards national minorities as much as possible in the Soviet period and particularly in the period after independence. From the first day of its independence Azerbaijan’s language policy was aimed at ensuring the use and development of minority languages in all possible spheres on condition that this does not threaten the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country. Therefore, despite the existence of this complicated language picture, different languages have been able to preserve their existence for a long time and are being used in Azerbaijan today.

The declaration of multiculturalism as a priority in state policy and the way of life of society are evidence that national, linguistic and cultural diversity is appreciated as a resource in Azerbaijan. The Baku International Multiculturalism Centre, set up on an instruction of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan of 15 May 2014, is designed to protect language and cultural diversity and to develop it as a national resource. The Centre’s work includes the thorough study of the languages existing in Azerbaijan and the drafting of strategy to protect and preserve these languages and to determine their future development. In fact, the strategy of multiculturalism has been built on the traditions of language policy in independent Azerbaijan. Local and foreign researchers have been able to study the languages in the territory of Azerbaijan, record these languages

Section II

Chapter 5

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Azerbaijani Multiculturalism

and create alphabets for them, develop textbooks for their study, etc. For example, the Summer Institute of Linguistics in the USA initiated the investigation of the languages of Azerbaijan and published the results of their research in 2002 in two volumes edited by John Clifton. For several years foreign scholars supported by the Volkswagen Foundation of Germany and the National Science Foundation of the USA have been studying the Khinaliq language. The language is to be documented as part of these international projects. The President of the Republic of Azerbaijan issued an instruction on 19 December 2007 that the village of Khinaliq be given the status of a national park and be protected for its national and cultural value.