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

Use of Minority Languages in the Language, Culture and Education Policy of the Republic of Azerbaijan: Strategy and Application

One of the interesting facts about ethnic groups in Azerbaijan discovered by researchers is the long-standing existence of bilingualism.

The majority of non-titular languages occurring infrequently in the former Soviet Union were included in the list of endangered languages after the collapse of the country. One of the main reasons was the use of the Russian language as a tool in the policy of ‘sovietization’. Although the use of local languages was supported in the first years of the Soviet Union, the later spread of Soviet ideology by means of the Russian language and the initiative to create a homo sovieticus with a single culture and language diminished the use of minority languages. In reality this policy endangered not only the languages of minorities, but also those of the titular nations of the sovereign republics. But of

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     course, in comparison with the languages of minorities the use of
     

the titular languages of sovereign states was much broader and these languages faced fewer threats. Therefore, the majority of these languages were included in the group of less endangered languages and in UNESCO’s Red Book after the collapse of the Soviet Union. But as has been mentioned before, in comparison with other post-Soviet and in general post-imperialist states, the languages of minorities in Azerbaijan have been much better preserved and are much healthier than their classification.

There are several potential reasons for the better protection and preservation of languages in Azerbaijan. First of all, even in the Soviet period the policy of Russification was given less scope than in other Soviet Republics. In the Soviet period the Soviet Socialist Republic of Azerbaijan was one of three sovereign states, alongside Georgia and Armenia, to enshrine the language issue in legislation. Although the Constitutions of 1921 and 1937 passed over the problem of language, the Constitution of 1956 embraced the Azerbaijani language as an official language of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Azerbaijan. The Constitutions of 1978 and 1995 also contain provisions on the official language and its protection and development. These Constitutions also ensure the protection, use and progress of the Azerbaijani language and its defence from the pressure of the Russian language. In comparison with other Soviet states, particularly the republics of Central Asia, the Azerbaijani language was used actively on all official occasions, in formal education and the mass media, and in all non-formal spheres with some exceptions. The Russian language did not spread to all areas in central Azerbaijan and especially not to the outlying parts of the country, which protected the other languages in Azerbaijan from the pressure of the Russian language as well. Even if the local languages were not used (or used minimally) in official spheres and education, the non-formal use of these languages was not

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restricted. In reality, in the Soviet period there were enough people from the older generation who spoke their native tongue and used local languages within the family.

The second reason is connected with the language policy pursued by the state after the independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the trend towards ‘nationalization’ became stronger and strengthening the status of the titular languages became a priority in state policy in most of the post-Soviet republics, particularly in the Baltic states and Georgia. Azerbaijan also began to pursue a firm policy to strengthen and expand the status of the official language as part of nation-state building. But that policy in Azerbaijan was not as radical as in other republics; on the contrary, it displayed a tolerant attitude towards other languages and cultures. For instance, though restrictions were placed on the use of the Russian language and the Russian-speaking population was compelled to learn the local languages in unrealistic conditions in the Baltic republics, the process of transition from Russian to Azerbaijani for the Russian-speaking population in Azerbaijan was gradual and smooth. While some Azerbaijani groups were created in several Russian-language schools in the Soviet period, none of those schools has been closed and they are still functioning today.

Local languages began to be taught, writing systems and alphabets were developed for some languages, and textbooks were published in the languages of minorities. At present local languages are taught regularly in the areas inhabited by the minorities. An important aspect of this is to attract people from the local communities to this work.

There are several centres in Azerbaijan for the languages and the cultures of minorities such as the Ronai Kurdish Cultural Centre, the Russian community, the Slavic Culture Centre, the Samur National Cultural Centre, the Turkan-Tel and Yashliq Tatar cultural

centres, the Vatan Cultural Centre of the Meskhetian (Ahiska) Turks, the Orain Udi Cultural Centre, the Talysh Avesta Association, the Buduq Cultural Centre, the Ingiloy community and so on. There are Georgian and Lezghi state theatres in Qakh and Qusar respectively. Newspapers and journals are published and daily radio and television programmes are broadcast in the minority languages. All this is done with the financial support of the state.

The third reason is connected with the Republic of Azerbaijan’s close cooperation with international organizations on ensuring the rights of minorities and improving ethnic languages and cultures. Azerbaijan signed and ratified the Council of Europe’s framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities in 2000 and signed the Council of Europe’s European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages the following year. This constituted a positive political step to expand and develop the use of ethnic minority languages and to prevent any potential risk to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country, taking into account the country’s bitter experience after independence. Azerbaijan made the corresponding political declarations after signing up to these conventions. For example, after the National Assembly had decided to join the framework Convention, it made the following declaration:

‘Confirming its commitment to national values and expressing its sympathy for the rights and freedoms of the people, the Republic of Azerbaijan declares that the ratification of the framework Convention on the Protection of National Minorities and the implementation of its provisions exclude any movement threatening its territorial integrity and its domestic and foreign security.’

Most of the languages of the minorities living in Azerbaijan are included in UNESCO’s Red Book of Endangered Languages. One reason for this is the small number of people who speak

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the language as their mother tongue. Global reasons, such as migration, international integration, the spread of social networks and the extinction of languages have not passed Azerbaijan by. However, it should be noted that international studies on Azerbaijan show that these languages have been better protected than in other regions and have been used very actively at the family and community level. International research shows that the switch from an ethnic language to the titular one is possible over several generations in the right conditions, but nevertheless people preserve and actively use these ethnic minority languages for a long time. Clifton writes that the ethnic Buduq, Qriz and Khinaliq people express their thoughts so fluently and flawlessly in their own languages and in Azerbaijani that they find it hard to say which of these languages they speak more freely. In his further research Clifton shows that the ethnic groups use the Azerbaijani language very fluently, almost at the level of the level of their mother tongue, but nevertheless, transition from their native languages to Azerbaijani is not very extensive, and the people remained bilingual for a long time. The bilingualism observed among the minorities in Azerbaijan is not subtractive, but additive bilingualism. In additive bilingualism the second language is not added at the expense of the first language, rather each language fulfils different functions. The main precondition for this is the intrusion of the titular language into spheres where non-titular languages are used. According to Albert Bastardas-Boada, the smaller languages should not compete with the larger languages. The small languages should have their own functions and the titular languages should not deprive them of those functions. On the one hand, this ensures the protection and development of the non-titular languages and, on the other hand, prevents the unnecessary competition of these languages with the titular

language. David Crystal considers religious ceremonies, local cultural events and other forms of intra-community communication in non-titular languages as main conditions to ensure the protection of those non-titular languages. Joshua Fishman notes that the use of local languages in the family is very important. The language policy pursued in Azerbaijan creates positive conditions to preserve the functions of non-titular languages. Though the Azerbaijani language is the only official language in the country, it does not penetrate into the specific areas in which non-titular languages are used, and does not interfere with the function inherent to them.

Thus, the use of languages within the family and community is strengthening. The languages are transmitted orally from generation to generation, and the young learn to understand their language. This attitude towards languages creates a sense of dignity, pride and responsibility in the speakers of the language, and this is one of the most important aspects of the preservation and protection of languages. The policy of multiculturalism pursued in Azerbaijan is built on linguistic diversity and is a source of pride not only for the speakers of a language, but for all citizens too.