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Hokuma Abbasova
Azerbaijan University of Languages
ETHNIC MINORITY POLICY OF THE REPUBLIC OF
AZERBAIJAN AND THEIR RIGHT TO GET EDUCATION IN
MOTHER LANGUAGES
Introduction
Azerbaijan is one of the countries where historically different
ethnic groups lived side by side. The main population is ethnic
Azerbaijanis that figure out 91,6% of whole population, the other ethnic
groups are Lezgis, Russians, Talyshs, Avars, Tsakhurs, Kurds, Jews,
Udins, and Khinalugs 8,4% of population.
The Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan guarantees respect
for human rights and freedoms regardless ethnic origin, religion,
language or other distinctions. Thus, tolerance towards other nationalities
and ethnic groups is the main value of Azerbaijani people.
Geographical distribution
The latest population census conducted by the authorities of the
Republic of Azerbaijan dates from 2009 and according to this census,
Azerbaijan has a population of 8922.400 people of which 91,6 per cent
are ethnic Azerbaijanis. The main ethnic minorities are Lezgis (180.3
thousand or 2 per cent), Armenians (120.3 thousand or 1.3 per cent,
residing in Nagorno-Karabakh, territory occupied by the Armenian
Republic), Russians (119.3 thousand or 1.3 per cent), Talyshs (112
thousand or 1.3 per cent), Avars (49,8 thousand or 0.6 per cent), Turks-
Meskhetians (38 thousand or 0.4 per cent), Tatars (25.9 thousand or 0.3
per cent), Tats (25,2 thousand or 0.3 per cent), Ukrainians (21.5 thousand
or 0.3 per cent), Tsakhurs (12.3 or 0.1 per cent), Georgians (9,9 thousand
or 0.1 per cent), Jews (8,9 thousand or 0.1 per cents, which are divided
into European (Ashkenazi), Mountainous and Georgian Jews), Kurds
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(6,1 thousand or 0.1 per cent), Udins (3.8 thousand or 0.04 per cent) and
Khinaligs (2.2 thousand or 0.02 per cent)
13
.
The ethnic groups living in the territory of Azerbaijan Republic
belong to four language families – Turkic, North Caucasian, Indo-
European and Kartvelian. The majority of population –Azerbaijanis-
belongs to Oghuz group of the Turkic languages and speaks Azerbaijani
languages.
Lezgis, Avars, Tsakhurs, Udis, Kryzs, Budugs and Khinaligs
belong to the North Caucasian subgroup and they mainly live in the
northeast and northwest of Azerbaijan. These groups have lived on the
territory of present-day Azerbaijan since ancient times (Yunus, 2004/5,
488). Muslim and Christian Ingiloys (Georgians) inhabited in the
northwest of Azerbaijan belongs to Kartevlian language family. Talishs,
Tats and Kurds belong to the Iranian languages group of the Indo-
European family of languages. Talishs one of the biggest ethnic group in
Azerbaijan are inhabited mainly in southeastern part of the country and
in Baku. The Tats divided into three religious groups: Muslim Tats,
Christian Tats (Monophysites) and the Tats-Judaists or Mountain Jews
mainly live in northeastern part of Azerbaijan (Gerber 2007, 8-10). The
Kurds mainly lived in some regions of Nakhchivan Autonomous
Republic and in Lachin, Kelbajar and Gubadly region. Lachin, Kelbajar
and Gubadly regions neighboring with Nagorno-Karabakh were occupied
by Armenian separatists, thus most of the Kurds became internal-
displaced persons and live in big cities such as Baku, Ganja and Sumgait
(Quliyeva 2012, 8).
The Russians who have settled in Azerbaijan at the 30s of the
19th century belong to the Slavic group of the Indo-European family of
languages and they mainly reside in the cities of Azerbaijan (Quliyeva
2012, 6).
13
Statistical yearbook of Azerbaijan 2016, State Statistical Committee of the Republic of
Azerbaijan, p 80
53
Armenians the other ethnic minority group belongs to the Indo-
European language family live mainly in the mountainous part of
Karabakh. Their mass settlement to this region from Iran and Turkey
began in the 20-30s of the 19th century after the “Turkmenchay Peace
Treaty” signed between Russian Empire and Iran on 10 February 1828.
It was impossible for Azerbaijani Government to conduct a
population census in 2009 in the territory of the former Nagorno-
Karabakh occupied by Armenia, but it is supposed that their number is
approximately 120,3 thousand. Indeed, as a result of war Armenia
occupied 20% of Azerbaijani lands in Nagorno-Karabakh and
neighbouring and surrounding 7 regions, which were homogeneously
Azeri-populated. Though there is a ceasefire since 1994 and negotiation,
still this problem stays unresolved and ethnic Armenian separatists, with
Armenia's support, continues to control the occupied territories of
Azerbaijan. Besides, about 30 thousand Armenians live outside of
Nagorno-Karabakh region, including Baku city, in spite of armed conflict
with Armenia and continued occupation (Yunus 2004/5, 488)
Furthermore, the Nagorno-Karabakh war has deeply affected inter-
ethnic relations in Azerbaijan. After hard years of war some Azerbaijanis
and as well minorities including Armenians, Russians, Jews and etc.
emigrated to foreign countries for better life. In fact due to the war
economic situation of the country was not so good and this led some of
the ethnic minorities which have relatives in other countries leave the
country. According to the 1999 census, the Russian population in
Azerbaijan fell to a third of its 1979 level, with 141’700 officially
registered. The current estimates are even lower, at about 119.300. The
same trend affected smaller minority groups, such as the Avars, Jews,
Ingiloys, Tats, and Tsakhurs
14
.
Historical background
14
Statistical yearbook of Azerbaijan 2016, State Statistical Committee of the Republic of
Azerbaijan, p 80.
54
Today the Republic of Azerbaijan has an ethnically diverse
population. Representatives of more than 100 ethnos live in the country.
Representatives of all nationalities, small peoples, ethnic minorities and
ethnic groups lived together in harmony from the ancient times in
Azerbaijan. Undoubtedly, this phenomenon stems from the national
mentality of Azerbaijanis, their tolerance towards cultures of other
peoples.
The tolerance towards the ethnic minorities in Azerbaijan has a
long history. The first secular democratic republic in the Muslim world
the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was proclaimed by the Azerbaijan
National Council on 28 may 1918. The declaration of independence of
the ADR - guaranteed the civil rights to all the citizens residing within its
borders irrespective of nationality, religious confession, class affiliation,
estate and sex
15
.
During the ADR - in the first Azerbaijani Parliament the national
minorities were well represented. In fact out of 120 seats, 21 were
occupied by Armenians, 10 by Russians, 4 by Germans, Jews, Georgians
and Polishes
16
.
Even the Azerbaijani government passed the law on the right of
the national minorities to be educated in their mother tongue in 1918 that
recognized the right of the minorities living in Azerbaijan to be educated
in their own. The Law on Citizenship from August 1919 introduced jus
soli extending Azerbaijani citizenship to all the subjects born on the
territory of the ADR (Агамалиева 1998, 313).
The territory of Azerbaijan was occupied by Red Army on 28
April of 1920 and became part of USSR. During the first years of USSR
Soviet policies were rather supportive of cultural diversity and ethnic
identity. In the 1920s, most of ethnic groups in USSR had their own
schools and even issued magazines and newspapers in their languages.
But by the 1930s, when Stalin created his authoritarian regime there were
15
Azərbaycan Cümhuriyyəti Hökumət qanun və binagüzarlıqları məcmuəsi, 1919, №1, s.
5—7.
16
Azərbaycan tarixi, VII cilddə, V cild, Bakı, Elm 2008, 282.
55
drastic changes in Soviet ethnic policies. Ethnic minorities in the Soviet
Union were subjected to strict constraints (Matveeva 2002, 8).
During the Soviet period population censuses deliberately
understated the numbers of minor ethnic populations. Some minorities
were classified as parts of bigger ethnicities. At the consequence of
Soviet policy toward ethnic minorities some groups simply vanished
from the Soviet ethnic map.
Ethnic minority policy of the Republic of Azerbaijan after
independence
With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the fall of communism,
the restoration of the independence was perhaps one of the greatest
achievements in the history of the modern Azerbaijan. It also brought
new challenges and tasks ahead of the young country. The newly
established Republic of Azerbaijan considers the issue of protection of
national minorities in the framework of its multiculturalism policy.
Azerbaijan’s Constitution and citizenship legislation reveals that
Azerbaijan’s nation-building policies have been, indeed, consistently
“civic” and not“ethnic” in character. The state, in fact, supports actively
the minorities living on the territory of the country. It is important to
observe that the notion of ethnicity is deliberately avoided and has been
even removed from state-issued identification documents.
The laws supporting multiculturalism in Azerbaijan are:
- Presidential Decree “On the protection of the
rights and freedoms and on state support for the promotion
of the languages and cultures of national minorities,
numerically small peoples and ethnic groups living in the
Republic of Azerbaijan (approved in 1992);
- The Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan
(approved in 1995);
- The Criminal Code (approved in 2000);
- Law on Culture (approved in 2012).
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The Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan was approved on
November 12, 1995 through a referendum and came into force in
December 1995. It defines the preliminary conditions for Azerbaijan’s
multiculturalism policy. The rights of minority groups are guaranteed in
Article 18-Religion and state, Article 21- State language, Article 25-
Right to equality, Article 44- Right to nationality, Article 45- Right to
use mother tongue, Article 47-Freedom of thought and speech, Article
48-Freedom of conscience. According to the Constitution irrespective of
his/her nationality, religion, political identity, every citizen in the
territory of Azerbaijan enjoys an identical right.
Azerbaijan is party to more than 50 International Conventions
including International Convention on Elimination of All Forms of
Racial Discrimination, Council of Europe - Framework Convention for
the Protection of National Minorities, Charter for Regional or Minority
Languages, The European Convention on Protection of Human Rights
and Fundamental Freedoms (Quliyeva 2012, 5).
Specific measures are implementing by Azerbaijani Government
in pursuit of the State's policy in the following directions:
- the conservation and development of the distinctive cultures;
- languages and religions of national minorities and ethnic
groups;
- the free exercise of national traditions and customs, religious
ceremonies;
- the safeguarding of historical and cultural monuments
belonging to all national groups.
In 2005, a law was passed which allowed public broadcasting in
minority languages. Today the Government of Azerbaijan sponsors radio
broadcasts in Kurdish, Lezghian, Talish, Georgian, Russian and
Armenian. Ethnic communities of Azerbaijan publish approximately 15
newspapers in their languages and 30 in Russian (Quliyeva 2012, 5).
There are about 30 organizations and national cultural centers of
national minorities functioning in Azerbaijan. In areas with compact
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minority populations there are national and state theatres, amateur
associations, club-based amateur societies.
Education in minority languages: problems and challenges
All citizens of the Republic of Azerbaijan have equal rights of
education that is carried out in official language. However according to
Article 45 of the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Article 7 of
the Law "On Education", and Article 3 of the Law "On Official
Language", education may be carried out in different languages of
national minorities.
17
The Republic of Azerbaijan demonstrates respect to and creates a
favorable condition for all citizens regardless of their linguistic
background. Thus, in regions that are densely populated by minority
groups, schools offer two hours of classes per week in minority
languages (Council of Europe 2017, 22).
Statistically in 357 schools of 14 regions of the Republic of
Azerbaijan approximately 34 thousands of schoolchildren are taught
minority languages, such as Talysh, Lezghi, Avar, Tsakhur, Kurdish,
Judeo-Tat, Udi, Hebrow and Khinalug. Moreover, ten schools are run in
the regions of Azerbaijan with Georgian language instruction of which 6
schools, language of instruction is solely Georgian (Council of Europe
2017, Annex4). “Chabad Ohr Avner” is a Jewish school and Hebrew
language is taught at school number 46, both operate in Baku (Council of
Europe 2017, 19-20).
According to the Presidential Decree “On the protection of the
rights and freedoms and on state support for the promotion of the
languages and cultures of national minorities, numerically small peoples
and ethnic groups living in the Republic of Azerbaijan”, in total 16
textbooks and other teaching materials in minority languages have been
published since 1992 (Council of Europe 2017, 22).
17
Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan, 12 November 1995, Article 45.
58
Moreover, 21 books for I-IV grades have been translated into
Georgian language in 2016 for the 10 schools where the instruction
language is Georgian. All the textbooks (except Georgian language) for
V - X grades are planning to be translated into Georgian language next
year (Illik hesabat 2016, 29).
The main difficulty of children belonging to ethnic minority
groups is their bad knowledge of instruction languages. The new pre-
school preparation classes help children to improve their knowledge on
Azerbaijani language or the other instruction languages (English,
Russian, and Georgian). The program prepares 5-year-old children to
schools 4 times a week. In 2015, the above-mentioned program covered
only 24% of all 5-year-olds, while in 2016, this figure reached 55, and it
is projected that the coverage will reach 70% in 2017 (Illik hesabat 2016,
18).
Conclusion
For centuries along with Azerbaijanis, representatives of a number
of other small peoples and ethnic minorities lived in the spirit of mutual
understanding and respect in Azerbaijan. The Constitution of the
Republic of Azerbaijan guarantees identical rights to all of citizens
irrespective of his/her nationality, religion, political identity.
According to the Constitution and Law on Education ethnic
minorities could get their education in their mother languages.
Despite there are some problems, like lack of teachers to teach in
ethnic languages and find specialist while preparing textbooks in ethnic
minority languages and still there is need to improve the level of
knowledge of instruction languages of children belonging to ethnic
minority groups, the Azerbaijani Government tries to create favorable
condition to all of its citizens. Thus can be the integration of ethnic
minorities to the society and not the segmentation.
59
Bibliography
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