In the last few days, the entire Azerbaijani-language Facebook has attacked Milli Majlis deputy and oppositionist Fazil Mustafa with accusations, however, Russian-language Facebook also contributed. The parliamentarian was defamed with all sorts of words, but all because he wrote on his page on this social network that in history there was no state called “Azerbaijan”...
He made a similar statement on the air of one of the Azerbaijani TV channels. “I know only one truth. The state of Azerbaijan was formed only in 1918. Today's Azerbaijan is the heir of this very state. I said this on television,” the deputy claims, adding that everyone who objects should give examples or try to convince him.
There, on FB, he expresses the idea that in Azerbaijan many people invent history and exploits so that the people believe in their heroic past. “However, our society needs the truth, and even if some consider it revisionism or blasphemy, I don’t care!” - he writes. The lawyer especially emphasizes that quite a lot of time has passed since his speeches in the media on this topic, but no counterarguments appeared anywhere to cross out his statements, and there were no more or less objective objections as such. That is, no one dared to argue with him on the basis of facts and concrete evidence.
A little history
Let us, however, before being indignant or agreeing with Fazil Mustafa, try to analyze his stunning declarations for many. So, according to all written sources, the traceable history of Azerbaijan dates back to the 1st millennium BC, when the state of Manna was formed on the territory of northern Iran. Having significantly expanded its borders by the 7th century. BC, in alliance with Babylonia, it conquered Assyria and Urartu. Thus, a new state appeared - Media. Under the Iranian ruler Atropate, Manna received the name Median Atropatene. According to some versions, it was from this word that the modern name “Azerbaijan” was subsequently derived.
“Azer” in Arabic means fire, and “Azerbaijan” thus means “land of fires or fire worshipers.” During education Arab states Azerbaijan came under their influence, and Islam began to spread on its territory (VII century AD). After the Arab conquest, the territory was called Aderbaijan, combining North and South Azerbaijan. With the invasion of the Seljuk Turks and Mongol-Tatars, the process of Turkization began (XI-XIV centuries), and the states of the Atabeks, Gara-Goyunlu and Aggoyunlu appeared here. Later, the Safavid state appeared on these lands, in the 16th-18th centuries, and its territory became the object of struggle between Persia and the Ottoman Empire.
Before the annexation of Azerbaijan to Russia (1813-1828), it represented several feudal states(khanates), the largest of which are Kuba, Baku, Karabakh and Shirvan. After joining Russia, the territory of modern Azerbaijan began to be called the Baku province. On May 28, 1918, the first parliamentary democratic republic in the Muslim East, the Azerbaijani Republic, was proclaimed in the eastern part of the South Caucasus. Democratic Republic- ADR) with its capital in the city of Ganja. After the occupation of the ADR by the Red Army, the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic was created, and in December 1922, the entire Transcaucasia, which territorially included Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia, formed the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (TSFSR). Later, in 1922, it became part of the USSR, and in 1936 it was dissolved, thereby forming three individual republics, which became part of the USSR.
As you can see, the name "Azerbaijan" our country received it only in 1918. No matter what anyone says, history is as stubborn a thing as facts, and in fact F. Mustafa told the truth.
Friendly neighbors - Baku Tatars
Azerbaijanis are one of those peoples who, due to their origin, in some respects stand apart. One of the reasons is that the past is practically closed to us: over the course of less than a century, only the alphabet was forced to change three times, that is, the whole people had to re-study the written heritage three times. It was especially difficult during the transition from Arabic to Latin script.
Before the October Revolution, when there was no particular smell of atheism, Azerbaijani intellectuals, as true Muslims were supposed to, began their works with the Koranic saying “Bismillah Rahmani-rahim,” that is, “in the name of Allah I begin.” And for representatives new government all books beginning with “the name of Allah” were naturally subject to immediate destruction, by the way, like those individuals who received an education in some Istanbul, Najaf or Damascus.
In addition, people who could read and write based on the Arabic alphabet were considered illiterate, and in post-revolutionary conditions they turned out to be so - their knowledge was not suitable for the new government. In pre-tsarist times, when the Azerbaijanis were subjects of the Persian Shah, they were treated as wayward and restless people, and were not very favored. Although among those who at different times occupied the throne or were very close to it, there were also Azerbaijanis. Looking ahead, I will note that to this day - now in modern Iran - the attitude of the authorities towards the Azerbaijanis is approximately the same, and for good reason. The Azerbaijanis were at the origins of all the revolutions that took place in Iran in the 20th century. The nation, which makes up almost half of the country's population, still does not have the opportunity to educate children in their native language.
Oil and gas fields located on the territory of Iranian Azerbaijan are not developed in order to avoid the concentration of a critical mass of people capable of organizing there. Until recently, Tabriz, the capital of southern Azerbaijanis, was completely inaccessible to “Soviet” Azerbaijanis.
For those who, as a result of the division of Azerbaijan, found themselves on this side of the Araz (Araks) River, that is, as part of Russian Empire, little has changed. In tsarist times, Azerbaijanis, as unreliable people (non-Christians), had special “privileges”. They were not taken into the army (except perhaps the sons of some highly distinguished aristocrats). They were so distrusted that Russian or Armenian settlers were settled along the state borders in Azerbaijan just in case. Azerbaijanis were even denied a self-name (which was and still is the case in Iran), perhaps with the aim of dissolving into the mass of other nationalities. They were called in best case scenario, who lightly pleased the imperial authorities with the religious affiliation of their “benevolent” neighbors, Muslims, Caucasian Turks, Caucasian or Baku Tatars.
The phenomenon of a young nation
Despite the abundance of historical material on ancient and medieval Azerbaijan, the essence and criteria of the “Azerbaijani state” phenomenon have not been fully studied. The question is: which of the countries that existed in antiquity and the Middle Ages can be called “Azerbaijani” and which cannot? The complexity of the problem is due to the fact that the lands of Azerbaijan were not always part of a single state, and not all states created by our ancestors were called “Azerbaijan”. In particular, the states that existed on its modern territory bore alternately different names - Manna, Media, Caucasian Albania, Shirvan, Arran, the states of the Eldenizids, Elkhanids, Safavids, etc. In general, the nation state is a phenomenon of late times. In the Middle Ages, states throughout the world were tribal, dynastic, but not national, in modern sense of this word, character. This was the case in Europe and Asia, and Azerbaijan is no exception in this sense.
The culmination of nation-state building in Azerbaijan was the proclamation of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR) on May 28, 1918 - the first republic in the entire Muslim world. Unlike medieval state formations, the ADR was a national state that did not protect the rights of one or another feudal dynasty to own one or another part of the country, but implemented the right of the Azerbaijani people to national self-determination.
Leader national movement M.E. Rasulzade, at a meeting of the ADR parliament in 1919, dedicated to the anniversary of the independence of Azerbaijan, said the following in this regard: “All other states of Turkic origin in their emergence were based mainly on a religious basis, while the Republic of Azerbaijan is based on the modern basis of national-cultural self-determination , on the basis of Turkic national democratic statehood.” For the first time in the Islamic world, the ADR introduced a multi-party parliamentary system, a republican system, separated church and state, adopted a law on the national language, ensured the rights of national minorities and granted women the right to vote. The countdown began from this date new era in the history of state building in Azerbaijan.
Answering the perplexed question of Baku students back in 1918, famous historian, orientalist Vasily Bartold wrote: “... the term Azerbaijan was chosen because when the Republic of Azerbaijan was established, it was assumed that Persian and this Azerbaijan would form one whole... On this basis, the name Azerbaijan was adopted.” Later, after the fall of the ADR, the Azerbaijan SSR from a non-national republic, according to the plan of the “father of nations,” was to become national republic and cease to be an exception among others created by nationality republics
The political aim of this project, which for obvious reasons was not advertised, was to create an independent nation from a local ethno-conglomeration, equidistant from the Turkish and Persian identities. This was the underlying idea behind the project. Again, personally M.E. Rasulzadeh was responsible for resolving the issue of the historical name of the northwestern province of Iran, which, despite the protests of Iran, was assigned as the name of the first proclaimed statehood.
Both in 1918-1920, and after the establishment of Soviet power in Baku, the name “Azerbaijan” had no geographical meaning in relation to the east of Transcaucasia, since it was introduced as the name of a state entity. Eastern Transcaucasia had never been called Azerbaijan before. There was no such concept as “Azerbaijanis” in the lists of the First All-Union Census; it did not exist. There is hardly any doubt that, given even the most minimal prerequisites for uniting the disparate Turkic unions into a nation, the leaders of the Soviet state would not fail to take advantage of this opportunity.
In the questionnaires of the All-Union Census, the Turkic Muslim population of Transcaucasia was included under the collective column “Turks”, since the Soviet authorities (as of the mid-twenties) could not offer anything more substantive - the people did not emerge in any way and the name “Azerbaijanis” appeared only after Stalin's decisions.
So Fazil Mustafa did not reveal anything unusual, he simply presented historical realities. We should not be like the Armenians and build myths - oh, they say, how ancient we are. Yes, we are a young state and a young nation, and we should be proud of this no less than Americans are proud of the United States.
Azerbaijan, one of the oldest centers of human civilization, is the ethnic territory and historical homeland of the Azerbaijanis, who were originally the original population of this country. In the north, along the main Caucasus ridge, is the border of Azerbaijan with Russia. From the east it is washed by the Caspian Sea, and in the northwest and southwest, respectively, it neighbors Georgia and Armenia. Most of the territory of Azerbaijan is a vast plain bordered by mountain ranges gradually turning into lowlands.
The location of Azerbaijan in a climatic zone represented by 9 of the 11 climatic zones of the globe from subtropics to alpine meadows, the presence of fertile lands, many minerals, rich and diverse plant and animal world- all this contributed to the development of the economy, social and cultural life. The inhabitants of the ancient Azerbaijani land, in a stubborn struggle for existence, gradually switched to a tribal system, formed tribes, and then states, and finally formed into a nationality and an independent nation.
Azerbaijan, as part of the South Caucasus (“Transcaucasia”), a region with rich nature and healing climatic conditions, is historically considered the cradle of civilization. Already in the Stone Age (Paleolithic) people lived here. This is evidenced by archaeological finds in the Azykh cave in Garabagh. Stone tools were discovered there, which indicate that the people who inhabited these territories made arrowheads, knives, and axes for processing wood and cutting up carcasses. In addition, a Neanderthal jaw was discovered in the Azykh cave. The remains of ancient settlements were found near Mount Killikdag, near Khanlar. The main occupation of primitive people was hunting, which provided people with meat and leather for making clothes. But even then there was cattle breeding on the territory of Azerbaijan, and along the banks of the rivers people grew barley and wheat. 10 thousand years ago, an unknown artist who lived in Gobustan, not far from Baku, left us drawings about the life of people of that time.
Later, in this territory, people began to smelt copper arrowheads, household items, and jewelry, developing copper ore, which was located in the territory of present-day Nagorno-Karabakh, Gadabay, and Dashkesan regions. Copper objects were discovered on the Kultepe hill in Nakhichevan. In the second millennium BC. e. (Bronze Age) people living on the territory of today's Azerbaijan began to use bronze products in their households - knives, axes, daggers, swords. Such items were discovered in the regions of Khojaly, Gadabay, Dashkesan, Mingachevir, Shamkhor, etc. In the 4th millennium BC. e. tools began to be made of iron, which improved the quality of land cultivation. All this led to property inequality among the population, the primitive communal system fell into decay, which was replaced by new social relations. At the end of the 3rd millennium BC. e. In the southern region of modern Azerbaijan, the Lullubey and Kutian tribes were formed. At the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e. In the area of Lake Urmia lived the Mannaeans, who were mentioned in Assyrian cuneiform writings in the 9th century. BC e. At the same time, the state of Manna arose here, in the 7th century. BC e. - State of Media. Tribes of the Cadusians, Caspians, and Albanians also lived here. In the same area there was slave state Assyria. Because of the Greater Caucasus, tribes of Cimmerians and Scythians invaded here. So, as a result of communication, development and union of tribes into unions, a state formation began to be created. By the end of the 7th century. BC e. Manna became dependent on the more powerful state of the Medes, which included southern regions present Azerbaijan. After Little Media was captured by King Cyrus II, it became part of the ancient Persian Achaemenid state. In 331, the troops of Alexander the Great defeated the Persians. Lesser Media began to be called Atropatena (“country of the keepers of fire”). The main religion in the country was the worship of fire - Zoroastrianism. Atropatene was a country with a developed economy and cultural life; the country had writing, monetary relations, and crafts developed, especially wool weaving. This state lasted until 150 AD. e., the territory of which coincided with the borders of today's Southern Azerbaijan. The capital of the kings of Atropatene was the city of Ghazaka.
In the 1st century BC. e. – 1st century AD e. The state of Albania Caucasus emerges. Albanians, Legis, and Udins lived here. Christianity was adopted in Albania, churches were erected throughout the country, many have survived to this day. The country had writing. The Albanian alphabet consisted of 52 letters. These lands were exceptionally fertile, and it was believed that these lands were better irrigated than the lands of Babylon and Egypt. Grapes, pomegranates, almonds and walnuts were grown here, the population was engaged in cattle breeding, artisans made products from bronze, iron, clay, glass, the remains of which were discovered during excavations in Mingachevir. The capital of Albania was the city of Kabala, the ruins of which are located in the Kutkashen region of the republic. In the 1st century BC. e., in 66, the troops of the Roman commander Gnaeus Pompey moved to Albania. A bloody battle took place on the banks of the Kura, which ended in the defeat of the Albanians.
At the beginning of our era, the country faced one of the most difficult trials in its history - in the 3rd century, Azerbaijan was occupied by the Iranian Sassanid Empire, and in the 7th century by the Arab Caliphate. The occupiers resettled a large population of Iranian and Arab origin into the country.
In the first centuries of our era, the Turkish ethnic groups, which made up the bulk of the country's population and were from a military-political point of view more organized and strong, played vital role in the process of forming a single people. Among the Turkish ethnic groups, Turkish Oguzes predominated.
Since the first centuries AD Turkish language It was also the main means of communication between small peoples (national minorities) and ethnic groups living on the territory of Azerbaijan, and also played a connecting role between the north and south. At that time, this factor played a very important role in the formation of a single people, since in the period being described there was still no single religious worldview - monotheism, covering the entire territory of Azerbaijan. The worship of Tanra - the main god of the ancient Turks - tanryism - has not yet oppressed others enough religious worldviews and did not completely displace them. There was also Zarduism, fire worship, worship of the Sun, Moon, sky, stars, and so on. In the north of the country, in some parts of Albanian territory, especially in its western regions Christianity spread. However, the independent Albanian church operated in conditions of intense rivalry with neighboring Christian concessions.
With the adoption of the Islamic religion in the 7th century, a radical change occurred in the historical predestination of Azerbaijan. The Islamic religion gave a strong impetus to the formation of a single people and its language, played decisive role in accelerating this process.
The existence of a single religion between Turkic and non-Turkic ethnic groups throughout the territory of their distribution in Azerbaijan was the reason for the formation of common customs, the expansion of family relations between them, and their interaction.
The Islamic religion united under a single Turkic-Islamic banner all the Turkic and non-Turkic ethnic groups that accepted it, the entire Greater Caucasus, and contrasted it with the Byzantine Empire and the Georgian and Armenian feudal lords under its tutelage, who tried to subjugate them to Christianity. Since the middle of the 9th century, the traditions of the ancient statehood of Azerbaijan have been revived again.
A new political upsurge began in Azerbaijan: on the lands of Azerbaijan, where Islam was widespread, the states of the Sajids, Shirvanshahs, Salarids, Ravvadids and Shaddadids were created. Due to the creation independent states there was a revival in all areas of political, economic and cultural life. The Renaissance era began in Azerbaijani history.
The creation of their own states (Sajids, Shirvanshahs, Salarids, Ravvadids, Sheddadids, Sheki rule) after enslavement by the Sassanids and Arabs for about 600 years, as well as the transformation of Islam throughout the country into a single state religion, played an important role in the ethnic development of the Azerbaijani people, in the formation of its culture.
At the same time, during that historical period, when individual feudal dynasties often replaced each other, the Islamic religion played a progressive role in uniting the entire Azerbaijani population - both the various Turkic tribes that played the main role in the formation of our people, and the non-Turkic ethnic groups that mixed with them , in the form of a united force against foreign invaders.
After the fall of the Arab Caliphate, starting from the middle of the 9th century, the role of Turkic-Islamic states increased, both in the Caucasus and throughout the Near and Middle East.
The states ruled by the Sajids, Shirvanshahs, Salarids, Ravvadids, Sheddadids, Sheki rulers, Seljuks, Eldaniz, Mongols, Elkhanid-Khilakuds, Timurids, Ottomanids, Garagoyunids, Aggoyunids, Safavids, Afshanids, Gajars and other Turkic-Islamic dynasties left deep trace in history statehood not only of Azerbaijan, but also of the entire Near and Middle East.
From the XV-XVIII centuries and in the subsequent period, the culture of Azerbaijan's statehood was further enriched. During this period, the empires of Garagoyunlu, Aggoyunlu, Safavids, Afshars and Gajars were ruled directly by Azerbaijani dynasties.
This important factor provided positive influence on the internal and international relations of Azerbaijan, expanded the sphere of military-political influence of our country and people, the sphere of use of the Azerbaijani language, and created favorable conditions for even greater moral and material development of the Azerbaijani people.
During the period described, along with the fact that the Azerbaijani states played an important role in international relations and the military-political life of the Near and Middle East, they took a very active part in Europe-East relations.
During the reign of the great statesman of Azerbaijan Uzun Hasan (1468-1478), the Aggoyunlu Empire turned into a powerful military-political factor throughout the Near and Middle East.
The culture of Azerbaijani statehood has received even greater development. Uzun Hasan introduced the policy of creating a powerful, centralized state covering all the lands of Azerbaijan. For this purpose, a special “Legislation” was published. At the direction of the great ruler, the “Korani-Kerim” was translated into Azerbaijani, and the outstanding scientist of his time, Abu-Bakr al-Tehrani, was entrusted with writing the Oguzname under the name “Kitabi-Diyarbekname”.
At the end of XV - early XVI centuries, Azerbaijani statehood has entered a new stage of its historical development. The grandson of Uzun Hasan, the outstanding statesman Shah Ismail Khatai (1501-1524), completed the work begun by his grandfather and managed to unite all the northern and southern lands of Azerbaijan under his leadership.
A single Safavid state was formed, the capital of which was Tabriz. During the reign of the Safavids, the culture of Azerbaijani government increased even more. Azerbaijani language has become state language.
As a result of successful reforms of internal and foreign policy, carried out by Shahs Ismail, Tahmasib, Abbas and other Safavid rulers, the Safavid state turned into one of the most powerful empires in the Near and Middle East.
The outstanding Azerbaijani commander Nadir Shah Afshar (1736-1747), who came to power after the fall of the Safavid state, further expanded the borders of the former Safavid empire. This great ruler of Azerbaijan, a native of the Afshar-Turkic tribe, conquered Northern India, including Delhi, in 1739. However, the plans of the great ruler to create a powerful, centralized state in this territory did not materialize. After the death of Nadir Shah, the wide-territorial empire he ruled fell.
Local states appeared on the soil of Azerbaijan, which, even during the life of Nadir Shah, made attempts to rise up to fight for their freedom and independence. Thus, in the second half of the 18th century, Azerbaijan broke up into small states - khanates and sultanates.
At the end of the 18th century, the Gajars (1796-1925), an Azerbaijani dynasty, came to power in Iran. The Gajars again began to implement the policy begun by their great-grandfathers of subordinating the Garagoyun, Aggoyun, Safavid and all other territories that were under the rule of Nadir Shah, including the Azerbaijani khanates, to centralized rule.
Thus began the era of many years of wars between the Gajars and those trying to capture South Caucasus Russia. Azerbaijan has become a springboard for bloody wars between two great states.
Based on the Gulustan (1813) and Turkmenchay (1828) treaties, Azerbaijan was divided between two empires: Northern Azerbaijan was annexed to Russia, and Southern Azerbaijan was annexed to the Gajar-ruled Iranian Shah. Thus, in the subsequent history of Azerbaijan, new concepts appeared: “Northern (or Russian) Azerbaijan” and “Southern (or Iranian) Azerbaijan”.
To create support for itself in the South Caucasus, Russia began to massively resettle the Armenian population from neighboring regions to the occupied Azerbaijani lands, in particular, the mountainous regions of Karabakh, the territories of the former Erivan and Nakhichevan khanates. On the lands of Western Azerbaijan - the former territories of the Erivan and Nakhichevan khanates, bordering Turkey, the so-called "Armenian region" was urgently created and for a specific purpose. This is how the foundation for the creation of the future Armenian state was laid on the soil of Azerbaijan.
In addition, in 1836, Russia liquidated the independent Albanian Christian Church and placed it under the control of the Armenian Gregorian Church. Thus, even more favorable conditions were created for the Gregorianization and Armenianization of Christian Albanians, who are the oldest population of Azerbaijan. The foundation was laid for new territorial claims of Armenians against Azerbaijanis. Not satisfied with all this, royal Russia resorted to an even more dirty policy: having armed the Armenians, she incited them against the Turkic-Muslim population, which resulted in massacres Azerbaijanis in almost the entire territory occupied by the Russians. Thus began the era of genocide of Azerbaijanis and the entire Turkic-Muslim people of the South Caucasus.
The struggle for freedom in Northern Azerbaijan ended in unprecedented tragedies. In March 1918, the Dashnak-Bolshevik government of S. Shaumyan, which seized power, carried out a ruthless genocide against the Azerbaijani people. Brotherly Turkey extended a helping hand to Azerbaijan and saved the Azerbaijani population from the wholesale massacre carried out by the Armenians. The liberation movement won and on May 28, 1918, the first democratic republic in the East was created in Northern Azerbaijan - the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, being the first parliamentary republic in the history of Azerbaijan, was, at the same time, an example of a democratic, legal and world state in the entire East, including the Turkic-Islamic world.
During the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the history of parliament was divided into two periods. The first period lasted from May 28, 1918 to November 19, 1918. During these 6 months, the first parliament in Azerbaijan - the Azerbaijan National Council, consisting of 44 Muslim-Turkic representatives, made extremely important historical decisions. On May 28, 1918, the Parliament declared the Independence of Azerbaijan, took over the issues of government and adopted the historic Declaration of Independence. The second period in the history of the parliament of Azerbaijan lasted 17 months - from December 7, 1918 to April 27, 1920. During this period, among others, it is necessary to note the Law on the establishment of the Baku State University adopted by Parliament on September 1, 1919. Opening national university was a very important service of the leaders of the Republic to their native people. Although the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic subsequently fell, the Baku State University played a vital role in implementing its ideas and in achieving a new level of independence for our people.
In general, during the existence of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, 155 parliamentary meetings were held, of which 10 took place during the period of the Azerbaijan National Council (May 27 - November 19, 1918), and 145 during the period of the Azerbaijan Parliament (December 19, 1918 - April 27, 1920).
270 bills were submitted for discussion in Parliament, of which about 230 were adopted. Laws were discussed in a heated and business-like exchange of opinions and were rarely adopted before the third reading.
Despite the fact that the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic existed for only 23 months, it proved that even the most brutal regimes of colonies and repression are not able to destroy the ideals of freedom and traditions of independent statehood of the Azerbaijani people.
As a result military aggression The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic fell to Soviet Russia. The independence of Azerbaijani statehood in Northern Azerbaijan has come to an end. On April 28, 1920, the creation of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic was announced on the territory of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic ( Azerbaijan SSR).
Immediately after the Soviet occupation, the process of destroying the system of independent government created during the existence of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic began. The "Red Terror" reigned throughout the country. Anyone who could resist the strengthening of the Bolshevik regime was immediately destroyed as an “enemy of the people,” “counter-revolutionary,” or “saboteur.”
Thus, after the March genocide of 1918, a new round of genocide of the Azerbaijani people began. The difference was that this time the chosen people of the nation were destroyed - outstanding statesmen Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, generals and officers National Army, progressive intelligentsia, religious leaders, party leaders, politicians, famous scientists. This time the Bolshevik-Dashnak regime deliberately destroyed the entire advanced part of the people in order to leave the people without leaders. In reality, this genocide was even more terrible than the one carried out in March 1918.
The convening of the first Congress of Soviets of the Azerbaijan SSR on March 6, 1921 completed the Sovietization of Northern Azerbaijan. On May 19 of the same year, the first Constitution of the Azerbaijan SSR was adopted.
After the Azerbaijani people lost their independent government, the plunder of their wealth began. Canceled private property to the ground. All the country's natural resources were nationalized, or rather, they began to be considered state property. In particular, to manage the oil industry, the Azerbaijan Oil Committee was created, and the management of this committee was entrusted to A.P. Serebrovsky, sent to Baku personally by V.I. Lenin. Thus, Lenin, who sent on March 17, 1920 to the Military Revolutionary Council Caucasian Front a telegram that said: “It is extremely important for us to conquer Baku” and gave the order to capture Northern Azerbaijan, achieved his dream - Baku oil passed into the hands of Soviet Russia.
In the 30s, large-scale repressions were carried out against the entire Azerbaijani people. In 1937 alone, 29 thousand people were subjected to repression. And all of them were the most worthy sons of Azerbaijan. During this period, the Azerbaijani people lost tens and hundreds of their thinkers and intellectuals such as Huseyn Javid, Mikail Mushfig, Ahmed Javad, Salman Mumtaz, Ali Nazmi, Taghi Shahbazi and others. The intellectual potential of the people, its best representatives, was destroyed. The Azerbaijani people could not recover from this terrible blow over the next decades.
The Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 united peoples Soviet Union against fascism. German troops were rushing to the rich deposits of Baku oil, but Azerbaijan, thanks to the heroism of the Soviet soldier, was not captured by the Nazis. The call “Everything for the front, everything for victory!” - turned the city of Baku into an arsenal Soviet army, more than a hundred types of ammunition were produced in the city, and Baku oil was the main fuel for the “engines” of the war. The Great Patriotic War affected every Soviet family. Hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis took part in the war, many of them were awarded orders and medals, and 114 Azerbaijani soldiers were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
However, already in 1948-1953, a new stage of mass expulsion of Azerbaijanis from their ancient homeland - Western Azerbaijan (the so-called territory of the Armenian SSR) began. The Armenians, supported and encouraged by the Russians, became even more entrenched in the lands of Western Azerbaijan. They were provided with a numerical advantage in this territory. Despite the great successes achieved as a result of the creative activities of the Azerbaijani people, in a number of objective and subjective reasons, negative trends began to appear in many areas of the Azerbaijani economy - both in industry and in agriculture.
In 1970-1985, during a historically short time, hundreds of plants, factories, and industries were created on the territory of the Republic. 213 large industrial enterprises were built and started working. In many industries, Azerbaijan occupied leading positions in the USSR. 350 types of products produced in Azerbaijan were exported to 65 countries. The enormous historical significance of all these creative works. This in fact was the entry of the Azerbaijani people into a new stage of rise in the 70s of the 20th century liberation movement.
The last, at the moment, stage in the history of statehood of Azerbaijan, which began on the eve of the fall of the USSR on October 18, 1991 with the adoption of the Constitution Act “On State Independence of the Azerbaijan Republic,” continues successfully to this day.
Throughout their history, the Azerbaijani states went through periods of rise and decline, were subjected to internal disintegration and external occupation. But, despite this, Azerbaijan has always maintained peaceful and calm relations with its neighbors.
In 1988, separatist terrorist groups of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region, together with the armed forces of Armenia, began to carry out military operations with the aim of appropriating Nagorno-Karabakh. They were joined by units of the USSR armed forces located in Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region. At the beginning, the places of residence of Azerbaijanis in Karabakh were seized. On January 19, 1992, Kerkijahan was captured, and on February 10, the villages of Malybeyli and Gushchular. The peaceful unarmed population was subjected to forcible eviction. The blockade of Khojaly and Shushi narrowed. In mid-February, Armenian and Soviet military units captured the village of Garadaghly. On the night of February 25-26, the most tragic event in modern history Azerbaijan. Armenian military formations, together with soldiers of the 366th motorized rifle regiment of Russia, committed a terrible massacre of the Azerbaijani civilian population in the village of Khojaly.
Modern Azerbaijan is a multinational state. The Republic of Azerbaijan is a state with a market economy. The main population is Azerbaijanis, the professed religion is Islam. Since ancient times, the main features of the traditions of the people of Azerbaijan have been hospitality, respect for elders, helping the weak, peacefulness and tolerance.
State capital – the beautiful city of Baku, a city with developed infrastructure, with a beautiful promenade on the seashore, with hotels, an abundance of restaurants with exquisite dishes of world-famous Azerbaijani cuisine and dishes from the cuisine of the world, with an abundance of offers for recreation and entertainment, with many theaters, art galleries, museums, parks. The parks of Baku are splashed with a scattering of diamonds, water jets of fountains, the fresh greenery of trees shelters from the summer sun.
Haykaram Nahapetyan
Correspondent for the Public Television of Armenia in the USA
Current Azerbaijan, by analogy with “caviar diplomacy”, is developing “caviar science”, not only in Azerbaijan, but also abroad, ordering “research” in which the territory of the modern Republic of Azerbaijan, as well as Artsakh, Zangezur and Yerevan, are presented as the millennia-old homeland of Azerbaijanis . Baku retroactively declares Christian monuments in the designated territories or in other Armenian settlements to be Albanian. Even if they were Albanian, even then Azerbaijan has no advantages over Armenia in terms of claiming the role of heir to the historically Christian territories of Aluanq. On the contrary, the Albanian/Aluan civilization was very close to the Armenian, having nothing in common with the Turkic-Tatar appearance of Azerbaijan.
As much as today's Egyptian Arabs can claim to be the historical owners of the pyramids, today's residents of Azerbaijan can claim that they have rights in relation to the Christian monuments of Aluanq. The only difference is that in Egypt no one makes such ridiculous statements.
However, there is something that Baku is no longer physically able to change - studies about our region already published in past centuries or decades. In those years, Azerbaijan was either not independent or did not exist at all, so neither “caviar diplomacy” nor the Heydar Aliyev Foundation operated at that time, and foreign specialists were free to conduct their research as objectively as possible.
The study of these particular studies can shed another ray of light on the Armenian-Azerbaijani contradictions both in Artsakh and on the topic of history in general.
At the same time, a significant part of these studies did not actually have any anti-Azerbaijani or pro-Armenian orientation. They simply stated objective reality.
What did the world's encyclopedias write?
The first edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica dates back to the 18th century (1768-1771). The Brockhaus and Efron encyclopedia published in the Russian Empire began publication in 1890. and was completed in 1907. The first encyclopedia on the topic of Islam was published in 1913, when the first volume was published. Groups consisting of dozens of specialists from the best scientific institutions worked on the encyclopedias. What did they say about Armenia and Azerbaijan?
Particularly noteworthy seems to be the Encyclopedia of Islam, the first edition of which was published in the Dutch city of Leiden under the title The Encyclopedia of Islam: A dictionary of the Geography, Ethnography and Biography of the Muhammadan peoples in 1913-1930 In 1960 publication of the updated edition has begun The Encyclopedia of Islam: new edition. The Azerbaijan section is presented differently in the two publications. Their comparison allows us to see the dynamics of the international perception of Azerbaijani identity.
In the first edition (1913), the name “Azerbaijan” referred exclusively to Iranian Atropatene. There is not a word about any Caucasian Azerbaijan in the encyclopedia. According to the encyclopedia, “modern Azerbaijan (talking about 1913. – Note A.N. ) in the north borders the Caucasus." That is, according to the encyclopedia, there is no Azerbaijan in the Caucasus, it exists only to the south of the Caucasus.
The encyclopedia presents Armenia in detail as a country in contact with the Muslim world and a geographically close country. Moreover, if the section of Azerbaijan takes up one and a half pages in the book, then Armenia is given 14 pages.
The publication calls Gandzak - Elisavetpol province and the city of Ordubad - part of Eastern Armenia. About Nakhichevan and Artsakh we read: “Nakhichevan, like Yerevan, played a key role in the history of Armenia. Shushi, part of the Karabakh region, was previously the capital of a separate khanate."
The existence of the Karabakh Khanate is not denied in Armenian historiography. Another thing is how it is connected with Azerbaijan. The Khanate was not called Azerbaijani, was not part of independent Azerbaijan, and before the conclusion of the Treaty of Gulistan it was under the control of Persia, not Azerbaijan. Otherwise, the tsarist general Rtishchev in October 1813. in Gulistan would have signed an agreement with Azerbaijan, and not with the Persian authorities. Modern Iran has never presented any claims to the Caucasus territorial claims, referring to their long-standing dominion. But the Baku scribblers, for some unknown reason, “privatized” part of the Persian rule, and at the same time, as we will see, also the Persian poet.
The context of the medieval history of Karabakh includes five local melikates, providing Artsakh with a semi-independent position.
In the second edition of the Encyclopedia of Islam (1960) the picture is somewhat different. Here Azerbaijan is again presented as one of the regions of Persia. Nevertheless, three paragraphs were added that fit on half a page, which talk about the already existing Caucasian non-sovereign Azerbaijan. It is noteworthy what the authors wrote about the newly-minted “Azerbaijan-2”: “ Turkish troops led by Nuri Pasha, occupied Baku on September 15, 1918. and reorganized former region, calling it Azerbaijan, explaining this by its similarity with the Turkic-speaking population of the Azerbaijan region in northern Persia."
In this edition, the encyclopedia also devotes 4 pages to the “Azerbaijan” section, and 16 pages talk about Armenia. It is quite obvious that there is nothing special to tell about Azerbaijan, and in general it is not yet entirely clear what to do with “Azerbaijan-2”. The Stalinist dictatorship could invent a new ethnic group, and then invent a history and poets for this ethnic group and impose it all within the framework of a totalitarian system. But in foreign academic circles, for which Soviet decrees were not a basis, confusion arose for a time with Azerbaijan.
In the section on Armenia in connection with the regrettable Alexandropol Treaty of 1920. in the new edition of the encyclopedia we read: “Turkey recaptured Kars and Ardahan, annexed the Igdir region lying southwest of Yerevan, and also demanded that Nakhichevan be established as an autonomous Tatar republic.”
We are talking about an encyclopedia published in 1960, that is, only 54 years ago, in which the authors define current Azerbaijanis as Tatars. And regarding Karabakh, it is noted that previously it was part of the Artsakh province of Armenia, “which in 1918-1920. was free from foreign domination." And it was not at all part of Musavatist Azerbaijan, as Azerbaijani propagandists claim.
In the 1940s The first edition of the encyclopedia, with some changes, was published in Turkey. As historian Ruben Galchyan noted, one of the changes concerned the paragraph about Azerbaijan, receiving a curious appearance: “The name Azerbaijan was used in relation to the northwestern regions of Iran, occasionally to Aran and Shirvan. After May 28, 1918 The state of Caucasian Azerbaijan was officially named Azerbaijan."
The last sentence may cause laughter due to its absurdity. In fact, in this paragraph, official Ankara tried to help its younger brother through falsification, distorting the original text of the Leiden Encyclopedia. But in Azerbaijan of the 21st century, this paragraph is unlikely to be perceived unambiguously positively, based on the fact that only 70 years ago, even for fraternal Turkey, the areas north of the Araks River were, at best, “occasionally called Azerbaijan” (and not constantly, as it wanted Baku), and modern Azerbaijan, according to a Turkish source, received this name, if not a nickname, only 97 years ago.
The Encyclopedia Britannica does not mention Caucasian Azerbaijan until the 14th edition. In the second volume released in April 1930. In the 14th edition we read that “the northwestern province of Persia, Azerbaijan, borders Soviet Azerbaijan in the north across the Araks River.” 85 years ago, the Encyclopedia Britannica simply did not write any other details about the Absheron country.
By the way, among the inhabitants of Iranian Atropatene, Britannica notes Turks, Armenians, Persians and Kurds, but not Azerbaijanis. According to the same source, “Iranian Atropatene borders on the Talysh country in the east.” We are talking about the modern Lenkoran region. It turns out that, according to perhaps the most authoritative encyclopedia of its time, there is no Azerbaijan and Azerbaijanis, but there are Talysh and the Talysh country.
The same 7-page encyclopedia talks about the history, literature, culture and language of Armenia, provides illustrations and maps.
The publication of the 14th reprint of the Encyclopedia Britannica was completed in 1973, and a year later the 15th reissue began to be printed under the title New Encyclopedia Britannica. This time it was written about Azerbaijanis that they are a mixed people ethnic origin. There is not even a hint in the encyclopedia that south-eastern part The Caucasus historically belonged to the Azerbaijani people.
According to the Russian Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron, Azerbaijan is the northwestern part of Persia, separated from Russian Armenia by the Araks River. From which it follows that the imperial encyclopedia also considered all of Karabakh as part of Russian Armenia.
In the Azeri section published in 1984. in the US encyclopedia “Muslims” we read: “Azeri Turks sometimes call themselves Azerbaijanis. They are divided into two groups, being under the dominion of the Persians and the Russians."
From Alexandre Dumas to Joseph Stalin: following the transformation of Tatars into Azerbaijanis
Author of "The Three Musketeers", "The Count of Monte Cristo" and other bestsellers of his time, Alexandre Dumas since June 1858. to February 1859 lived in the Russian Empire, and for the last three months - in the Caucasus, in particular in Tiflis, Dagestan settlements and Baku. Caucasian memories are summarized in Dumas’s book “The Caucasus,” published in the spring of 1859. in France, and in 1861 republished in Russia (with abbreviations).
The Russian gendarmerie was watching Dumas, and from different corners countries telegraphed to St. Petersburg about the movements of the French writer. Neither Dumas' memoirs nor the reports of the vigilant tsarist gendarmes mention Azerbaijan or Azerbaijanis. For example, the police report that on October 14, 1858. Dumas visited the house of the Astrakhan governor Struve, where he saw “Armenians, Tatars and Persians, in their home life and in national costumes.”
Dumas's Caucasian notes have put current researchers of Azerbaijan in a difficult position. The world fame of the writer is attractive, and it would be desirable for Azerbaijani writers to convey to the current generation the warm memories of the famous novelist about Azerbaijan. It is not clear what to do with such a small inconvenience: just 170 years ago, Dumas did not see either Azerbaijan or Azerbaijanis in the Caucasus (unlike Armenians, Georgians or, say, Lezgins). Aygun Eyubova, a doctor of historical sciences living in France, decided to ignore this inconvenience in her article “Dumas’s book “Caucasus” and his impressions of Azerbaijan.” Even more than that: Eyubova writes on her own behalf that Dumas fell in love with Azerbaijan very much and called upon the Azerbaijanis to be especially trusted among all the Caucasian peoples. Eyubova’s task was somewhat complicated by the need to directly quote the French writer himself. What to do if in Dumas’s quotes he talks about the Tatars and Persians living in Absheron or, say, characterizes Baku as “a city with a Persian appearance”? In such cases, next to the quote there is an editor's note that Dumas, it turns out, when speaking about the Persians or Tatars, did not actually mean what he wrote. And by what miracle Azerbaijani researchers of the 21st century managed to figure out these subtleties is not indicated in the article.
“We remind the reader that Dumas meant Azerbaijanis by “Tatars”, and by the adjective “Tatar” he meant “Azerbaijani” - ed.,” we read in Eyubova’s article, published in the Azerbaijani magazine “Irs-Heritage”. The same article contains the following quote from Dumas: “We came to Mahmud Bek. His house is one of the most charming Persian buildings that I have seen from Derbent to Tiflis (In Dumas’s novel, Azerbaijanis and the term “Azerbaijani” are sometimes also called Persians and “Persian”, respectively - ed.).”
Considering that the abbreviation “ed.” is indicated, and not the initials of the author of the article, one must assume that Dr. Eyubova, nevertheless, did not risk “correcting the mistakes” of the great novelist; this was done later - in the editorial office IRS-Heritage.
Dumas did not come to Armenia. However, the German traveler August von Haxthausen (1792-1866), who visited Yerevan and the northeastern regions of Armenia, visited us.
“The Shamshada region of the Elisavetpol province is inhabited by Armenians and Tatars. Armenians live in the mountains, the Tatars, who are more numerous, on rich plains. Armenians are engaged in agriculture, goat breeding and viticulture. The Tatars are engaged in animal husbandry, horse breeding... The Tatars are rich and lazy, the Armenians, on the contrary, are very hardworking,” wrote a German traveler.
None of the encyclopedias of the late 19th and early 20th centuries presented at the beginning of the article contain any mention of any version of the ethnonym Azerbaijani ( Azeri, Azerbaijani, Azerbaijani).
In 1913 in the article “Marxism and national question» Joseph Dzhugashvili-Stalin mentions the Caucasian Tatars 11 times, but nowhere does he write the word “Azerbaijani”. After the October Revolution, on November 20, 1917, in his appeal to the Muslims of the East, Vladimir Lenin also did not mention the Azerbaijanis, but wrote about “the Turks and Tatars of the Caucasus.” In the American press of the same period, Muslims were called “Tartars”: the New York Times newspaper in the article “The Armenians of Baku are being destroyed” uses the variant “harar”. White Guard General Anton Denikin in his memoirs calls Musavatist Azerbaijan an artificial country - starting with its name.
In 1926 The first population census was conducted in the Soviet Union. Among the registered nationalities, there are again no “Azerbaijanis”. The census results mention such peoples as the Yakuts, Mordovians, Buryats, Vainakhs, Permians, but not the Azerbaijanis. The list contains the ethnonym “Turks”, under which what was later called “Azerbaijani” was partially included. Published in 1929 In the Tbilisi official statistical directory “Transcaucasia in Figures” the ethnonym “Azerbaijani” is again missing. On January 21, 1936, receiving the delegation of Soviet Azerbaijan in the Kremlin, Vyacheslav Molotov spoke about the peoples inhabiting Azerbaijan: “Russians, Armenians and Turks.” The then Prime Minister of the Soviet Union (Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars) did not know the word “Azerbaijani”.
Ethnically, Stalin's Gulag was as diverse as the Soviet Union, and since 1934. People's Commissariat Internal Affairs (NKVD) of the USSR prepared annual reports for the authorities on the ethnicity of prisoners. Up to 1940 (!) there are no “Azerbaijanis” in the NKVD reports. You can even find Japanese or Koreans on the list, but not Azerbaijanis.
Published in 1991 The series of articles by Russian historian Viktor Zemskov, “The Gulag: Historical and Sociological Aspect,” presents the ethnic composition of prisoners. The attached table, taken from the researcher’s article, clearly shows that the term “Azerbaijani” was first used only in 1940, and regarding previous years, Zemskov noted: “there is no information about Azerbaijanis,” adding that before 1939. Azerbaijanis were registered in the “other peoples” column.
In 1939 The ethnonym “Azerbaijani” was absent from the NKVD lists, but in the population census for the same year, unlike the 1926 census, Azerbaijanis were already mentioned. This contradictory situation continues for about another decade.
In particular, noting the 1944 census. and 1947, Zemskov writes that the number of Azerbaijanis in the Gulag is several times smaller than the number of Armenians and Georgians. “In our opinion, the answer lies in the fact that in the list of nationalities certain “Turks” are mentioned, and Azerbaijanis and Turks are Turkic-speaking peoples, and the Gulag extras apparently counted a significant part of the prisoners of these two nationalities among them,” he writes.
The collapse of the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Republic in 1937 gave a special impetus to the formation of the new ethnic group. Thus, Azerbaijan became a union republic, which, unlike Georgia and Armenia, had no history and for which it was urgently necessary to come up with a separate history.
The phrase of the author of the book “Azerbaijan from Independence and Beyond,” Svante Cornell, uttered on January 13, 2011, is typical. at Johns Hopkins University of Washington. Addressing the then Ambassador of Azerbaijan Yashar Aliyev, he exclaimed: “Who are you? Azerbaijanis, Azeri, Turks?..” After some confusion, the ambassador answered: Azerbaijanis.
Who is the first famous Azerbaijani?
The Azerbaijani side often accuses Armenians of attributing Armenian origin to various celebrities with non-Armenian surnames. It must be admitted that such a phenomenon actually occurs. We often look for something Armenian outside of Armenia. But is it unreasonable? For centuries, Armenia was characterized by mass emigration, and Armenians leaving for all four corners of the world gradually assimilated into the societies that received them, be it Poland or Singapore, Hungary or the USA. But if in the past painstaking work was required from Armenian specialists to substantiate the Armenian origin of our foreign compatriots with non-Armenian surnames, then modern DNA tests ( DNA) greatly facilitate the matter, allowing non-Armenian specialists to clarify how significant the presence of Armenian genes is in other societies. Last example This includes information about the Armenian origins of Princess Diana of England and Crown Prince William. It can be assumed that new high-profile discoveries are ahead, especially in connection with the development of DNA tests.
A more thorough analysis shows that the tendency to appropriate someone else’s property is more typical for today’s Azerbaijan. The reason is obvious: in addition to self-promotion, this is also part of attributing the history of centuries and millennia to one’s own ethnic group. As evidenced by many of the examples given, until modern times the Azerbaijani nation did not exist. Moreover, attempts to detect Azerbaijanis in any historical period inevitably contain elements of disinformation.
Let us turn to some of the names presented by Baku as outstanding Azerbaijanis - from Nizami to Muslim Magomayev.
The only “argument” for misleading incompetent people regarding the Azerbaijani origin of the poet Nizami Ganjavi (1141-1209) can be the fact that he was born in Ganja-Gandzak, a city now located on the territory of Azerbaijan. But by the same logic, the Armenian historian Kirakos Gandzaketsi (1203-1271), who was born in the same place and at about the same time, can also be considered Azerbaijanis, even if his work is called “History of Armenia”.
Of course, Nizami was not Azerbaijani. This did not stop Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to the USA Elin Suleymanov in January 2013. on international forum on cultural diplomacy to make an epoch-making statement, they say, “scientists still have not figured out: did Shakespeare influence the Azerbaijani poet Nizami, or Nizami influence Shakespeare?” This again confirms that in the course of our own falsifications, our neighbor may find himself, to put it mildly, in a ridiculous position. The fact is that Shakespeare lived almost four centuries later than Nizami, so the latter could not have been familiar with the work of the English playwright. And Shakespeare’s acquaintance with Nizami’s works is also very unlikely: Shakespeare could hardly have been impressed by Nizami’s poetry, since he did not know oriental languages to at least read them. During Shakespeare's lifetime, Nizami had not yet been translated into English, and computer programs like Google translator It hasn't happened yet. To make its own falsification of Nizami’s appropriation more convincing, Baku is trying to make sensational statements, achieving the opposite result.
Approximately 120 years before Suleymanov's speech, the Hungarian Jewish scholar Wilhelm Backer (1850-1913) published an extensive study on Nizami. In 1870, while graduating from the University of Leipzig, Backer defended his thesis on Nizami’s work, which was later published as a separate book and translated into English in 1873. In this book, Nizami is considered a Persian poet whose mother was Kurdish. “His mother was of Kurdish origin, and the poet dedicated several lines to her,” writes Baker.
My mother, of distinguished Kurdish lineage,
My mother, in like manner, died before me.
To whom can I make my sorrowing supplication?
To bring her before me to answer my lament?
This is what Nizami himself writes. The poet’s lines about his Kurdish origin do not at all prevent the Absheronians from continuing to claim that he is Azerbaijani.
The appropriation of Nizami occurred in the late 1930s. On behalf of Stalin, Iranist Evgeniy Bartels took up the matter. Moreover, earlier, during the tsarist period, he published works in which Nizami was still called a Persian. This historical episode was examined in detail by researcher and journalist Aris Ghazinyan.
Let us note that Nizami is considered a Persian in the Encyclopedia of Islam, and in the Encyclopedia Britannica you can read that the Persian Nizami, according to one version, was born not in Ganja, but in Persia itself - in the city of Qom, 125 km southwest of Tehran, and then moved to Ganja.
“The place of his birth, or at least his father’s house, was on the heights of Qom, but he lived almost his entire life in Ganja, in Aran, which is why he became famous under the name Nizami Ganjavi,” notes the encyclopedia.
It is also noteworthy that Ganja, according to the encyclopedia, is not in Azerbaijan, but in Aran.
At the already mentioned forum, Azerbaijani Ambassador Elin Suleymanov introduced another writer, Kurban Said, as an Azerbaijani. If in the case of Nizami the Azerbaijani people are unanimous on the issue of his alleged Azerbaijani origin, then in the case of Kurban Said there are isolated exceptions, when even in Azerbaijan they admit that Kurban Said, nevertheless, was not an Azerbaijani.
For some time, mystery reigned around the name of Kurban Said. In 1935 the manuscript of his most famous work - the story "Ali and Nino" - mysteriously ended up in an Austrian publishing house E.P. Tal, which published the story in 1937. The book became a bestseller. The following year the publishing house published the second and last piece Kurbana Said - “The Girl from the Golden Horn”.
In the work of the American researcher Tom Reis, “The Orientalist: Unraveling the Riddle of the Strange and dangerous life"It turns out that the author of the book is Lev Nussimbaum.
Lev Nussimbaum was born in 1905. in Kyiv in a Jewish family, although, according to Reis, he may have been born during the Nussimbaums' move from Zurich to Tiflis and the exact place of his birth is unknown. But it is known that Lev Nussimbaum’s father, businessman Abraham Nussimbaum, was from Tiflis, and his mother, Berta Slutskin-Nusimbaum, was a Belarusian Jew and revolutionary.
When Lev was one year old, his parents moved to Baku to start the oil business. In 1918, during the reign of 26 Baku commissars, they moved to the other side of the Caspian Sea, then to Persia and returned to Azerbaijan again. In 1920, after the establishment of the Bolshevik system, 14-year-old Lev Nussimbaum and his father finally left Baku - first to Menshevik Georgia, then through Istanbul to Germany, where Lev developed literary activities.
The Azerbaijani propaganda machine claims that under the pseudonym Kurban Said it was not Nussimbaum who worked, but the Azerbaijani writer and diplomat Yusif Vezir Chemenzeminli. The latter was the ambassador of Musavatist Azerbaijan in Istanbul, and after Sovietization he moved to Paris, then in 1926. turned to the then head of Soviet Azerbaijan, Sergei Kirov, with a request to return to Baku. The request was granted and he returned to Baku. In 2011, a magazine published in the USA Azerbaijan International dedicated an entire issue to proving Chemenzeminli’s copyright on “Ali and Nino.” In 1994 The Institute of Literature of Azerbaijan (by the way, named after Nizami) decided to publish the story “Ali and Nino” authored not by Kurban Said, but by Yusif Chemenzeminli.
As much as Nizami is an Azerbaijani, Chemenzeminli is the author of this book. The Azerbaijani “arguments” cited as evidence of his authorship are presented below, with comments in parentheses.
A. Yusif Vezir Chemenzeminli was a writer, the author of a number of artistic and literary works (Like Lev Nussimbaum. According to various estimates, he wrote about 40 books over the years of his life in Europe under the pseudonym Esad Bey).
B. Chemenzeminli, like the main character of the book, Ali Shirvanshir, received a diplomatic appointment in Paris (it’s not true, he worked in Istanbul, and after Sovietization he moved to Paris to live).
V. Chemenzeminli’s daughter studied in the same real gymnasium as the heroine of the book Nino (Kurban Said, living in Baku, studied in the same gymnasium as the hero of the book Ali).
G. Chemenzeminli, like the hero of the book, watched the opera “Eugene Onegin” in Baku (we will leave this “extremely logical” argument without comment).
Let's present a few simple judgments that simply exclude the authorship of Chemenzeminli. Firstly, the manuscript of the book was submitted to the publishing house in 1935, when the Musavat activist had already been living in Azerbaijan for ten years. As noted, the story was written in German. The Azerbaijani writer-diplomat did not speak German. True, Azerprop claims that he took German at school. But is school knowledge really enough to write a book in twenty years?
The book contains a number of factual inaccuracies about Baku that Baku resident Chemenzeminli could not make, but for Nussimbaum, who left this city at the age of 14, they are quite acceptable.
In the story “Ali and Nino” there are formulations that make it very unlikely, if not impossible, that their author could be a Muslim. Let's give a few examples.
The father of the main character Ali Shirvanshir, addressing him, says: “Don’t give mercy to the enemy, son, we are not Christians.”
“The Karabakh people call [their land] Sunyuk, and even earlier they called it Agvar.”
“It’s stupid to hate Armenians so much,” etc.
It is difficult to imagine that a Musavat official would call Karabakh Sunyuk - probably a corruption of the Armenian toponym "Syunik", and then Agvar - probably dating back to the Armenian Agvank. Tom Reis, having familiarized himself with the arguments of the Azeri prop, said: “It’s amazing that someone can take this theory seriously. The vizier was simply a fanatical nationalist."
The Jew Lev Nussimbaum lived in Germany and Austria during the period of the spread of fascism. At first, he signed his literary works with the pseudonym Esad Bey, hiding his Jewish origin. In 1935, however, it turned out that Essad Bey was a Nussimbaum Jew. Therefore, he chose a new literary pseudonym - Kurban Said.
Let us note that Tom Reis, during his research, discovered an autobiography written by Lev Nussimbaum, signed by Kurban Said. “Why is it that the author of a novel first published in German in 1937 in Austria<…>declared Chemenzeminli remains a mystery to me today.<…>When I got acquainted with the biography of Chemenzeminli, I was not left with doubts about his authorship (but I remember that I really wanted it to be that way, and there was hope that sooner or later the Azerbaijani original would be found).”
The Soviet generation is well aware of the name of Muslim Magomayev. He collaborated especially successfully with one of the famous Armenian composers - Arno Babajanyan, as well as with Alexander Ekimyan, Alexander Dolukhanyan. Magomayev was born in Baku in 1942 and dedicated songs to this city. But is he Azerbaijani?
"Mother's striking appearance<…>, apparently in to a large extent because she has a lot of blood mixed in her: her father was a Turk, her mother was half Adyghe, half Russian... She herself is from Maykop,” writes Magomayev.
About his paternal grandmother, Baidigul, Magomayev writes that she was a Tatar. Since the singer wrote his memoirs in Soviet period, when the word “Azerbaijani” already existed, one must assume that when he said “Tatar,” he meant the Tatars. Tatars still live in Azerbaijan as a national minority - approximately 25,000 people. They speak Tatar, some of them come from Crimea. Baidigul is a Tatar, not an Azerbaijani name.
Let's turn to Magomayev's paternal grandfather, that is, to the Magomayev family. It was his paternal grandfather, Abdul-Muslim Magomayev, who played a decisive role in Muslim becoming a singer. He was a composer and directed the Baku Philharmonic. Naturally, in Azerbaijan they claim that he was Azerbaijani by nationality. However, they cannot ignore the fact that Abdul-Muslim Magomayev, who is considered an “Azerbaijani,” was born... in Grozny.
On the official website of the Ministry of Culture Chechen Republic we read: “The Magomayev family originates from the ancient Chechen village of Starye Atagi.” Abdul-Muslim Magomayev was born on September 6, 1885. in Grozny in the family of the blacksmith-gunsmith Magomet, from whom, apparently, the surname Magomayev came. Moreover, Abdul-Muslim’s brother, Malik Magomayev, was also a musician, continued to live in Chechnya and was never called an Azerbaijani. Malik Magomayev owns the melody of the famous dance in Chechnya “Lezginka Shamilya”.
In the 1960s, young Muslim Magomayev even lived in Grozny for some time. Moreover, he moved to Baku again by accident: during his vacation he went to Azerbaijan, and there he was called to Central Committee Komsomol and offered to go to Helsinki to the International Youth Festival as a delegate from Azerbaijan. The young singer first won the main prize in Helsinki, and then performed very successfully at the Palace of Congresses of the Moscow Kremlin. Of course, after all this, the communist leaders of Azerbaijan could not return Magomayev to Chechnya. Through material incentives - in particular, by deciding housing problem- he is being transported to Baku.
During his years in Chechnya, Muslim Magomayev was close to the Chechen singer Magomet Asaev, whom, according to him, Magomayev inspired. Asaev also notes that Muslim Magomayev’s grandfather was born in Chechnya, at one time he studied music in the city of Gori, but when he returned to Grozny, the authorities of the Russian Empire did not allow him to teach music, since at that time only Christians in Chechnya had the right to work as teachers. So Abdul-Muslim Magomayev decided to move to Baku, where it was relatively freer. By the way, on Azerbaijani websites, among the works of Abdul-Muslim Magomayev, they prefer to mention those written in Soviet years works “On the Fields of Azerbaijan” or “Dance of the Liberated Azerbaijani Woman”, but in no case his symphonic works on Chechen themes. On Apshero websites it is impossible to find out about the “Chechen Dance” or “Songs and Dances of Chechnya” written by Magomayev Sr.
The famous Chechen dancer Makhmud Esambaev once asked Muslim Magomayev why he introduced himself as an Azerbaijani (although not always. - A.N. ).
“I was born and lived my whole life in Azerbaijan,” the singer answered.
So what? And I was born in a garage, but because of this I didn’t become a machine,” Esambaev joked.
But these facts have no meaning for the Azerbaijani propagandist, who once and for all defined Magomayev as “Azerbaijanis” - some difficult-to-understand ethnic group with which Magomayev does not have any genetic connection.
During the Great Patriotic War, before each battle, the commander of the 35th Tank Guards Brigade, Azi Aslanov, liked to loudly repeat “shimon.” Many did not understand what this meant, including Major Stepan Milyutin, who was under his command. Aslanov died a few months before the end of the Great Patriotic War - on January 25, 1945, and Milyutin found out the meaning of this word many years later. He learned from Talysh community activist Davlat Gahramanov that “shimon” translated from Talysh means “forward!” .
Born in the Talysh-Mugan region, in particular in the village of Gamyatuk near Lankaran, Azi Aslanov (1910-1945) was also appropriated by Baku, turning him into an Azerbaijani. After the war, a soldier from the same brigade, Ivan Ogulchansky, wrote a book about Major General, Hero of the Soviet Union Aslanov. It is quite obvious that the writer in his biographical book avoided details related to the nationality of Azi Aslanov. After 1937 the identity of the Talysh was banned in the USSR, and the author, in fact, did not want to write “Azerbaijani”. Theoretically, it is not excluded that Ogulchansky wrote “Talysh,” but censorship edited these passages. The book contains several noteworthy episodes related to Aslanov's nationality.
"Broad-shouldered old man asked loudly:
What is your nationality?
Aslanov answered."
Ogulchansky does not note what exactly Aslanov answered.
And one of the Ukrainian heroes of the book, addressing Aslanov, says: “Long live the friendship between Ukrainians and Azerbaijan.” The fact that Azerbaijan is indicated, and not “Azerbaijanis,” which would be more logical, again testifies to Ogulchansky’s dual position.
In 1985 Soviet Azerbaijan made a feature film about Aslanov, “I loved you more than life itself.” The hero of the film, along with Russian, also speaks Azerbaijani, but also mentions his native Lankaran, leaving the question of his nationality unclear. One must assume that the filmmakers chose to avoid a sensitive topic. But the word “shimon” in the film was replaced by the Azerbaijani “gyattik”.
Today Azerbaijan is acting more decisively. Just two years ago, in an article about Azi Aslanov on Wikipedia, one could still see a mention that Aslanov was Talysh. But through the efforts of Azerbaijani propaganda, this “addition” was removed, and now Aslanov is presented exclusively as an Azerbaijani in the electronic directory. By the way, in order to substantiate this statement for Wikipedia, Azeri scribblers refer to Ogulchansky’s book, and even indicate a page on which, however, such wording is absent.
All these famous people were not Azerbaijanis. All attempts to find a famous Azeri in ancient times are obviously doomed to failure. The famous Azerbaijani composer Uzeyir Khadzhibekov is a Dagestani, his brother even worked under the pseudonym Dagestani.
The apotheosis of stealing other people's artists and ending up in a ridiculous situation can perhaps be considered the sensational statement that Sayat-Nova is an Azerbaijani. The new nationality of the medieval lyricist Harutyun Sayadyan was discovered by the Azerbaijani journalist and culturologist Elchin Alibeyli. True, he did not specify how it happened that the “Azerbaijani” was buried in the courtyard of the Armenian Church of St. Gevorg in Tbilisi, where Sayat-Nova’s grave is located to this day.
It seems that the first more or less famous Azerbaijani in the world can be considered... Heydar Aliyev.
Despite all the tricks, there is simply no other famous Azerbaijani (even a notorious one) who lived earlier.
Summary
Let's return to the question posed in the title: how old are the Azerbaijani people? Based on the year of the Soviet census - 75, and according to NKVD documentation - 74.
Of course, one census cannot create a new ethnic group. But, perhaps, it was Stalin’s and Beria’s documentation of 1939-1940. can be considered a “birth certificate” of the Azerbaijani people. After all, the same Stalin insisted on donating Artsakh to Azerbaijan (the majority of the Caucasian Bureau was against it); it was by Stalin’s decision that Nizami “became” an Azerbaijani. In 1937-38 the repressive apparatus of the NKVD suppressed ethnic identity national minorities, exiling and shooting intellectuals of the Talysh, Lezgins, Uds and other small nations, closing their schools and newspapers and “optimizing” hundreds of thousands of people as Azerbaijanis. With the dissolution of the Transcaucasian Federation in 1936. and according to the Stalinist constitution adopted in the same year, the artificial and inflated formation of the Azerbaijani nation began. And finally, in the system of the same NKVD, Heydar Aliyev took the first steps of his rapid career, whom Zardusht Alizadeh considers “the last representative of Stalin’s political legacy.”
So, why not record this particular period as the year of birth of Azerbaijanis?
During his lifetime, Joseph Stalin was called the “father of nations.” At least one nation can still consider this to be the case today.
P.S. In 1764 German researcher Carsten Niebuhr rewrote and brought to Germany cuneiform from the Persian Mount Behistuni. When it was deciphered, in paragraph 26 they read: “I sent an Armenian named Dadarshish, my slave, to Armenia.”
The Behistun cuneiform was carved more than 2500 BC.
Today this is the oldest known mention of the Armenians...
There, p. 22.
There, p. 23.
Stalin I.V., Marxism and the national question, Enlightenment, 1913, No. 3, 4, 5, http://www.marxists.org/russkij/stalin/t2/marxism_nationalism.htm
8. Alexandre Dumas, “The Caucasus”, preface by Mikhail Buyanov “About Dumas’s Caucasus”.
9. Haxthausen Baron August Fon, Transcaucasian region, Zemtki, St. Petersburg, 1857.
10. Anton Denikin, Essays on Russian Troubles.
11. V.N. Zemskov, “GULAG: Historical and Sociological Aspect”, 1991.
12. Aris Ghazinyan, “Polygon Azerbaijan”. – Yerevan, 2011.
13. William Bacher, Nizâmî"s Leben und Werke, und der Zweite Theil des Nizâmî"schen Alexanderbuches, 1871.
14. The Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition. – New York, 1911.
15. Tom Reiss, “The Orientalist: solving the mystery of a strange and dangerous life”, 2006.
16. Azerbaijan International, Chamanzaminli’s son Orkhan Vezirov counters Reiss’s tale, p. 140, 2011.
17. Ivan Ogulchansky, “Azi Aslanov.” – M.: Military Publishing House of the Moscow Region, 1960.
Return to list Other materials by the author
- HOW TO CREATE A PEOPLE: THE TASK OF FORMING AN AZERBAIJANI IDENTITY IN THE XX CENTURY
- WHICH PARLIAMENT FIRST RECOGNIZED THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE?
- HAYKARAM NAHAPETYAN: KRUGER’S BOOK AND BAKHMANOV’S SIGNATURE - COSTS OF AZERBAIJANI PROPAGANDA
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The very “correct” geographical location of the territory of modern Azerbaijan led to the very early appearance of humans on these lands. And we are talking about many millennia ago. Stone tools of the first people were discovered in the northern part in the area of Mount Aveydag.
The remains of the first people, presumably Neanderthals, were also found. The age of the rock paintings found in the caves of this area exceeds 10 thousand years - it was during this period that the history of Azerbaijan.
The appearance of traces of statehood, the history of the emergence of Azerbaijan
The first traces of statehood begin to appear in the IV-III millennium BC. At the turn of the 1st millennium BC there were such state entities, like Manna, Scythian and Caucasian Albania (arose in the period of the 1st century BC - 1st century AD). The role of these states in enhancing the culture of economic development and crafts is extremely great. These states also influenced the formation of a single people in the future. In the 1st century AD, representatives of the great Rome were present here, and in particular the legionnaires of Emperor Domitian.
The 4th-5th centuries of the existence of Caucasian Albania are characterized by the adoption of the Christian religion as the state religion, the appearance of the alphabet - this was a very important step V history of Azerbaijan.
Arab invasion
The 7th century AD brought new upheavals for this land. The Arab invasion began, ending in the 8th century with the complete seizure of the territory of modern Azerbaijan. Islam became the official religion. This period was accompanied by a strong rise in politics and the emergence of the concept of “national self-identification.” A common language and customs were formed. 5 small states were created, which were later united by the greatest statesman Shah Ismail Khatai. Under his leadership, the southern and northern lands of the future Azerbaijan merged. The Safavid state was formed (capital - Tabriz), which over time became one of the most powerful empires
Near and Middle East.
Cultural enrichment
The 13th century brought the Mongol invasion, and in the 14th century the raids of Tamerlane's hordes were regular. But all these events did not stop the cultural development of Azerbaijan. The main centers of Azerbaijani culture in the 14th – 15th centuries were the cities of Tabriz and Shamakhi.
They created here outstanding poets Shirvani, Hasan-Ogly, historian Rashidaddin, philosopher Shabustari. Also, a special decoration of this period is the work of the great poet Fuzuli.
Oil boom
Oil has always played big role in the history of the country. The discovery of truly inexhaustible oil fields in the Baku region led to an oil boom at the end of the 19th century and contributed to the intensive development of the capital of Azerbaijan. Large oil enterprises began to appear, using steam engines that were new at that time in production. 1901 was a record year. Azerbaijan's oil production has surpassed 50% in the world.
Nowadays
In 1920, Azerbaijan became one of the republics of the USSR. This was preceded by a two-year existence of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, which was defeated by the Red Army after its invasion on April 28, 1920.
1991 was the year Azerbaijan gained independence. Today, a new modern society is developing in Azerbaijan, housing is being intensively built, the country is flourishing, as such a beautiful state and its wonderful inhabitants should be.
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Introduction.
Azerbaijanis, Azerbaijani Turks, Iranian Turks - this is all the name of the same modern Turkic people of Azerbaijan and Iran
On the territory of the now independent states that were previously part of the Soviet Union, 10-13 million Azerbaijanis live, who, in addition to Azerbaijan, also live in Russia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. In 1988-1993, as a result of the aggression of the Armenian authorities, about one million Azerbaijanis from the South Transcaucasus were expelled from their native lands.
According to some researchers, Azerbaijanis make up one third of the total population modern Iran and occupy second place in the country in this indicator after the Persians. Unfortunately, science today does not have accurate data on the number of Azerbaijanis living in northern Iran. Their approximate number is estimated at 30 to 35 million.
The Azerbaijani language is also spoken by the Afshars and Qizilbashs living in some regions of Afghanistan. The language of some Turkic groups of southern Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey and the Balkans is very close to the modern Azerbaijani language.
According to tentative estimates of researchers, today 40-50 million people speak the Azerbaijani language in the world.
Azerbaijanis, together with the Anatolian Turks who are genetically closest to them, make up over 60% of the total number of all modern Turkic peoples.
It should be noted that over the past two centuries, hundreds of books and articles have been written on the ethnogenesis of Azerbaijanis, and many different thoughts, assumptions and guesses have been expressed. At the same time, despite the diversity of opinions, they all basically boil down to two main hypotheses.
Proponents of the first hypothesis believe that Azerbaijanis are the descendants of ancient ethnic groups that in ancient times inhabited the western coast of the Caspian Sea and adjacent territories (here most often called Iranian-speaking Medes and Atropatenes, as well as Caucasian-speaking Albanians), who in the Middle Ages were “Turkified” by newcomer Turkic tribes. During the Soviet years, this hypothesis of the origin of Azerbaijanis became a tradition in historical and ethnographic literature. This hypothesis was especially zealously defended by Igrar Aliyev, Ziya Buniyatov, Farida Mamedova, A.P. Novoseltsev, S.A. Tokarev, V.P. Alekseev and others, although in almost all cases these authors referred readers to the works of Herodotus and Strabo for argumentation. Having penetrated into a number of general publications (the three-volume “History of Azerbaijan”), the Median-Atropateno-Albanian concept of the ethnogenesis of the Azerbaijanis became one of the widespread provisions of Soviet historical science. Archaeological, linguistic, ethnographic sources were practically absent in the works of the above authors. At best, toponyms and ethnonyms indicated in the works of ancient authors were sometimes considered as evidence. This hypothesis was defended most aggressively in Azerbaijan by Igrar Aliyev. Although from time to time he expressed diametrically opposing views and ideas.
For example, in 1956 in the book “Mussell - the most ancient state on the territory of Azerbaijan” he writes: “To consider the Median language as unconditionally Iranian is at least not serious.” (1956, p. 84)
In “History of Azerbaijan” (1995) he already states: “The Median linguistic material currently at our disposal is sufficient to recognize the Iranian language in it.” (1995, 119))
Igrar Aliev (1989): “Most of our sources really consider Atropatena to be part of Media, and in particular such an informed author as Strabo.” (1989, p. 25)
Igrar Aliev (1990): “You can’t always trust Strabo: “His geography contains a lot of contradictory things... The geographer made various kinds of unfair and gullible generalizations.” (1990, p. 26)
Igrar Aliev (1956): “You should not particularly trust the Greeks, who reported that the Mede and the Persian understood each other in conversation.” (1956, p.83)
Igrar Aliyev (1995): “Already the reports of ancient authors definitely indicate that in ancient times the Persians and Medes were called Aryans.” (1995, p. 119)
Igrar Aliyev (1956): “The recognition of Iranians among the Medes is, undoubtedly, the fruit of the tendentious one-sidedness and scientific schematism of the Indo-European migration theory.” (1956, p.76)
Igrar Aliyev (1995): “Despite the lack of related texts in the Median language, we, now relying on significant onomastic material and other data, we can rightfully speak about the Median language and attribute this language to the northwestern group of the Iranian family.” (1995, p.119)
One can cite a dozen more similar contradictory statements by Igrar Aliyev, a man who has been heading the historical sciences of Azerbaijan for about 40 years. (Gumbatov, 1998, pp.6-10)
Supporters of the second hypothesis prove that the ancestors of the Azerbaijanis are the ancient Turks, who have lived in this territory since time immemorial, and all the newcomer Turks naturally mixed with the local Turks, who have lived since ancient times in the territory of the southwestern Caspian region and the South Caucasus. The existence of different or even mutually exclusive hypotheses on a controversial issue in itself, of course, is quite acceptable, but, according to famous scientists G. M. Bongard-Levin and E. A. Grantovsky, as a rule, some of these hypotheses, if not the majority, is not accompanied by historical and linguistic evidence. (1)
However, supporters of the second hypothesis, as well as supporters of the first hypothesis, to prove the autochthony of Azerbaijanis, mainly rely on toponyms and ethnonyms mentioned in the works of ancient and medieval authors.
For example, an ardent supporter of the second hypothesis G. Geybullaev writes: “In ancient, Middle Persian, early medieval Armenian, Georgian and Arab sources in connection with historical events Numerous toponyms are mentioned on the territory of Albania. Our research has shown that the vast majority of them are ancient Turkic. This serves as a clear argument in favor of our concept of the Turkic-speaking nature of the Albanian ethnos of Albania in the early Middle Ages... The most ancient Turkic place names include some place names in Albania, mentioned in the work of the Greek geographer Ptolemy (II century) - 29 settlements and 5 rivers. Some of them are Turkic: Alam, Gangara, Deglana, Iobula, Kaysi, etc. It should be noted that these toponyms have come to us in a distorted form, and some are written in ancient Greek, some of the sounds of which do not coincide with the Turkic languages.
The toponym Alam can be identified with the medieval toponym Ulam - the name of the place where the Iori flows into the river. Alazan in the former Samukh in northeastern Albania, which is currently called Dar-Doggaz (from Azerbaijani dar "gorge" and doggaz "passage"). The word ulam means “passage” (cf. modern meaning the word doggaz “passage”) is still preserved in Azerbaijani dialects and undoubtedly goes back to the Turkic olom, olam, olum, “ford”, “crossing”. The name of Mount Eskilyum (Zangelan district) is also associated with this word - from the Turkic eski “old”, “ancient” and ulum (from olom) “passage”.
Ptolemy indicates the Gangar point at the mouth of the Kura River, which is probably a phonetic form of the toponym Sangar. In ancient times, there were two points in Azerbaijan called Sangar, one at the confluence of the Kura and Araks rivers and the second at the confluence of the Iori and Alazani rivers; It is difficult to say which of the above toponyms refers to ancient Gangar. As for the linguistic explanation of the origin of the toponym Sangar, it goes back to the ancient Turkic sangar “cape”, “corner”. The toponym Iobula is probably the oldest but distorted name of Belokany in northwestern Azerbaijan, in which it is not difficult to distinguish the components Iobula and “kan”. In a 7th century source, this toponym is noted in the form Balakan and Ibalakan, which can be considered a link between Ptolemy’s Iobula and modern Belokan. This toponym was formed from the ancient Turkic bel “hill” from the connecting phoneme a and kan “forest” or the suffix gan. The toponym Deglan can be associated with the later Su-Dagylan in the Mingachevir region - from Azerbaijani. su “water” and dagylan “collapsed”. The hydronym Kaysi may be phonetic education from koisu "blue water"; Note that the modern name Geokchay means “blue river”. (Geybullaev G.A. On the ethnogenesis of Azerbaijanis, vol. 1 - Baku: 1991. - pp. 239-240).
Such “evidence” of the autochthony of the ancient Turks is actually anti-evidence. Unfortunately, 90% of the works of Azerbaijani historians are based on such an etymological analysis of toponyms and ethnonyms.
However, most modern scientists believe that etymological analysis of toponyms cannot help in solving ethnogenetic problems, since toponymy changes with population changes
So, for example, according to L. Klein: “People leave toponymy not where they lived most or originally. What remains from the people is toponymy where its predecessors are completely and quickly swept away, without having time to transfer their toponymy to the newcomers, where many new tracts arise that require a name, and where this newcomer people still live or the continuity is not disrupted later by a radical and rapid change of population." .
Currently, it is generally accepted that the problem of the origin of individual peoples (ethnic groups) should be solved on the basis of an integrated approach, that is joint efforts historians, linguists, archaeologists and representatives of other related disciplines.
Before moving on to a comprehensive consideration of the problem that interests us, I would like to dwell on some facts that are directly related to our topic.
First of all, this concerns the so-called “Median heritage” in the ethnogenesis of the Azerbaijanis.
As you know, one of the authors of the first hypothesis we are considering is the main Soviet expert on ancient languages, I.M. Dyakonov.
Over the past half century, in all works on the origin of Azerbaijanis there are references to I.M. Dyakonov’s book “History of the Media”. In particular, for most researchers, the key point in this book was I.M. Dyakonov’s instruction that “there is no doubt that in the complex, multilateral and long process of the formation of the Azerbaijani nation, the Median ethnic element played a very important role, in well-known historical periods– leading role.”(3)
And suddenly, in 1995, I.M. Dyakonov expressed a completely different view on the ethnogenesis of Azerbaijanis.
In “The Book of Memories” (1995) I.M. Dyakonov writes: “I, on the advice of my brother Misha’s student, Leni Bretanitsky, contracted to write the “History of Media” for Azerbaijan. Everyone then was looking for more knowledgeable and ancient ancestors, and the Azerbaijanis hoped that the Medes were their ancient ancestors. The staff of the Institute of History of Azerbaijan was a good panopticon. Everyone had everything in order with their social background and party affiliation (or so it was thought); some could communicate in Persian, but mostly they were busy eating each other. Most of the institute’s employees had a rather indirect relationship to science... I could not prove to the Azerbaijanis that the Medes were their ancestors, because this is still not the case. But he wrote “The History of Media” - a large, thick, detailed volume.” (4)
It can be assumed that this problem tormented the famous scientist all his life.
It should be noted that the problem of the origin of the Medes is still considered unresolved. Apparently, this is why in 2001 European orientalists decided to get together and finally solve this problem through joint efforts.
Here is what famous Russian orientalists I.N. Medvedskaya write about this. and Dandamaev M.A: “the contradictory evolution of our knowledge about Media was thoroughly reflected at the conference entitled “Continuation of the Empire (?): Assyria, Media and Persia,” held as part of a cooperation program between the universities of Padua, Innsbruck and Munich in 2001. whose reports are published in the volume under review. It is dominated by articles whose authors believe that the Median kingdom essentially did not exist... that Herodotus’s description of the Medes as a huge ethnic group with its capital in Ecbatana is not confirmed by either written or archaeological sources (however, we will add from ourselves, and is not refuted by them).” (5)
It should be noted that in post-Soviet times, most authors of ethnogenetic research, when writing their next book, cannot ignore a very unpleasant factor called “Shnirelman”.
The fact is that this gentleman considers it his duty, in a mentoring tone, to “criticize” all the authors of books on ethnogenesis published in the post-Soviet space (“Myths of the Diaspora”, “Khazar Myth”, “Memory Wars. Myths, Identity and Politics in Transcaucasia”, “Patriotic education”: ethnic conflicts and school textbooks”, etc.).
For example, V. Shnirelman in the article “Myths of the Diaspora” writes that many Turkic-speaking scientists (linguists, historians, archaeologists): “over the past 20–30 years, with increasing fervor, they have tried, contrary to well-established facts, to prove the antiquity of the Turkic languages in the steppe zone of Eastern Europe, in the North Caucasus, in Transcaucasia and even in a number of regions of Iran.” (6)
About the ancestors of modern Turkic peoples, V. Shnirelman writes the following: “having reached historical scene As tireless colonialists, the Turks over the past centuries, by the will of fate, found themselves in a situation of diaspora. This determined the features of the development of their ethnogenetic mythology during last century and especially in recent decades.” (6)
If in the Soviet era, “specially authorized critics” such as V. Shnirelman received assignments from various intelligence services to demolish authors and their works that were not pleasing to the authorities, now these “free literary killers” apparently work for those who pay the most.
In particular, Mr. V. Shnirelman wrote the article “Myths of the Diaspora” with funds from the American John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
With whose funds did V. Shnirelman write the anti-Azerbaijani book “Memory Wars. Myths, identity and politics in Transcaucasia” could not be found out, however, the fact that his works are often published in the newspaper of Russian Armenians “Yerkramas” speaks volumes.
Not long ago (February 7, 2013), this newspaper published a new article by V. Shnirelman, “Answer to my Azerbaijani critics.” This article is no different in tone and content from previous writings by this author (7)
Meanwhile, the publishing house of the ICC “Akademkniga”, which published the book “Memory Wars. Myths, identity and politics in Transcaucasia,” claims that it “presents basic research problems of ethnicity in Transcaucasia. It shows how politicized versions of the past become an important aspect of modern nationalist ideologies.”
I would not have devoted so much space to Mr. Shnirelman if he had not once again touched upon the problem of the origin of Azerbaijanis in “Answer to My Azerbaijani Critics.” According to Shnirelman, he would really like to know “why during the 20th century Azerbaijani scientists changed the image of their ancestors five times. This issue is discussed in detail in the book (“Memory Wars. Myths, identity and politics in Transcaucasia” - G.G.), but the philosopher (Doctor of Philosophy, Professor Zumrud Kulizade, author of a critical letter to V. Shnirelman-G.G.) believes this problem is unworthy of our attention; she just doesn’t notice it.” (8)
This is how V. Shrinelman describes the activities of Azerbaijani historians in the 20th century: “in accordance with the Soviet doctrine, which showed particular intolerance towards “alien peoples,” the Azerbaijanis urgently needed the status of an indigenous people, and this required proof of autochthony of origin.
In the second half of the 1930s. Azerbaijani historical science received an assignment from the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Azerbaijan SSR M.D. Bagirov to write a history of Azerbaijan that would portray the Azerbaijani people as an autochthonous population and would tear them away from their Turkic roots.
By the spring of 1939, the initial version of the history of Azerbaijan was already ready and in May was discussed at a scientific session of the Department of History and Philosophy of the USSR Academy of Sciences. It conveyed the idea that Azerbaijan had been inhabited continuously since the Stone Age, that in its development the local tribes were in no way behind their neighbors, that they valiantly fought against uninvited invaders and, even despite temporary setbacks, always retained their sovereignty . It is curious that this textbook has not yet given the “proper” importance to Media in the development of Azerbaijani statehood, the Albanian topic was almost completely ignored, and the local population, no matter what eras were discussed, was called exclusively “Azerbaijanis.”
Thus, the authors identified the inhabitants by their habitat and therefore did not feel the need for a special discussion of the problem of the formation of the Azerbaijani people. This work was actually the first systematic presentation of the history of Azerbaijan prepared by Soviet Azerbaijani scientists. The Azerbaijanis included the oldest population of the region, which supposedly had changed little over thousands of years.
Who were they? ancient ancestors Azerbaijanis?
The authors identified them with “the Medes, Caspians, Albanians and other tribes who lived on the territory of Azerbaijan about 3,000 years ago.”
November 5, 1940 A meeting of the Presidium of the Azerbaijan Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences took place, where the “ancient history of Azerbaijan” was directly identified with the history of Media.
The next attempt to write the history of Azerbaijan was made in 1945-1946, when, as we will see, Azerbaijan lived with dreams of a close reunification with its relatives located in Iran. Practically the same team of authors, supplemented by specialists from the Institute of Party History, who were responsible for sections on recent history, participated in the preparation of the new text of “History of Azerbaijan”. The new text was based on the previous concept, according to which the Azerbaijani people, firstly, were formed from ancient population Eastern Transcaucasia and Northwestern Iran, and secondly, although it experienced some influence from later newcomers (Scythians, etc.), it was insignificant. What was new in this text was the desire to further deepen the history of the Azerbaijanis - this time the creators of cultures were declared their ancestors Bronze Age on the territory of Azerbaijan.
The task was formulated even more clearly by the XVII and XVIII Congresses of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan, held in 1949 and 1951, respectively. They called on Azerbaijani historians to “develop such important problems of the history of the Azerbaijani people as the history of the Medes, the origin of the Azerbaijani people.”
And the following year, speaking at the XVIII Congress of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan, Baghirov portrayed the Turkic nomads as robbers and murderers, who little corresponded to the image of the ancestors of the Azerbaijani people.
This idea was clearly heard during the campaign that took place in Azerbaijan in 1951, directed against the epic “Dede Korkut”. Its participants constantly emphasized that medieval Azerbaijanis were settled inhabitants, bearers of high culture, and had nothing in common with wild nomads.
In other words, the origin of Azerbaijanis from the settled population ancient Media was authorized by the Azerbaijani authorities; and scientists could only begin to substantiate this idea. The mission of preparing a new concept of the history of Azerbaijan was entrusted to the Institute of History of the Azerbaijan Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Now the main ancestors of the Azerbaijanis were again associated with the Medes, to which were added the Albanians, who supposedly preserved the traditions of ancient Media after its conquest by the Persians. Not a word was said about the language and writing of the Albanians, nor about the role of the Turkic and Iranian languages in the Middle Ages. And the entire population that had ever lived on the territory of Azerbaijan was indiscriminately classified as Azerbaijanis and opposed to the Iranians.
Meanwhile, there were no scientific grounds to confuse the early history of Albania and Southern Azerbaijan (Atropatena). In ancient times and in the early Middle Ages, completely different population groups lived there, not connected with each other either culturally, socially, or linguistically.
In 1954, a conference was held at the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan, condemning the distortions of history observed during the reign of Bagirov
Historians were given the task of writing the “History of Azerbaijan” anew. This three-volume work appeared in Baku in 1958-1962. His first volume was dedicated to everyone early stages history up to the annexation of Azerbaijan to Russia, and leading specialists from the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the Azerbaijan SSR participated in its writing. There were no archaeological specialists among them, although the volume began with the Paleolithic era. From the very first pages, the authors emphasized that Azerbaijan was one of the first centers of human civilization, that statehood arose there in ancient times, that the Azerbaijani people created a high original culture and fought against foreign conquerors for independence and freedom. Northern and Southern Azerbaijan were viewed as a single whole, and the annexation of the former to Russia was interpreted as a progressive historical act.
How did the authors imagine the formation of the Azerbaijani language?
They recognized the great role of the Seljuk conquest in the 11th century, which caused a significant influx of Turkic-speaking nomads. At the same time, they saw in the Seljuks a foreign force that doomed the local population to new
hardships and deprivations. Therefore, the authors emphasized the struggle of local peoples for independence and welcomed the collapse of the Seljuk state, which made possible the restoration of Azerbaijani statehood. At the same time, they were aware that the dominance of the Seljuks marked the beginning of the widespread dissemination of the Turkic language, which gradually leveled out the former linguistic differences between the population of Southern and Northern Azerbaijan. The population remained the same, but changed the language, the authors emphasized. Thus, the Azerbaijanis acquired the status of an unconditionally indigenous population, although they had foreign-language ancestors. Consequently, the primordial connection with the lands of Caucasian Albania and Atropatena turned out to be a much more significant factor than language, although the authors recognized that the establishment of a linguistic community led to the formation of the Azerbaijani nation.
The publication reviewed served as the basis for a new school textbook, published in 1960. All its chapters devoted to the history of late XIX century, were written by academician A.S. Sumbatzade. It showed an even more clear tendency to connect early Azerbaijani statehood with the kingdom of Mann and Media Atropatena. They talked about the early Turkic waves of pre-Seljuk times, although it was recognized that the Turkic language finally won in the 11th-12th centuries. The role of the Turkic language in consolidating the country's population was also recognized, but anthropological, cultural and historical continuity, rooted in the deepest local antiquity, was emphasized. This seemed sufficient to the author, and the issue of forming the Azerbaijani people was not specifically considered.
Until the early 1990s. this work retained its significance as the main course in the history of Azerbaijan, and its main provisions were perceived as instructions and a call to action.”(10)
As we see, V. Shnirelman believes that the “fifth” concept (in our book it is considered as the first hypothesis), officially approved and adopted by the authorities back in the 60s of the 20th century, is still dominant outside Azerbaijan.
Many books and articles have been written about the struggle of supporters of both hypotheses of the ethnogenesis of Azerbaijanis in the last 25 years. The first generation of Azerbaijani historians, who began in the 50-70s. deal with the problems of the ancient and medieval history of Azerbaijan (Ziya Buniyatov, Igrar Aliyev, Farida Mamedova, etc.), created a certain concept of the history of the country, according to which the Turkization of Azerbaijan took place in the 11th century and it was from this time that it is necessary to talk about the initial stage of the ethnogenesis of the Azerbaijani people . This concept was reflected not only in the book published in the mid-50s. three-volume "History of Azerbaijan", but also Soviet school textbooks. At the same time, they were opposed by another group of historians (Mahmud Ismailov, Suleiman Aliyarov, Yusif Yusifov, etc.), who advocated a deeper study of the role of the Turks in the history of Azerbaijan, in every possible way ancientized the fact of the presence of the Turks in Azerbaijan, believing that the Turks are primordially ancient people in the region. The problem was that the first group (the so-called “classics”) had leading positions in the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences and mainly consisted of the so-called. “Russian-speaking” Azerbaijanis educated in Moscow and Leningrad. The second group had a weak position in the academic Institute of History. At the same time, representatives of the second group had strong positions in the Azerbaijani state university and the Azerbaijan State Pedagogical Institute, i.e. were very popular among teachers and students. The historical science of Azerbaijan has become an arena of struggle both within the country and outside. In the first case, the number of publications by representatives of the second group, who began to publish articles about ancient history Azerbaijan, according to which, on the one hand, the history of the appearance of the first Turks goes back to ancient times. On the other hand, the old concept of the Turkization of the country in the 11th century was declared incorrect and harmful, and its representatives were, at best, declared retrogrades. The struggle between two directions in the historical science of Azerbaijan was especially clearly manifested in the issue of publishing the academic 8-volume “History of Azerbaijan”. Work on it began in the mid-70s and by the early 80s. six volumes (from the third to the eighth) were already ready for publication. However, the problem was that the first and second volumes were not accepted in any way, because there the main struggle between two directions in Azerbaijani historiography unfolded over the problem of the ethnogenesis of the Azerbaijani people.
The complexity and severity of the conflict is evidenced by the fact that both groups of historians of Azerbaijan decided to take an unusual step: they simultaneously published a one-volume “History of Azerbaijan”. And here the main ones were the pages devoted to the ethnogenesis of the Azerbaijani people, because otherwise there were no differences. As a result, one book claims that the Turks first appeared on the territory of Azerbaijan only in the 4th century, while in another the Turks are declared an autochthonous population living here at least since the 3rd millennium BC! One book claims that the name of the country "Azerbaijan" has ancient Iranian roots and comes from the name of the country "Atropatena". In another, this same thing is explained as a derivative of the name of the ancient Turkic tribe “as”! Surprisingly, both books talk about the same tribes and peoples (Sakas, Massagetae, Cimmerians, Kutians, Turukkis, Albanians, etc.), but in one case they are declared part of the ancient Iranian or local Caucasian group of languages, in friend, these same tribes are declared part of the ancient Turkic world! Result: in the first book they avoided detailed coverage of the problem of the ethnogenesis of the Azerbaijani people, limiting themselves to a brief statement that only in the Middle Ages, from the 4th to the 12th centuries, there was a process of formation of the Azerbaijani people on the basis of various Turkic tribes constantly arriving in these centuries, mixing at the same time with local Iranian-speaking and other tribes and peoples. In the second book, on the contrary, this issue was highlighted in a special chapter, where the traditional concept of education of the Azerbaijani people was criticized and it was indicated that the Turks had lived on the territory of Azerbaijan since ancient times.
As the reader can see, the problem of the origin of Azerbaijanis is still very far from being resolved. Unfortunately, none of the hypotheses of the origin of Azerbaijanis has been studied to this day. in full, that is, in accordance with the requirements that modern historical science places on such ethnogenetic research.
Unfortunately, there are no reliable facts to support the above hypotheses. There is still no special archaeological research devoted to the origin of the Azerbaijanis. We do not know, for example, how the material culture of the Mannev differed from the culture of the Medes, Lullubeys, and Hurrians. Or, for example, how did the population of Atropatene differ from each other anthropologically from the population of Albania? Or how did the burials of the Hurrians differ from the burials of the Caspians and Gutians? What linguistic features of the language of the Hurrians, Kutians, Caspians, and Mannaeans have been preserved in the Azerbaijani language? Having not found an answer to these and many similar questions in archeology, linguistics, anthropology, genetics and others related sciences, we will not be able to solve the problem of the origin of Azerbaijanis.
The famous Russian scientist L. Klein writes: “Theoretically”, “in principle”, it is possible, of course, to construct as many hypotheses as you like, deployed in any direction. But this is if there are no facts. Facts are constraining. They limit the range of possible searches.”(12)
I hope that the analysis of archaeological, linguistic, anthropological, written and other materials discussed in this book and their assessment will give me the opportunity to determine the true ancestors of the Azerbaijanis.
Literature:
1. G. M. Bongard-Levin. E. A. Grantovsky. From Scythia to India. Ancient arias: Myths and history M. 1983. p.101-
2. G. M. Bongard-Levin. E. A. Grantovsky. From Scythia to India. Ancient arias: Myths and history M. 1983. p.101-
http://www.biblio.nhat-nam.ru/Sk-Ind.pdf
3. I.M.Dyakonov. History of Media. From ancient times to the end of the 4th century BC. M.L. 1956, p. 6
4. (I.M. Dyakonov Book of Memories. 1995.
5. Medvedskaya I.N., Dandamaev M.A. History of Media in modern times Western literature
“Bulletin of Ancient History”, No. 1, 2006. pp. 202-209.
http://liberea.gerodot.ru/a_hist/midia.htm
6. V. Shnirelman, “Myths of the Diaspora.”
7. V.A.Shnirelman. Answer to my Azerbaijani critics. “Yerkramas”,
8. Shnirelman V.A. Memory wars: myths, identity and politics in Transcaucasia. - M.: ICC “Akademkniga”, 2003.p.3
9. V.A.Shnirelman. Answer to my Azerbaijani critics. “Yerkramas”,
10. Shnirelman V.A. Memory wars: myths, identity and politics in Transcaucasia. - M.: ICC “Akademkniga”, 2003.p.
11. Klein L.S. It's hard to be Klein: Autobiography in monologues and dialogues. - St. Petersburg:
2010. p.245