Language Research

Updated (October 2002)

LANGUAGE LAW CONTROVERSY

The Azerbaijani National Language Act has been prompted by fears that the Azerbaijani language is in jeopardy as a result of the fact that Russian has gained pre-eminence in recent years and schools teaching it have multiplied. Thus this act is designed to limit the use of Russian in the country.

The Democratic Congress of Azerbaijan (DCA) deputy and poet Sabir Rustamhanly said the legislation is aimed to encourage Russian-speakers to learn the language of the country they are living in. “Russian schools are also funded from taxes of the Azerbaijani citizens what means that they pay to promote teaching of a foreign language in their country. If Russians want to have schools here, let them pay for them,” he said.

However, it's not only Russian education that's under pressure. Vahid Nahysh, the president of the private broadcaster ANS, wanted the government to revoke three free public channels allotted to Russian television companies ORT, NTV and RTR and give them to local broadcasters instead. “Those who wish to watch Russian television are free to buy a satellite dish, like they have to do in Georgia,” said Nahysh.

Of Azerbaijan's 8 million people, between 30,000 and 50,000 are ethnic Russians. However, other minorities including Turks, Jews, Georgians, Lezghinians, Talysh, Armenians, Ukrainians, etc. also use the Russian language. According to the estimates, overall more than 2 million residents, many of them ethnic Azerbaijanis speak Russian at home and at work.

Ethnic Russians fear that the legislation introduced to bolster the Azerbaijani language will discriminate against them so they naturally oppose this government's drive.

“The national language bill should not have been passed,” said Viktor Tatarenko, a deputy chairman of the Russian Community of Azerbaijan and an editor-in-chief of the “Sons of Azerbaijan” because “it contradicts recent treaties between Azerbaijan and Russia, infringes people's rights and is undemocratic.”

Noticeable changes have occurred since the bill took effect. An increasing number of employers rejected all job applications that were not written in Azerbaijani. Maleika Abbaszade, a dean of admissions in a public admission board, explained that all official documents must be written in Latin, not Cyrillic script. The country has been striving to return to the Latin alphabet since it gained independence in 1991. Stalin had imposed Cyrillic script in Azerbaijan in 1936, as an apparent attempt to sever ethnic and cultural ties between the country's Turkish community and their ancestral home. However, Abbaszade believes that any Azerbaijani citizen finishing secondary school must be able to at least apply for a job in the national language.

Most of Baku's 17 public and private colleges have Russian departments. This year colleges received 44,000 applications from Azerbaijani language schools graduates and about 7,000 applications from Russian language schools graduates.

There is also a difference in education levels between Russian and Azerbaijani departments. Azerbaijani language schoolbooks are either very old or non-existent, and professors who were trained in local pedagogical colleges are not rated very highly.

The authorities have dismissed rumors that Russian language schools will be closed. “Russian is an international language and it makes no sense to discriminate against it,” said a parliament deputy Ibrahim Isaev. “Instead of trying to close down Russian schools, why don't we focus on improving Azerbaijani ones?” “As far as I know, Russian will be taught in Azerbaijan as long as it has an audience,” said Arif Muradov, a deputy chief of the department of schools at the Ministry of Education. “We cannot afford to alienate the Russian community, so the government will continue to subsidize its schools.”

Source: Minelres Archive, http://lists.delfi.lv/pipermail/minelres/, by Qamal Ali, a journalist, for the “Zerkalo” newspaper in Baku, Institute for War & Peace Reporting (info@iwpr.net), Issue 138, July 19, 2002

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