<div dir="ltr"><h1 class="gmail-post-head-title">Russian sector of Azerbaijani mindset</h1>
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<time datetime="2017-12-14T21:11">14 Dec in 21:37</time> <span class="gmail-author"> Alexandra Nagiba, exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza </span> </div>
<div class="gmail-material-picture"><a href="http://vestnikkavkaza.net/upload2/2017-12-14/15132745465a32bcb2dea811.79705694.jpg"><img src="http://vestnikkavkaza.net/upload2/fnorm/2017-12-14/15132745465a32bcb2dea811.79705694.jpg" alt="Russian sector of Azerbaijani mindset" title="Russian sector of Azerbaijani mindset"></a></div>
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<p><em>This week the ‘Ambassadors of the Russian language' -
international volunteer program, whose participants introduce the
Russian language, culture, and literature to foreign students - visited
Azerbaijan. Despite the fact that it is hard to compare the Republic of
Azerbaijan with anyone in terms of use the Russian language, its
interests are actively included in the agenda of the humanitarian
cooperation between Russia and Azerbaijan.</em></p>
<p>One of the most striking episodes of the Russian-Azerbaijani language
friendship's history was Lermontov's banishment to the Caucasus, which
turned out to be rather a mercy than a punishment. He wrote: "... if I
did not have a grandmother, then, I would rather stay here. Since I left
Russia, I was traveling constantly, first by post stages, then on
bicycles and horseback. I traveled all the way from Kizlyar to Taman,
crossed the mountains, was in Shusha, Guba, Shamakhi, Kakheti, dressed
in the Circassian clothes, carried a gun on my shoulders, slept in the
open field, fell asleep, when jackals were shouting, ate pita, drank
Kakhetian wine.''</p>
<p><img alt="" src="http://vestikavkaza.ru/upload/files2/3-60.jpg"></p>
<p>In Tiflis, <strong>Lermontov</strong> met with Azerbaijani scientist and poet <strong>Mirza Fatali Akhundov</strong>,
who spoke Russian well. He taught Decembrist writer Alexander Bestuzhev
(Marlinsky), poet Yakov Polonsky and others the Azerbaijani language.
Lermontov also began to learn the Azerbaijani language. Akhundov was the
author of the "Eastern poem on the death of Pushkin" and read it to
Lermontov. Russian and Azerbaijani poets wrote about Pushkin in
different words but with the same feelings, and this brought them
closer. In fact, Lermontov was banished to the Caucasus precisely for
the poem he wrote - Death of the Poet - dedicated to the death of
Pushkin.</p>
<p>The Russian Empire in the Caucasus had a huge cultural impact. This
trend continued in the following years. In the early 1920s, 214,700
people lived in Baku, and the largest ethnic group was the Slavs
(Russians, Ukrainians, and Byelorussians), 35.5% of them were living in
Baku.</p>
<p>Today, the number of Russian schools and universities in Azerbaijan
is even greater than in the Soviet period. For Russia, this situation is
especially valuable in the context of the closure of Russian schools in
the Baltic States and the ban on the study of the Russian language in
Ukraine. There are 358 schools with a Russian sector in the Republic of
Azerbaijan and 18 schools, where studies are conducted exclusively in
Russian. This summer, the Minister of Education, Mikail Jabbarov,
instructed to continue the implementation of the project ‘Intensive
learning of the Russian language' by signing an appropriate order.
Currently, approximately 90,000 schoolchildren are studying in Russian.
Another 450 thousand students learn Russian as a foreign language.</p>
<p><img alt="" src="http://vestikavkaza.ru/upload/files2/0.JPG"></p>
<p>Baku Slavic University, a branch of the Moscow M.V. Lomonosov State
University, is considered one of the most prestigious higher educational
institutions of Azerbaijan. In 2015, a branch of the I.M. Sechenov
First Moscow State Medical University was opened in Baku. Annually, more
than 400 Azerbaijani citizens enter the university.</p>
<p>The Russian Drama Theater is popular in Baku. The performances in
Russian are also staged in the Young Spectator's Theater, puppet
theater, and musical theater. Films in Russian are constantly shown in
cinemas. Literary associations of writers and poets writing in Russian
have been working for many years. Certain conditions have been created
for the development of the Russian culture and realization of the
creative potential of the Russian and Russian-speaking population of the
republic.</p>
<p>Azerbaijan's national leader Heydar Aliyev and his successor,
President Ilham Aliyev, played a huge role in preserving the Russian
language as the language of interethnic communication in the country.
"The Russian language has been bringing together the nations and
nationalities of the Soviet Union for a long time," Heydar Aliyev said.
‘'Without replacing or forcing out other languages, it enriched them and
opened the world's broadest horizons to the peoples of our country."</p>
<p>There are a lot of Russian news agencies in the country. This
indicates the openness of the language policy of Azerbaijan. Such a
thoughtful state policy has helped to strengthen the Russian-Azerbaijani
ties, conditioned by a mutual desire to maximize the benefits of
bilateral relations.</p>
<p>The interest of the Russian side is evidenced by the implementation
of the federal target program entitled ‘'Russian language''. Prior to
it, the education in the Russian sector was controlled solely by the
government of Azerbaijan. Eventually, Russia recognized the need to
support the Russian diaspora abroad for the development and maintenance
of the status of the Russian language in the post-Soviet space. This is
not the only reason - Azerbaijan remains an important and profitable
political and economic partner for Russia. The readiness of the Russian
government to allocate funds from the federal budget to finance the
spread of the Russian language abroad underlines understanding of the
need for these actions to increase Russia's prestige on the global
arena.</p>
<p><img alt="" src="http://vestikavkaza.ru/upload/files2/1-86.jpg"></p>
<p>Noteworthy, the Russian language in Azerbaijan is much more popular
than in other South Caucasian republics. Probably, this is due to the
fact that Azerbaijan perceives the Russian language as a part of the
mindset. The same can not be said about other countries in the region,
where young people gradually stop speaking Russian. Perhaps this is due
to the fact that these states do not consider Russia as a long-term
partner, steadily continuing the ‘derussification', started after the
collapse of the Soviet Union.</p>
<p>Today, the Russian community in Azerbaijan is the most numerous in
the South Caucasus, Russian is de-facto the second language in the
country. Such a policy promotes the formation of individuals with a
tolerant consciousness, sense of ethnic pluralism, freely orienting
themselves in a multicultural and polyconfessional environment.</p>
</div><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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