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<h1 class="gmail-post-head-title">Development of Azerbaijani humanitarian sphere under Soviet power</h1>
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<time datetime="2018-04-27T17:10">27 Apr in 17:41</time> <span class="gmail-author"><i class="gmail-fa gmail-fa-user"></i> By Vestnik Kavkaza</span> </div>
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<p><em>2018 in Azerbaijan was declared the Year of the Azerbaijan
Democratic Republic (ADR), in connection with which international
conferences, exhibitions are held and books are published. The first
major event outside of Azerbaijan dedicated to the centenary of the ADR
was held at the History Faculty of the Moscow State University. It was a
scientific and practical plenary session titled 'Russian Revolution and
History of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic: a look back a century
later', whose participants discussed, in particular, the influence of
the Russian Revolution on the development of Azerbaijani culture.</em></p>
<p>Associate professor of the Department of History of the CIS countries
of the Faculty of History of the Moscow State University Perikhanum
Ragimova, speaking about the activities of the ADR aimed at the revival
of the Azerbaijani statehood, said: "To realize the task, it was
necessary to form a new generation in the spirit of preservation or
development of national identity. Realization of all these tasks
required the educational reform. All schools on the territory of
Azerbaijan were nationalized. Nationalization included the introduction
of the Azerbaijani language in national schools. Nevertheless, there
were Russian schools, Armenian schools, and German schools on the
territory of the ADR. They received the same attention, they were funded
by the Azerbaijani government. But they had funding and staff problems.
In a relatively short period, universities were opened, the Azerbaijani
government adopted a resolution on the opening of the Pedagogical
University, on the opening of the Baku University."</p>
<p>Along with the changes in the sphere of education, there have been
changes in the sphere of culture. "The repertoire of the Azerbaijani
theaters has been changed, which was aimed at reviving the Azerbaijani
identity. The troupes were created in the theaters, which consisted only
of Muslims. The ADR existed until April 1920, but in a short period of
its existence it was not directed towards nationalism, as in addition to
the national Azerbaijani schools there were schools of national
minorities in Azerbaijan, teaching in which was conducted in the Turkic
as the language of instruction," the historian noted.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, according to Ragimova, when the Soviet power was
established on the territory of Azerbaijan, the language policy was
changed, Russian as the language of instruction was introduced in
schools.</p>
<p>Later, the development of Azerbaijani culture continued - in the
1940s the film 'Arshin Mal Alan' was released, and in the 1970s and
1980s there was a rise of Azerbaijani cinema. Polad Bulbul oglu and
Muslim Magomayev became widely known. "Magomayev made a great
contribution to the development of the musical art of both Soviet
Azerbaijan and post-Soviet Azerbaijan. Therefore, he was extremely
popular. His first performance in Moscow was in 1963. He treated his
country with piety," Ragimova said.</p>
<p>Soviet power, despite the excesses in the sphere of national policy,
leveling of linguistic and national borders, had provided valuable
inputs to Azerbaijan's humanitarian sphere. "A lot of attention was paid
to science as well. In 1934, a branch of the Academy of Sciences was
opened in Azerbaijan. Literacy was raised, universities were built,
theaters were opened," the historian said.</p>
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<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="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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