Ethnic Groups in Georgia #8 – Azeris Part 2

[Harold Schiffman]

[image: geotimes.ge]
*Ethnic Groups in Georgia #8 – Azeris Part 2*

Community

*Ethnic Groups in Georgia #8 – Azeris Part 2*

  Today we bring part 2 of the article on the Azeris, as part of the series
of the wealth of ethnic groups in Georgia. Part 1 was presented in last
week's edition of Georgian Times. The materials on the ethnic groups are
provided by the European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI) and the Institute
for Policy Studies (IPS) and are extracted from the book, Georgia – An
Ethno-Political Handbook by Tom Trier & George Tarkhan-Mouravi, Tbilisi
2008. With support from the foreign ministries of Switzerland, Norway and
Denmark, the book will be published by the end of this year in a Georgian
and an English edition.

Azeris

Population in Georgia: 284,761 (Census 2002).

Total population: Ca. 30 million.

 Location: Compactly settled in districts in Kvemo Kartli, 224,606 (45.14%)
and Kakheti 40,036 (9.83%); also in Tbilisi (10,942), Rustavi (4,993) and
minor settlements in Shida Kartli and Mtskheta-Mtianeti.

 Kin state: Azerbaijan (7,205,500 Azeris).

Other countries of settlement: Settlements in Iran (around 21 million),
Turkey (6-800,000), Russian Federation (621,800), other CIS countries,
Germany (250,000), USA (280,000) and several other countries.

 A Bit of History – the Soviet Period and after Independence

During Soviet rule, policies of education of the masses were introduced and
the widespread illiteracy among Azeris was gradually reduced. Especially
after World War II, Russian became the lingua franca in the Soviet Union,
while Azerbaijani continued to be taught as the first language in schools
both in Azerbaijan and in Azeri inhabited minority regions in Georgia.
Hence, Azeris along with many other minority groups in Georgia did not need
to learn the Georgian titular language, and for the compactly settled Azeri
enclaves there were few opportunities or reasons to do so, as interaction
with Georgians was limited.

 As a rural population with a very limited segment of educated persons and
almost no members within the intelligentsia, Azeris were not politically
active and did not engage in politics other than in strictly local matters.
However, with the upsurge of nationalism in Georgia ethnic tension between
Georgians and Azeris in Kvemo Kartli region emerged. In June 1989, the
climate became extremely tense and confrontations between ethnic Georgians
and Azeris broke out, resulting in several incidents of street-fighting.
Residents in Marneuli, Bolnisi, Dmanisi and in other areas of compact Azeri
population mobilized in protest. In some cases, violent confrontations took
place, and the situation went particularly out of control in Bolnisi, where
a number of Azeri houses were burned down.

 The situation relatively stabilized in the following months as tension
simultaneously increased in Ossetia and Abkhazia. However, hundreds of
Azeris had been dismissed from their jobs in Bolnisi and Dmanisi and out of
fear of repressions, several thousands of ethnic Azeris left Georgia. Most
of them crossed into Azerbaijan, while a smaller portion went to Russia. In
the town of Bolnisi, practically all members of the large Azeris community
left, often after selling their houses for symbolic amounts. In the
following years, the situation got better. Shevardnadze and the Azerbaijani
president Heydar Aliyev had close ties from the Soviet times, and from 1993
state relations between Georgia and Azerbaijan improved, which in turn
helped to build trust between Georgians and Azeris.

 Since the relative stabilization of the political climate in Georgia in the
mid 1990's there are still two main reasons causing significant
out-migration of the Azeri population. First, the majority of the Azeris –
primarily those living in compact settlements - are linguistically,
economically and politically poorly integrated. The majority of the Azeris,
especially in Kvemo Kartli, have a poor command of the Georgian language, if
at all. With the lack of knowledge of Georgian, Azeris have very limited or
no access to the labour market, which prompts many able-bodied young and
middle aged men to seek employment abroad, especially in neighbouring
Azerbaijan, Russia or Turkey. Moreover, young Azeris have poor opportunities
for acquiring higher education in Georgia due to their generally poor
command of the state language. The emigration creates a brain drain in the
Azeri communities, as typically the young and educated Azeris find
employment and stay abroad after completing their education.

The poor knowledge of Georgian language is also a major impediment for
political participation resulting in an information vacuum, the inability to
pursue higher education and to pass qualification exams required for
obtaining higher public positions (judges, doctors, school directors, etc).
Yet another reason for the lack of involvement in political and public life
of the state is the low level of political activism, absence of civic
consciousness and lack of motivation because persons belonging to ethnic
minorities without command of state language are unable to be employed in
public positions. This finds its expression in a wide-spread perception
among Azeris of being second-grade citizens. The social apathy and almost
complete lack of participation in political and public life exhibits itself
during elections in unanimous support for the ruling party and the president
– regardless of who is in power. Such support is considered by most Azeris
as a demonstration of their loyalty to the Georgian state.

*Language, Education and Religion*

The Azeri language (also known as Azerbaijani or Azeri Turkic) is the state
language of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The language belongs to the Oghuz
branch of the Turkic language family, and is closely related to and mutually
intelligible with Turkish, although significantly influenced by Arabic,
Persian and Russian. As a spoken language, Azeri became the dominant tongue
during the 15-16th centuries, and written Azeri Turkic began to develop from
the early 1880's, while a unified written standard was only introduced in
1930.

The majority of Azeri children today attend Azeri-language schools, although
in recent years some parents as a new trend prefer to enrol their children
at Russian language school in preparation for studies abroad. Lately, a
growing number of parents have also chosen to send their children to
Georgian-language schools. However, the absolute majority of Azeri children
still study at Azeri language schools resulting in a poor command of
Georgian, especially in rural areas. With the decline of the role and
importance of the Russian language, many children are becoming mono-lingual.
At the same time, a significant number of Azeri children do not receive full
secondary education. With a generally low level of education of the Azeri
communities, learning is not a priority, and many parents take their
children, particularly girls, out of school after 5-6th grade to help with
the small-scale farming or petty-trade that are the primary occupations of
the rural Azeri population.

Georgia's Azeris are characterised by being divided between Shia and Sunni
followers, and the Azeris in general are split almost evenly among Shias and
Sunnis, with the numbers of followers of Shia slightly prevailing. While the
2002 census indicates that 9.9% of Georgia's population was Muslim– a figure
that also includes Muslim Georgian, and other smaller Muslim groups such as
Avars and Kists, the census does not provide a breakdown of Shia and Sunni
denominations. Influences from Turkey and the North Caucasus, where Sunni
Islam is dominant, have contributed to the strength of the latter faith
among Muslims in Georgia. The Azeris in Kakheti close to the Caucasus
Mountain ridge are almost exclusively Sunni Muslims, while in Kvemo Kartli,
there is a mixture of Sunni and Shia communities.

Until World War II both a Shia and a Sunni mosque functioned in Tbilisi.
Relations up to this point were still somewhat strained between the two
communities, and the two groups had their own cemeteries and avoided
observable contact with one another. In 1951, the Soviet authorities
destroyed the 16th century Shia temple known as the Blue Mosque. The Shia
community was referred to pray along with the Sunnis, who on their side were
forced to share their mosque, the Juma Mosque, with the Shia. From 1951 to
1996, a black curtain divided the mosque during prayers, so that Shia and
Sunni Muslims could pray separately. In 1996, the Imam had the curtain
removed and since then the two congregations have prayed together. Today,
the Imam is a Sunni Muslim, while the Mullah is a Shia Muslim and relations
between members of the two denominations are cordial.

*Economy *

The Azeri population residing in the rural areas (mostly in Kvemo Kartli and
Kakheti) is mainly occupied with small-scale agriculture, horticulture and
cattle-breeding. Azeris in Kvemo Kartli are mainly engaged in potatoes
growing, while fruits and vegetables are also grown as well as grain (mainly
maize and wheat), especially in Marneuli and Gardabani districts. In Shida
Kartli, Azeris mostly make their living from growing fruits and vegetables.
Cattle-breeding is more common in the mountainous parts of the region, where
hayfields and pastures constitute a large part of the lands. Because of the
fertile soil and the availability of land in this lowland region of Georgia,
the conditions for agriculture and animal husbandry are good, and certainly
much better than many other regions of the country. In the Soviet period,
Kvemo Kartli was the breadbasket of Georgia, and even in post-Soviet times,
based largely on small scale farming, the production has been significant.
In 2002, 41.8% of total potato production and 25.4% of all the vegetables
grown in Georgia were produced in Kvemo Kartli, and 11% of the livestock of
the country were concentrated in the region.

 In addition, since the early 1990's many Azeris have engaged in petty-trade
in agricultural products with Azerbaijan as a means to supplement the meager
incomes they can generate from rural production. In Kvemo Kartli, the
proximity and easy access to the capital makes agriculture profitable and
the big wholesale market in Lilo is the main hub for the sale of the
products. There are also busses connecting different towns in Kvemo Kartli
to Azerbaijani urban centres several times daily.

 Copyright Tom Trier and George Tarkhan-Mouravi.

*ECMI*
2008.04.01 13:08

http://www.geotimes.ge/index.php?m=home&newsid=10058


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