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Turks in Azerbaijan

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Turks in Azerbaijan
Regions with significant populations
Baku  · Beylagan  · Khachmaz  · Saatli  · Sabirabad
Languages
Turkish  · Azerbaijani
Religion
Sunni Muslim  · Shiite Muslim

Turks in Azerbaijan are Turkish people who live in Azerbaijan. The community is largely made of Meskhetian Turks and immigrants from Turkey.

History

Ottoman migration

The First All-Union Census of the Soviet Union in 1926 recorded 8,570 Ottoman Turks living in the Soviet Union. The Ottoman Turks are no longer listed separately in the census, it is presumed that those who were living in Azerbaijan have either been assimilated into Azeri society or have left the country.[7]

Meskhetian Turks migration

The Meskhetian Turks first arrived in Azerbaijan at the end of the nineteenth century, and more followed in 1918-1920.[8] However, migration to Azerbaijan increased dramatically after World War II when the Soviet Union was preparing to launch a pressure campaign against Turkey. Vyacheslav Molotov, then Minister of Foreign Affairs, demanded to the surrender of three Anatolian provinces (Kars, Ardahan and Artvin); thus, war against Turkey seemed possible, and Joseph Stalin wanted to clear the strategic Turkish population situated in Meskheti, located near the Turkish-Georgian border which were likely to be hostile to Soviet intentions.[9] Thus, in 1944, the Meskhetian Turks were forcefully deported from the Meskheti region in Georgia and accused of smuggling, banditry and espionage in collaboration with their kin across the Turkish border.[10] Nationalistic policies at the time encouraged the slogan: "Georgia for Georgians" and that the Meskhetian Turks should be sent to Turkey "where they belong".[11][12] Joseph Stalin deported the Meskhetian Turks to Central Asia (especially to Uzbekistan), thousands dying en route in cattle-trucks,[13] and were not permitted by the Georgian government of Zviad Gamsakhurdia to return to their homeland.[11]

Between the late 1950s and 1970s, about 25,000 to 30,000 Meskhetian Turks settled in Azerbaijan;[4][8] furthermore, approximately 50,000 Meskhetian Turkish refugees came to Azerbaijan due to continued discrimination[14][15][16][17] when the Meskhetian Turks living in Uzbekistan became the victims of riots by the ethnic Uzbeks in the Ferghana valley which led to over a hundred deaths.[18] Most of the first wave of Meskhetian Turkish refugees from the Ferghana Valley settled in the Saatli and Sabirabad region and the regions of Khachmaz, Beylagan and Baku.[17] Some 5,000 Meskhetian Turks have also arrived to Azerbaijan from Russia during the 1990s, and a few hundred arrived from Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan proper during the 1991-1994 war.[17]

Mainland Turkish migration

Azerbaijan has witnessed increasing numbers of immigrants from Turkey. By 2009, 17,577 Turkish citizens were living in Azerbaijan.[6]

Demographics

See also: Demographics of Azerbaijan
Turks in Azerbaijan according to the Azeri census[1]
Azeri census Turks %
1959 200 0%
1970 8,500 0.2%
1979 7,900 0.2%
1989 17,700 0.2%
1999 43,400 0.5%
2009 38,000 0.4%

The Meskhetian Turks are settled mostly in rural areas and in the cities of Baku, Beylagan, Khachmaz, Saatli, and Sabirabad. Those living in urban areas tend to be better off than those in agricultural areas.[17][4]

Population

According to the 2009 Azerbaijani population census there were 38,000 Turks living in Azerbaijan.[1] However, official data regarding the Turkish community in Azerbaijan is unlikely to provide a true indication of the population, as no distinction is made between Meskhetian Turks and Turks from Turkey who have become Azerbaijani citizens, where they are classified in the population census as "Turks"[1], and also as most of the community is officially registered as "Azerbaijani";[19] in the late 1950s and 1970s, about 25,000 to 30,000 Meskhetian Turks settled in Azerbaijan;[4][8] and in 1989, approximately 50,000 Meskhetian Turksish refugees from Uzbekistan migrated to Azerbaijan.[15][14] The Baku Institute of Peace and Democracy stated, in 2001, that between 90,000 and 110,000 Meskhetian Turks lived in Azerbaijan,[2] similarly, academic estimates have also suggested that the Meskhetian Turksish community of Azerbaijan numbers 90,000 to 110,000.[3][4][5] There is also, as of 2009, an additional 17,577 Turkish citizens living in Azerbaijan.[6]

Culture

Language

The Meskhetian Turks speak an Eastern Anatolian dialect of Turkish, which hails from the regions of Kars, Ardahan, and Artvin.[20] In recent years there has been more contact between the Meskhetian Turk dialect and Turkish as spoken in Turkey.[20] Meskhetian Turks travel more often to Turkey for commerce and education; furthermore, many Meskhetian Turks across the former Soviet Union have acquired Turkish satellite television channels.[21]

Religion

The majority of Meskhetian Turks are Sunni Muslims, although they are not strictly observant Muslims.[22]

Notable people

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d The State Statistical Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan. "Population by ethnic groups". Retrieved 2012-01-16.
  2. ^ a b NATO Parliamentary Assembly. "Minorities in the South Caucasus: Factor of Instability?". Retrieved 2012-01-16.
  3. ^ a b Pentikäinen & Trier 2004, 13.
  4. ^ a b c d e Aydıngün et al. 2006, 13.
  5. ^ a b Burford 2011, 42.
  6. ^ a b c Çalışma ve Sosyal Güvenlik Bakanlığı. "YURTDIŞINDAKİ VATANDAŞLARIMIZLA İLGİLİ SAYISAL BİLGİLER (31.12.2009 tarihi itibarıyla)". Retrieved 2011-09-27.
  7. ^ Akiner 1983, 381.
  8. ^ a b c Coene 2009, 67.
  9. ^ Bennigsen & Broxup 1983, 30.
  10. ^ Tomlinson 2005, 107.
  11. ^ a b Kurbanov & Kurbanov 1995, 237.
  12. ^ Cornell 2001, 183.
  13. ^ Minority Rights Group International. "Meskhetian Turks". Retrieved 2011-06-02.
  14. ^ a b Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (18 December 2007). "Report on mass human rights violation". Retrieved 2012-01-17.
  15. ^ a b United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees 2003, 21.
  16. ^ Daniloff, Caleb (1997). "Exile of the Meskheti Turks: Still Homesick Half a Century Later". Azerbaijan International. Retrieved 2012-01-17. {{cite news}}: More than one of |author= and |last= specified (help)
  17. ^ a b c d Pentikäinen & Trier 2004, 19.
  18. ^ Ryazantsev 2009, 167.
  19. ^ Helton, Arthur C. (1998). "Meskhetian Turks: Solutions and Human Security". Open Society Institute. Retrieved 2012-01-17. {{cite news}}: |chapter= ignored (help); More than one of |author= and |last= specified (help)
  20. ^ a b Aydıngün et al. 2006, 23.
  21. ^ Aydıngün et al. 2006, 24.
  22. ^ Aydıngün et al. 2006, 15.

Bibliography

  • Akiner, Shirin (1983), Islamic Peoples of the Soviet Union, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 0710300255.
  • Aydıngün, Ayşegül; Harding, Çigğdem Balım; Hoover, Matthew; Kuznetsov, Igor; Swerdlow, Steve (2006), Meskhetian Turks: An Introduction to their History, Culture, and Resettelment Experiences (PDF), Center for Applied Linguistics
  • Bennigsen, Alexandre; Broxup, Marie (1983), The Islamic threat to the Soviet state, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 0709906196.
  • Burford, Tim (2011), Georgia, Bradt Travel Guides, ISBN 1841623571.
  • Coene, Frederik (2009), The Caucasus: An Introduction, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 0415486602.
  • Cornell, Svante E. (2001), Small nations and great powers: a study of ethnopolitical conflict in the Caucasus, Routledge, ISBN 0700711627.
  • Kurbanov, Rafik Osman-Ogly; Kurbanov, Erjan Rafik-Ogly (1995), "Religion and Politics in the Caucasus", in Bourdeaux, Michael (ed) (ed.), The Politics of Religion in Russia and the New States of Eurasia, M.E. Sharpe, ISBN 1563243571 {{citation}}: |editor-first= has generic name (help).
  • Pentikäinen, Oskari; Trier, Tom (2004), Between Integration and Resettlement: The Meskhetian Turks, European Centre For Minority Issues
  • Ryazantsev, Sergey V. (2009), "Turkish Communities in the Russian Federation" (PDF), International Journal on Multicultural Societies, 11 (2): 155–173
  • Tomlinson, Kathryn (2005), "Living Yesterday in Today and Tomorrow: Meskhetian Turks in Southern Russia", in Crossley, James G.; Karner, Christian (eds.) (eds.), Writing History, Constructing Religion, Ashgate Publishing, ISBN 0754651835 {{citation}}: |editor2-first= has generic name (help).
  • United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (2003), International Protection Considerations Regarding Azerbaijani Asylum-Seekers and Refugees (PDF), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
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