(MENAFN- AzerNews)
Qabil Ashirov read more 'What happened to the Kyrgyz language in Kyrgyzstan bypassed the
Azerbaijani language. Now, like the Kyrgyz language, Azerbaijani is
not exposed to death,' said great Kyrgyz writer Chingiz Aytmatov
with grief.
Although the Azerbaijani language is rich with an ancient
history, it was condemned to assimilation like other colonial
languages after the Russian occupation.
In 1878, in Europe where nationalist and pan-nationalist
currents were raging, the state language was included in the
Norwegian constitution for the first time in the world. These
movements affected Azerbaijani intellectuals through Russia, and
the debates about ethnic identity and national language circulated
among them.
In the second half of the 19th century and the beginning 20th
century, since the empires dominated the world, pan-nationalistic
movements were more popular. However, after WWI national states
began to replace empires and thus nationalistic movement won over
pan-nationalism gradually.
Unfortunately, being short-sighted, Azerbaijani leaders named
Turkic as a state language, when they founded Azerbaijan Democratic
Republic (ADR) in 1918. The lifespan of the newly-founded state was
short and it was invaded by Soviet Russia (SR) after two years.
Azerbaijan became part of the United Soviet Socialist Republics
(USSR).
The status of the state language in the USSR was vague.
Actually, not declaring any language as an official language, the
USSR continued the empire politics relating to languages, but at
the same time tried to relate it with democracy and the left
ideology. All left block countries and the union republics in the
20th century, including Soviet Russia, did not have an official
language, except Soviet Georgia and Soviet Armenia. Russian
cornered all languages and eliminated them one by one.
In the 1950s, a very sad situation arose for the Azerbaijani
language. Russian forced out Azerbaijani of the state institutions,
and even the post offices did not use to accept telegrams written
in the Azerbaijani language and applications written in the
Azerbaijani language used to be rejected.
After Stalin's death, then-Azerbaijani leaders took initiative
and included the article of the state language in the constitution
in 1956. As per the requirement of time, not Turkic but Azerbaijani
was called the state language of the Soviet Azerbaijan.
Moscow was not satisfied with this and after three years all
initiatives in the direction of the Azerbaijani language were
halted. The initiators, the First Secretary Imam Mustafayev and the
Head of Supreme Soviet Mirza Ibrahimov fired from their positions,
they were repressed and humiliated in front of the public. Russia
started to dominate again. Fortunately, Moscow did not remove the
Azerbaijani language from Soviet Azerbaijan's constitution.
In 1969, fortune started to favor Azerbaijan, with Heydar
Aliyev's becoming the first secretary of the Azerbaijan Soviet. In
all spheres, including the official language commenced
nationalization. However, in 1977, Moscow presented the draft of
the new Soviet constitution and the article of official language
was removed.
Heydar Aliyev, who was a far-sighted and skilled politician,
considered it necessary to keep the article on the state language
in the constitution and was very determined about it. He had
foreseen this issue since the first day and had formed a public
opinion about the Azerbaijani language.
During the discussion of the draft constitution, public opinion
formation measures were further strengthened. All
humanitarian-oriented organizations, creative unions, and
newspaper-magazine editors are instructed to include the request of
the state language in the minutes of the meetings (MoM). The
commission drafting the new constitution soon received hundreds of
such MoMs.
Thanks to the courage and leadership of Heydar Aliyev, Moscow
took a step back and the state language was not removed from the
new constitution. Azerbaijan was one of three republics among the
former 15 soviet republics which in the constitution it was noted
as the state language. In addition, Heydar Aliyev constantly
monitored the use of the Azerbaijani language in all state circles
when he was in power.
However, it should be noted with regret that no matter how
contradictory it sounds, in the first years of Azerbaijan's
independence dark clouds arose over the Azerbaijani language once
again. In 1992, after Azerbaijani National Front (ANF) usurping
power, the name of the state language was illegally changed to
Turkic again. In addition, ANF tried to form a public opinion on
the removal of several sounds from the Azerbaijani language under
the motto of creating a common Turkic. This meant the assimilation
of Azerbaijani as a language in the near future. Fortunate ANF
government, still stuck in the pan-nationalist concept of the end
of the 19th century, could not stay in power for a long time.
Heydar Aliyev's return to power in 1993 played the role of a
kind of new breath for the Azerbaijani language. When the first
constitution of independent Azerbaijan was being prepared, the
Great Leader gave a lot of space to the language issue, and the
State TV channel broadcast alive the state language discussion.
The discussion revealed that most Azerbaijani intelligentsia,
more precisely linguists and historians, were out of date and were
stuck in the 19th century. Despite not being a linguist, president
Heydar Aliyev had more precise and detailed knowledge of
linguistics than them. As a result of Heydar Aliyev's efforts and
persuasiveness, the Azerbaijani language was able to maintain the
status it deserves in the first constitution of independent
Azerbaijan.
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