Where did Azerbaijanis come from? The origin of Azerbaijanis: ethnogenesis, the process of nation formation, genetic research and the history of the nation.

Azerbaijani customs and traditions have come a long way before they formed into the species that are familiar to us now. Many centuries were needed for their formation, and many events, both positive and negative, became the cause of their occurrence. Azerbaijani traditions also reflect various religious worldviews of people, the peculiarity of their mentality, and the influence of other cultures. In the 20th century, the centralized (Soviet) government of the republic tried to eradicate many of the traditions, but no one will ever be able to destroy in a person what is part of him. That is why many ancient traditions are still alive today.

After tea drinking, second courses, greens and fresh vegetables are served, and then - sweets or dovga. It is not customary to take food with the left hand. Rice is taken with a pinch, some dishes are also considered not shameful to take with your hand or a piece of bread. In urban settings, a meal is usually held according to European standards, with the presence of cutlery and individual portions. In rural areas, especially when it comes to some kind of community holiday, the rules of behavior at the table are more free and informal.

One of the main features of Azerbaijani cuisine, like any oriental one, is the unique aroma and spicy taste of dishes. A variety of spices give such an amazing effect to Azerbaijani food. Particular attention should be paid to saffron and sumac (powdered barberry). The first has become an integral component of numerous pilafs. And sumac is served with meat dishes. By the way, another distinctive feature of Azerbaijani cuisine is the use of lamb. Dolma is prepared from it, which is very similar to cabbage rolls.

Dishes such as kyufta-bozbash (broth with meatballs, potatoes and peas), dovga (sour milk soup) and, of course, kebab are widely known. Various regions of Azerbaijan also boast special ways of cooking. For example, in the north-west of the country, the Khingal dish is popular, which is very similar to dumplings. Its filling is made from meat, kurut (dried cottage cheese) and fried onions. Lenkoraniya is famous for chickens stuffed with nuts, marmalade and onions. Confectionery products can be divided into two groups: cookies (shaker-luku, unlanan, kurabye) and pies with nut filling, which are famous as baklava. The most common national drink is sherbet. It is made with lemon, saffron, sugar, basil and mint seeds, and various fruits.

Do not be surprised if the first dish served to the table is tea. For Azerbaijanis, tea drinking has long turned into a cultural and aesthetic heritage, which has its own methods and rules. After tea is over, main courses, fresh vegetables and herbs are served, and at the end - dovga or sweets. Many dishes need to be eaten with the help of hands, for example, it is customary to take rice with a pinch. Azerbaijani lunch can last about three hours. However, in urban settings, the meal is often held according to European standards familiar to foreigners.

Teahouse

Another tradition associated with the tea ceremony. Unlike the standard Central Asian teahouse, where you can drink tea and have a hearty lunch, the Azerbaijani teahouse serves only tea. Only sweets and sweets can be offered to him, but not food. In the modern understanding of a foreign person, a teahouse can be safely called a club, and exclusively for men. Here they discuss news, business, make plans, remember the past, and most importantly, maintain relationships. In a sense, this is an institution designed to maintain stability in society. Neighbors who quarreled during the day meet in the tea house in the evening. And here, in the circle of neighbors, friends, over a glass of tea, they can calmly discuss their problems and find a mutually beneficial way out of the current situation.

Holidays

Of the holidays that are celebrated by Azerbaijanis, Kurban Bayram (holiday of sacrifice), orujluk (holiday of fasting) are widely celebrated. Novruz Bayram is celebrated most widely. This ancient folk holiday of the new year and spring. It is celebrated on March 21 - the day of the spring equinox. They have been preparing for it since the end of winter: they repair apartments, sew new clothes, but most importantly, they grow wheat on plates, then boil it in a special way. In the evening on the day of the holiday, a table is laid with rich dishes so that the year is rich and fertile. Small bonfires are kindled in the yards, over which older children jump under the supervision of older children. Novruz celebration is one of the interesting folk traditions of Azerbaijan. Novruz is a holiday of spring, the beginning of a new year. Before the celebration of Novruz, Azerbaijanis celebrate a number of previous days, which are holidays on the occasion of the end of the Old and the onset of the New Year. We are talking about four pre-holiday Wednesdays: Su Chershenbe (Wednesday on the water), Odlu Chershenbe (Wednesday on the fire), Torpag Chershenbe (Wednesday on the ground) and Akhir Chershenbe (the last Wednesday). According to popular beliefs, on the first Wednesday, water was renewed, stagnant waters began to move. In the second - fire, in the third - earth. On the fourth Wednesday, the wind opened the buds of the trees, and according to folk signs, spring came.

Cloth

As for the traditions in clothing, the national costumes of Azerbaijanis are very beautiful and original. Women's dresses have an elegant silhouette and cut, emphasizing the flexible country of Azerbaijani beauties. They are decorated with intricate embroidery and trimmed with beautiful "golden" braid. Men's clothing is also very distinctive. She emphasizes their masculinity, does not constrain their rapid movements. Women's clothes were sewn mainly from silk and velvet, and men's clothes from cloth and homemade cashmere fabric. A notable element of the Azerbaijani costume is the underwear. She (both women's and men's) was sewn from canvas and cotton fabric. The rich beauties are made of silk. Women's clothing was distinguished by the brightness of colors. Over the shirt they wore a short, fitted caftan with a pleated hem, and in winter, an additional quilted sleeveless jacket. The woman's hair was put in a narrow straight cover, and a low hat with a scarf was put on her head. Leaving the yard, especially in the city, a shawl or a special long cape - a veil - was thrown over the scarf. Shoes for men were leather poles, soft boots and shoes with upturned toes. Women wore socks of their own knitting at home, sometimes with hemmed leather soles, and when leaving the house they put on mules with a small heel and sharp, turned-up toes. In conditions of sharp social inequality, large differences were observed in the clothes of different social groups of the population. Wealthy men wore clothes made of expensive materials - fine cloth, silk; The Circassian coat was decorated with breast pockets, which in the past served as bandoliers, gazyrs, and girded with a thin leather belt trimmed with inlaid silver jewelry. Rich women also sewed clothes from expensive fabrics - silk, brocade, velvet; they wore a wide leather or velvet belt with t fancy silver buckles and hanging coins. Their costume was complemented by numerous jewelry - bracelets, monisto, bells, rings. At present, both men and women wear clothes of the pan-European type. Separate elements of the national costume (papakhas for men, and for women - wide skirts, shawls, scarves) can be found only in rural areas, mainly among older people.

Wedding

The richest national rituals and ceremonies were and remain wedding ceremonies. They start with an announcement...

The groom's relatives send a close relative to the girl's house. He must say about the intention to come to the matchmaking. It happens that in the house the girls do not give consent to this. In this case, the most respected of the groom's family tries to get the consent of the girl's parents.

Tea in the Azerbaijani tradition is an indispensable attribute of matchmaking. It is not customary for the people of this country to speak directly: they say, marry your daughter to our son. The fact that matchmakers will come to the house is reported in advance, and without much publicity. In the course of the matchmaking itself, the conversation is carried on only in hints and half-hints. And the answer is also given ambiguously, and a non-Azerbaijani would not understand such an answer. In general, it is given through tea: if sugar is put in the tea offered to the matchmakers, then you need to prepare for the wedding. If sugar was served separately from tea, then this means a refusal.

Particularly interesting wedding traditions Azerbaijan . There are many different pre-wedding customs in this country. One of the very first is Khabar gendarma or matchmaking notification. If the girl's family does not agree to matchmaking, the boy's relatives ask for help from respected people to help them get consent. There is also a custom of small matchmaking, according to which the bride is wooed by the young man's mother and another close relative.

Azerbaijanis have Small and Big betrothal. There is no groom at the first betrothal, but the boyfriend's relatives give the bride an engagement ring, a scarf and sweets. A few months later comes the main engagement. For this betrothal, the girl is presented with many gifts, with the exception of shoes. The most interesting traditional gift is the “shah”. It is a wedding decoration made of a tree branch, on which candles, a mirror, brocade, fruits and sweets are attached. The bride's dowry is brought to the groom's house a few days before the wedding.

Religious legalization of marriage takes place before the wedding. The ceremony is performed by Molla (representative of the Muslim mosque), who is thanked with money and a lump of sugar. In this ceremony, only the closest relatives are present. The actual wedding (“Toi”) can last up to three days. All guests say kind words to the newlyweds and dance. To the left and right of the groom are his closest friends (young). The mother of the groom must prepare gifts for them. The main thing is that the bride and groom dance a lot.

Name choice

The choice of names for newborns can also be distinguished as a custom. The choice of a name is usually associated with certain difficulties. Representatives of the dominant people are more free when choosing a name for a child. The choice may be on a name that rhymes with the name of the previous child, without much attention to the meaning, the name of the former representative of the genus, or simply at the discretion of the parent or other relative.

The family and family life are the bearers of the rich traditional culture of the ethnic group. The family life of Azerbaijanis was distinguished by a large number of patriarchal relations. The man - the head of the family - was the sovereign manager of movable and immovable property, excluding his wife's dowry. Children were brought up in strict obedience to their father and older men. The wife was in unquestioning submission to her husband, as well as mother-in-law and other older women in her husband's house. In creating a family, giving birth and raising children, living and emotional communication, organizing leisure and recreation, housekeeping, caring for elderly parents and many other aspects of family life, various elements of the traditional way of life appear and function.

Dancing

The national dances of Azerbaijan, as well as real street performances, are called an integral component of the culture of this country. Dancers dressed in national costumes circled passers-by and gathered crowds of curious onlookers around them. One of the most popular is the “kosa-kossa” ritual - dances about the arrival of spring. Young people gathered in small groups and arranged cheerful improvisations right on the street, receiving various sweets as a reward from grateful spectators. The difference between men's and women's dances is striking. Azerbaijani dancers reproduce the dance, to a greater extent, with the upper part of the body: head, arms, body. Girls bewitch the audience with smooth movements of the hands, the curve of the waist, a mischievous smile and head turns.

A modest, but mysterious and proud country with the beautiful name of Azerbaijan is neatly located on the Caspian Sea. Not lagging behind the progressive society, the Azerbaijani people, building gigantic complexes in the capital and other densely populated cities, developing office projects, modernizing oil rigs, continue to respect the spiritual richness of the heritage of their descendants. In Azerbaijan, both old and young strictly observe national traditions. Here, every person from infancy is immersed in a unique atmosphere of originality.

Childbearing traditions

To prevent the birth of a sick child, pregnant Azerbaijani women try to be always friendly and courteous. It is especially useful, according to ancient customs, to linger on beautiful flowers, water or sky. After the birth of the baby, they immediately bathed in salt water so that the child would be honest and courageous. But at the first bath, the mother should not be with the child. When the first teeth appeared in the baby, a special ceremony was held, in which a dish of 7 types of grain was prepared. P After the child was 1 year old, they began to cut his nails and cut his hair. It is customary to keep the first cut hair and nails.

The listed traditions of Azerbaijan are far from a complete list of the amazing traditions of this country. By visiting it, you will be able to feel for yourself all the diversity of the people living in this territory. In any case, acquaintance with the ancient traditions of Azerbaijanis will be not only informative, but also useful, and sometimes instructive.

Azerbaijan is a country in the southeast of the Caucasus. Many important and interesting events took place on these lands. And history can tell us a lot about them. Azerbaijan will appear in a historical retrospective, revealing the secrets of its past.

Location of Azerbaijan

Located in the east of Transcaucasia. From the north, the border of Azerbaijan has contact with the Russian Federation. In the south the country borders with Iran, in the west - with Armenia, in the northwest - with Georgia. From the east, the country is washed by the waves of the Caspian Sea.

The territory of Azerbaijan is almost equally represented by mountainous regions and lowlands. This fact played an important role in the historical development of the country.

primeval times

First of all, we learn about the most ancient times into which history allows us to look. Azerbaijan was inhabited at the dawn of human development. Thus, the most ancient monument of the presence of a Neanderthal in the country dates back to more than 1.5 million years ago.

The most significant sites of ancient man were found in the Azikh and Taglar caves.

Ancient Azerbaijan

The first state, which was located on the territory of Azerbaijan, was Manna. Its center was within the borders of modern Iranian Azerbaijan.

The name "Azerbaijan" comes from the name of Atropat, the governor who began to rule in Mann after its conquest by Persia. In honor of him, the whole country began to be called Midia Atropatena, which later transformed into the name "Azerbaijan".

One of the first peoples that inhabited Azerbaijan were Albanians. This ethnic group belonged to the Nakh-Dagestan language family and was closely related to modern Lezgins. In the 1st millennium, the Albanians had their own state. Unlike Manna, it was located in the north of the country. Caucasian Albania was constantly exposed to the aggressive aspirations of Ancient Rome, Byzantium, the Parthian kingdom and Iran. For some time, Tigran II was able to gain a foothold in large areas of the country.

In the IV century. n. e. Christianity came to the territory of Albania, which until then had been dominated by local religions and Zoroastrianism, from Armenia.

Arab conquest

In the 7th century n. e. an event occurred that played a decisive role in the history of the region. It's about the Arab conquest. First, the Arabs conquered the Iranian kingdom, from which Albania was in and then launched an attack on Azerbaijan itself. After the Arabs captured the country, its history made a new round. Azerbaijan has now become forever inextricably linked with Islam. The Arabs, having included the country in the Caliphate, began to pursue a systematic policy of Islamization of the region and quickly achieved their goals. The southern ones were first subjected to Islamization, and then the new religion penetrated the countryside and the north of the country.

But not everything was so easy for the Arab administration in the southeast of the Caucasus. In 816, an uprising began in Azerbaijan against the Arabs and Islam. This popular movement was led by Babek, who adhered to the ancient Zoroastrian religion. The main support of the uprising were artisans and peasants. For more than twenty years, the people, led by Babek, fought against the Arab authorities. The rebels even managed to expel the Arab garrisons from the territory of Azerbaijan. To suppress the uprising, the Caliphate had to consolidate all its forces.

State of the Shirvanshahs

Despite the fact that the uprising was crushed, the Caliphate weakened every year. He no longer had the strength, as before, to control various parts of a vast empire.

The governors of the northern part of Azerbaijan (Shirvan), starting from 861, began to be called Shirvanshahs and transfer their power by inheritance. They were nominally subordinate to the caliph, but in fact they were completely independent rulers. Over time, even nominal dependence disappeared.

The capital of the Shirvanshahs was originally Shemakha, and then Baku. The state existed until 1538, when it was included in the Persian state of the Safavids.

At the same time, in the south of the country, there were alternating states of the Sajids, Salarids, Sheddadids, Ravvadids, who also either did not recognize the power of the Caliphate at all, or did so only formally.

Turkification of Azerbaijan

No less important for history than the Islamization of the region, caused by the Arab conquest, was its Turkization due to the invasion of various Turkic nomadic tribes. But, unlike Islamization, this process dragged on for several centuries. The importance of this event is emphasized by a number of factors that characterize modern Azerbaijan: the language and culture of the modern population of the country is of Turkic origin.

The first wave of the Turkic invasion was the invasion of the Oguz tribes of the Seljuks from Central Asia, which occurred in the 11th century. It was accompanied by huge destruction and destruction of the local population. Many residents of Azerbaijan, escaping, fled to the mountains. Therefore, it was the mountainous regions of the country that were the least affected by Turkization. Here, Christianity became the dominant religion, and the inhabitants of Azerbaijan mixed with the Armenians living in the mountainous regions. At the same time, the population remaining in their places, mixing with the Turkic conquerors, adopted their language and culture, but at the same time preserved the cultural heritage of their ancestors. The ethnic group formed from this mixture began to be called Azerbaijanis in the future.

After the collapse of the united state of the Seljuks in the territory of southern Azerbaijan, the Ildegezids dynasty of Turkic origin ruled, and then for a short time these lands were seized by the Khorezmshahs.

In the first half of the 13th century, the Caucasus was subjected to a Mongol invasion. Azerbaijan was included in the state of the Mongol Hulaguid dynasty with its center in the territory of modern Iran.

After the fall of the Khulaguid dynasty in 1355, Azerbaijan was part of the state of Tamerlane for a short time, and then became part of the state formations of the Oghuz tribes of Kara-Koyunlu and Ak-Koyunlu. It was during this period that the final formation of the Azerbaijani people took place.

Azerbaijan within Iran

After the fall of the Ak-Koyunlu state in 1501, a powerful state of the Safavids was formed on the territory of Iran and southern Azerbaijan, with its center in Tabriz. Later, the capital was moved to the Iranian cities of Qazvin and Isfahan.

The Safavid state had all the attributes of a true empire. The Safavids waged a particularly stubborn struggle in the west against the growing power of the Ottoman Empire, including in the Caucasus.

In 1538, the Safavids managed to conquer the state of the Shirvanshahs. Thus, the entire territory of modern Azerbaijan was under their rule. Iran retained control over the country under the following dynasties - Hotaki, Afsharids and Zends. In 1795, the Qajar dynasty of Turkic origin reigned in Iran.

At that time, Azerbaijan was already divided into many small khanates, which were subordinate to the central Iranian government.

Conquest of Azerbaijan by the Russian Empire

The first attempts to establish Russia's control over the territories of Azerbaijan were made under Peter I. But at that time, the advance of the Russian Empire in the Transcaucasus did not have much success.

The situation changed radically in the first half of the 19th century. During the two Russian-Persian wars, which lasted from 1804 to 1828, almost the entire territory of modern Azerbaijan was annexed to the Russian Empire.

It was one of the turning points in history. Since then, Azerbaijan has been linked with Russia for a long time. The beginning of oil production in Azerbaijan and the development of industry belong to the time of his stay in Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan within the USSR

After the October Revolution, centrifugal tendencies emerged in various regions of the former Russian Empire. In May 1918, the independent Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was formed. But the young state could not withstand the fight against the Bolsheviks, including due to internal contradictions. In 1920 it was liquidated.

The Bolsheviks created the Azerbaijan SSR. Initially, it was part of the Transcaucasian Federation, but since 1936 it has become a completely equal subject of the USSR. The capital of this state formation was the city of Baku. During this period, other cities of Azerbaijan also developed intensively.

But in 1991 the Soviet Union collapsed. In connection with this event, the Azerbaijan SSR ceased to exist.

Modern Azerbaijan

The independent state became known as the Republic of Azerbaijan. The first president of Azerbaijan is Ayaz Mutalibov, who was previously the first secretary of the republican committee of the Communist Party. After him, Heydar Aliyev alternately held the post of head of state. Currently, the President of Azerbaijan is the son of the latter. He assumed this position in 2003.

The most acute problem in modern Azerbaijan is the Karabakh conflict, which began at the end of the existence of the USSR. During the bloody confrontation between the government forces of Azerbaijan and the inhabitants of Karabakh, with the support of Armenia, the unrecognized Republic of Artsakh was formed. Azerbaijan considers this territory its own, so the conflict is constantly renewed.

At the same time, one cannot fail to note the successes of Azerbaijan in building an independent state. If these successes are developed in the future, then the prosperity of the country will become a natural result of the joint efforts of the government and the people.

, Bulgars, Khazars, Oguzes, Pechenegs, etc.

Azerbaijanis are of mixed ethnic origin, the most ancient element being the local population of eastern Transcaucasia and possibly the Iranian-speaking Medes who lived in northern Persia. This population was Persianized during the coming to power of the Sassanid dynasty (III-VII centuries AD). A significant part of the Albanian population converted to Islam in Arab times, and later underwent Turkization, serving as the basis for the formation of the Azerbaijani people in the future. The American historian D. Burnutyan notes that the Caucasian Albanians are not the direct ancestors of modern Azerbaijanis, since by the time the Turks penetrated into Transcaucasia, the Albanian tribes were first absorbed by Zoroastrian Persia, and then Islamized by the Arabs.

As for the role of the Turkic-speaking component in the ethnogenesis of Azerbaijanis, the Turkic-speaking Oghuz union of tribes was formed as a result of the mixing of the Turks with local tribes of Ugric and Iranian-speaking Sarmatian origin (according to the TSB, as a result of the mixing of some Turkic and ancient Mongolian tribes with part of the Iranian-speaking Saka-Massaget tribes). Later, the Seljuk family emerged from the Oghuz environment, under whose auspices a wave of Turkic-speaking tribes poured into Transcaucasia in the 11th century. According to the Big Encyclopedic Dictionary Larus: "Azerbaijanis are the descendants of the ancient Iranian-speaking population, Turkified since the 11th century". Vladimir Minorsky, in turn, notes that “At the beginning of the 5th / 11th centuries. hordes of Oguzes, first in smaller groups, and then in significant numbers, under the Seljukids captured Azerbaijan. As a result, the Iranian population of Azerbaijan and the adjacent regions of Transcaucasia became Turkic-speaking; at the same time, the characteristic features of the Azerbaijani Turkic language, such as Persian intonation, the rejection of vocal harmony, reflect the non-Turkic origin of the Turkicized population.” .

In Russia, early descriptions of the origin of Azerbaijanis appear already at the end of the 19th - the first half of the 20th centuries. So the encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron, published in the Russian Empire, wrote that "The Aderbeijan Tatars are the descendants of the Seljuk Turks and the Turkic-Mongols of the army of Gulag Khan (XIII century), but to a large extent also Turkishized Iranians", and according to TSB 1926, “In the era of the decline of the Caliphate, a gradual infiltration of Turkic elements into Eastern Transcaucasia begins. The indigenous population (Albanians) is either exterminated or pushed back into the mountains, most often mixed with the conquerors. The Turkic (Azeri) element finally established itself in the eastern part of the Caucasus as a result of the so-called. Mongol invasion in the 13th century and subsequent conquests of Tamerlane, Turkmens, Ottoman Turks, etc..

Later, Soviet and Russian scientists, as well as their Western colleagues, also began to note the formation of the Azerbaijani ethnos as a result of linguistic and ethno-cultural assimilation. So in the 1950s. S. T. Yeremyan wrote: “As the Turkic nomadic tribes established themselves on the winter pastures of the Kura-Araks lowland, the Muslimized part of the aboriginal population of ancient Albania was assimilated by the newcomer Turkic tribes. This is how the modern Azerbaijani nationality was formed. According to S. A. Tokarev: “The origin of Azerbaijanis is a relatively clear question. They are a mixed people. The oldest layer of it is obviously the aboriginal population of Eastern Transcaucasia - the Caspians and Albanians, possibly also the Medes of Northern Iran. This population, due to the cultural predominance of Iran in the Sassanid era, was Iranianized, and in the 11th century, during the years of the Seljuk conquest, its Turkization began”, which continued during the period of the Mongol conquest.

Azerbaijanis as a people were formed as a result of a long historical development, the gradual consolidation of local ancient tribes (Albanians, Udins, Caspians, Talysh, etc.) with Turkic-speaking tribes that came in different periods - the Huns, Oguzes, Kypchaks, etc. - and, according to According to the opinion existing in science, the change of the indigenous languages ​​of the population by the Turkic spoken language here refers to the XI-XIII centuries. In turn, the Turkic-speaking tribes were rather variegated in their ethnic components, uniting many other, partly more ancient tribes, who subsequently participated in the ethnogenesis not only of Azerbaijanis, but also of a number of other Turkic-speaking peoples. It must be assumed that in the ethnic history of Azerbaijan, the tribes of Karakoyunlu (“black sheep”) and Akgoyunlu (“white sheep”), who settled in South Azerbaijan, left a noticeable mark, in whose states in the 15th century. included "Azerbaijani lands south of Cuba"

The outstanding Soviet and Russian orientalist A.P. Novoseltsev wrote:

At the same time, he pointed out that “The current Azerbaijanis are also Turkic descendants of part of the ancient tribes of Caucasian Albania and the Iranians of southern Azerbaijan. The other ancestors of the Azerbaijanis, who brought the Turkic language, the Oguz tribes, in turn, are the product of a complex Turkic-Iranian synthesis” .

The penetration of the Seljuk Turks into Eastern Transcaucasia led to the Turkization of a significant part of the local population, and in the XI-XIII centuries. the formation of the Turkic-speaking Azerbaijani ethnos began, which ended mainly by the end of the 15th century, during the reign of the Safavids. A number of researchers note the adoption of Shiism during the reign of the Safavids as the final factor in the formation of the Azerbaijani people.

genetic research

Anthropological data

Anthropologically, Azerbaijanis belong to the Caspian subtype of the Caucasoid race. This also includes Kumyks, Tsakhurs and Muslim Tats, as well as part of the Kurds and Turkmens. The Caspian type is usually regarded as a variation of the Mediterranean race or the Indo-Afghan race.

19th century research

In another work, The Races of the Caucasus, Pantyukhov highlights:

The third Caucasian race is already of purely Asian origin, dolichocephalic with a cranial index of 77-78, an average height of about 1.70 m and an eye color of hyperbrunettes, that is, more than 90% pigmented eyes. To this very pure race belong the Persians, the Aderbeijan Tatars, the Kurds, and the Tats.

The Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron, regarding the distribution of dolichocevals, wrote that "only a few of the modern Caucasian peoples show the presence of a dolichocephalic element (Natukhians, Aderbeidzhan Tatars), while the majority are characterized by high degrees of brachycephaly (for example, Abkhazians, Georgians, Armenians, Aisors, Mountain Jews, Dagestanis, Kumyks)" . ESBE calls Azerbaijanis Turks by language and Iranians by race, and also gives the following description:

Head index, according to Eckert, 79.4 (mesocephalic), according to Chantre - 84 (brachycephaly). The eyes are dark, horizontally cut, the nose is long with a hump, the lips are often thick, the facial expression is serious, important.

According to the article "Turks" of the encyclopedic dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron, Azerbaijanis “high mesocephalic stature (god. spec. 80.4) and in all other respects, abundant facial hair, a very elongated face, a curved nose, merging eyebrows, etc., are clearly approaching the Iranians”. ESBE also notes that “In terms of the shape of the skull, Persians, Kurds, Azerbaijanis in general represent a significant similarity (an indicator of the width of the skull is 77-78)” .

20th century research

Analyzing the anthropological features of Azerbaijanis, the Soviet and Russian anthropologist Valery Alekseev noted:

Since the closest morphological analogies of the Caspian population group are noted among the population of Afghanistan and North India, the ancestors of Azerbaijanis should be sought among those ancient peoples who simultaneously gave rise to the Nuristanis and many peoples of North India ... But even in the absence of paleoanthropological data, somatological materials indicate that that the immediate ancestors of the Azerbaijani people must be sought among the ancient peoples of Western Asia and that in the ethnogenesis of the Azerbaijanis, connections in the southeast direction are decisive. Contact with peoples who spoke Turkic languages, and the transition to Turkic speech associated with it, did not have any noticeable influence on the formation of the anthropological characteristics of the Azerbaijani people.

He notes that among the Caucasian peoples, the most dark-eyed are Azerbaijanis, and the maximum of individuals with black eyes falls on the south-eastern regions of Azerbaijan, where the average score in most groups rises above 1.65. In terms of hair color in different Azerbaijani groups, in approximately half of the cases, blue-black hair was noted (No. 27 on the Fisher scale). Alekseev gives the following description:

The face of Azerbaijanis is narrow and, apparently, low, the nose protrudes very strongly. However, unlike the Adyghe peoples of the North Caucasus, who also have small faces, the Azerbaijanis are the most darkly pigmented of the Caucasian peoples. The hairline is moderately developed, in all likelihood, approximately, like that of Georgians, or even slightly less.

The Soviet and Russian anthropologist, a specialist in the field of anthropological dermatoglyphics, Henrietta Heath, in the report "Dermatoglyphics and Rasogenesis of the Caucasian Population" regarding dermatoglyphics notes that “The Turks of the Caucasus (Azerbaijanis, Karachais, Balkars), according to dermatoglyphics, form a separate homogeneous cluster, merging with the Adyghe. However, according to signs of somatology, closely similar Karachays and Balkars unite with Ossetians, Chechens and Ingush, and Azerbaijanis are generally dermatoglyphically isolated in the entire system of Caucasian peoples. .

Sources

1. Stuart James An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of the Russian and Soviet Empires. - Greenwood Publishing Group, 1994. - P. 27. - ISBN 0313274975
2. Shnirelman V.A. Memory Wars: Myths, Identity and Politics in Transcaucasia. - ICC "Akademkniga", 2002. - S. 197. - ISBN 5-94628-118-6

   original text(Russian)

   During the Arab times, a significant part of the Albanian population converted to Islam and began to use the Arabic script. Later, in the 11th-13th centuries, it underwent Turkization and served as the basis for the formation of the Azerbaijani people in the future.

3. Ethnogenesis of Azerbaijanis- article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia
4. Central Asian Survey: The Journal of the Society for Central Asian Studies (1982, p. 437).
5. Azerbaijani. Article from the Encyclopædia Britannica
6. George A. Bournoutian. A brief history of the Aghuank' region. Mazda Publishers, 2009. ISBN 1-56859-171-3. Page 28
7. Mikhail Illarionovich Artamonov History of the Khazars. - Faculty of Philology of St. Petersburg State University, 2002. - P. 419. - ISBN 5846500323, 9785846500327

   original text(Russian)

   The term "Oguz" was originally a common denominator of a tribe and with a numeral determinative was used to name unions of tribes, such as, for example, the Uighurs - Tokuz-Oguz - nine tribes, Karluks - Uch-Oguz - three tribes. Subsequently, it lost its original meaning and became the ethnic name of the tribes that formed in the Aral steppes as a result of the mixing of Turkuts with local tribes of Ugric and Sarmatian origin.

8. Great Soviet Encyclopedia. - State Scientific Publishing House, 1954. - S. 513. - ISBN 5846500323, 9785846500327

   original text(Russian)

   OGUZES (guzes, bonds) - an alliance of tribes that existed in the Aral Sea region in the 6th-11th centuries. on the basis of a mixture of certain Turkic and ancient Mongolian tribes with a part of the Saka-Massaget; the Turkic speech turned out to be victorious.

9. Grand Dictionnaire Encyclopedique Larousse(1982). Page 921, ISBN 2-03-102301-2 (retrieved 17 February 2007).
10. Minorsky, V. "(Azarbaijan)." Encyclopaedia of Islam. Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill

    original text(English)

    In the beginning of the 5th/11th century the Ghuzz hordes, first in smaller parties, and then in considerable numbers, under the Seljuqids occupied Azerbaijan. In consequence, the Iranian population of Azerbaijan and the adjacent parts of Transcaucasia became Turkophone while the characteristic features of Ādharbāyjānī Turkish, such as Persian intonations and disregard of the vocalic harmony, reflect the non-Turkish origin of the Turkicised population.

11. // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
12. Great Soviet Encyclopedia. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1926. - T. 1. - S. 660.
13. Essays on the history of the USSR: the crisis of the slave system and the emergence of feudalism on the territory of the USSR III-IX centuries. - Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1958. - P. 330.
14. S.A. Tokarev Ethnography of the peoples of the USSR: the historical foundations of life and culture. - Publishing House of Moscow University, 1958. - S. 295-296.
15. Fundamentals of Iranian Linguistics: Ancient Iranian Languages. - M .: Nauka, 1979. - S. 49.
16. Proceedings of the Institute of Ethnography. N.N. Miklouho-Maclay. - Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1962. - T. 79, Part 1. - P. 18.
17. Sakinat Shikhamedovna Gadzhieva Dagestan Terekemen: XIX - early XX century. - Science, 1990. - S. 8-9. - ISBN 5020167614, 9785020167612
18. Ways of development of feudalism. - Science, 1972. - S. 56-57.
19. A.P. Novoseltsev, V.T. Pashuto, L.V. Cherepnin Ways of development of feudalism. - Science, 1972. - S. 21.
20. History of the East. In 6 vols. T. 2. The East in the Middle Ages. M., "Eastern Literature", 2002. ISBN 5-02-017711-3
21. XAVIER DE PLANHOL. IRAN I. LANDS OF IRAN , Encyclopaedia Iranica.

    original text(English)

    This unique aspect of Azerbaijan, the only area to have been almost entirely “Turkicized” within Iranian territory, is the result of a complex, progressive cultural and historical process, in which factors accumulated successively (Sümer; Planhol, 1995, pp. 510- 12) The process merits deeper analysis of the extent to which it illustrates the great resilience of the land of Iran. The first phase was the amassing of nomads, initially at the time of the Turkish invasions, following the route of penetration along the piedmont south of the Alborz, facing the Byzantine borders, then those of the empire Greek of Trebizond and Christian Georgia. The Mongol invasion in the 13th century led to an extensive renewal of tribal stock, and the Turkic groups of the region during this period had not yet become stable. In the 15th century, the assimilation of the indigenous Iranian population was far from being completed. The decisive episode, at the beginning of the 16th century, was the adoption of Shiʿite Islam as the religion of the state by the Iran of the Safavids, whereas the Ottoman empire remained faithful to Sunnite orthodoxy. Shiʿite propaganda spread among the nomadic Turkoman tribes of Anatolia, far from urban centers of orthodoxy. These Shiʿite nomads returned en masse along their migratory route back to Safavid Iran. This movement was to extend up to southwest Anatolia, from where the Tekelu, originally from the Lycian peninsula, returned to Iran with 15,000 camels. These nomads returning from Ottoman territory naturally settled en masse in regions near the border, and it was from this period that the definitive “Turkicization” of Azerbaijan dates, along with the establishment of the present-day Azeri-Persian linguistic border-not far from Qazvin, only some 150 kilometers from Tehran.

22. Olivier Roy The new Central Asia: the creation of nations. - I.B.Tauris, 2000. - P. 6. - ISBN 1860642780, 9781860642784

“Each ethnic unit has one ethnic language, Azerbaijanis have more than forty ethnic languages!” (V. Jengel)

The reason for writing this article was the publication of a certain author, Azerbaijani historian Fikrin Bektashi “Where did the Armenians come from in the list of the “indigenous” peoples of Azerbaijan?”.

On the subject of "Azerbaijanis" among the Azerbaijanis themselves (meaning only the Turkic-speaking inhabitants of the AR), disputes on ethnological topics have not stopped for several decades. Let's analyze the most common versions put forward not only on various Internet forums, but even in academic and university circles.

The first, the most publicized, is the official version, put forward by circles close to the government, which suggests the autochthonous Turkic origin of all the ethnic groups of the country with the Iranianization and Caucasianization of some parts in various historical periods. That is, Azerbaijanis are ancient local Turks of Sumerian origin.

This is the official version of the ethnogenesis version, intended for foreign use - for school and university textbooks and popular TV shows. The version is based on the first two parts of the call of the founder of Pan-Turkism, Ziya Gökalp, “To be Turkicized, modernized, Islamized!”.

The second is the official version for internal use, somewhat different, where Azerbaijanis, due to the country's multi-ethnicity and the complete unwillingness to become Turkicized, are very solid parts of the population, which are non-Turkic autochthonous ethnic groups: Kurds, Tats-Parsis, Talysh, Lezgins, Avars, Udins, Ingiloys, Rutuls , Budugs, Padars, Lahijs and others. The languages ​​of these peoples belong to two language families, Indo-European and Caucasian.

The third version is a somewhat amorphous and fuzzy statement that the Azerbaijani nation was formed from several ethnic groups, which, during assimilation, lost their languages ​​​​(or retained, but are not considered ethnic groups anymore) and switched to Turkic, or as it was customary to call it from 1939 - to 1992, and then from 1993, the Azerbaijani language.

This version of the ethnogenesis of Azerbaijanis, as an ethnic group, was promoted by the Bolsheviks, was especially fashionable in the Stalin-Bagirov period, but then gave way to the aforementioned pan-Turkic, assimilation versions.

However, these are not all versions of the genesis of Azerbaijanis. For example, after reading an article by Fikrin Bektashi, one can discover a new idea that in the formation of the allegedly united Azerbaijani (simultaneously - Turkic, or as it is still fashionable to call the "Azeri-Turkic" ethnic group today), some people who are not clear why are called Armenians in Iranian sources, but actually being Caucasian-speaking, Albanians.

For reference, it should be noted that Albanians in the Republic of Azerbaijan are called the inhabitants of medieval Caucasian Albania, which is traditionally called Aranians in Iranian and local sources, i.e. inhabitants of the medieval Aran (or, in the Arabic manner - Ar-Rana). In Georgian chronicles, this country is called Rani, and in ancient Armenian chronicles - Agvank, or Aluank.

This careless and apolitical confession of Fikrin Bektashi arouses the genuine interest of the reader. Either he wants to say that the contemporaries of medieval Armenians, Persian-speaking and Arabic-speaking authors are mistaken and saw another ethnic group, but called it a foreign ethnonym, or these authors saw Armenians, but in fact they were not Armenians, but were Caucasian-speaking Albanians, for example, udins. But the Udis are also not ethnic Azerbaijanis, and also not ethnic Turks! Moreover, in the Republic of Azerbaijan, the ancient Udi (read - Albanian) toponyms were completely destroyed, a priori classifying them as Armenian (Kutkashen, Vartashen, etc.).

But, according to F. Bektashi, they are the Azerbaijanis. You can't argue against logic, as they say! Let's check what served as the basis for the statement of our unlucky ethnologist historian...

Most likely, he relies on the opinion of those Armenians who recognize the Karabakh people as "converted", in Armenian it sounds "shurvats". Being a Talysh by nationality and, of course, a native speaker of the Talysh language, which in fact is nothing more than a modern form of the Median language, that is, the same “Azeri” or “Avestan” spoken by the population of the pre-Islamic Atropatskaya Media (Atrapatgana Mad or Midiya Atropatena) I can afford to translate this word into Talysh - “gardman” (converted).

If F. Bektashi means those who in Talysh are called gardmans / gyrdmans /, then he is very close to the true state of affairs, but something “incomprehensible” does not allow him to recognize autochthonous gardmans. According to the official version, this would be regarded as unacceptable balancing act and turning into a slippery slope. And this would never be forgiven by one who is "a thousand times right." It won't take long to end up in the dungeons, but F. Bektashi hardly wants this.

What can you advise him in this case? Yes, the same well-trodden and indicated path is to declare the Shurtvats-Gardmans "Sumerian Turks" or "Turkic Sumerians". If this version does not suit you, then they can be written as Oghuz, Turkmen, Seljuks, the Turkic-speaking army of the Mongols who got lost in the mountains, at worst. For the first time or what, why else be afraid of rain soaked to the skin?

Here, for example, is a very reliable confirmation of the wet reputation of our professional ethnologist - "Armenians have retained their" identity "not because they" steadfastly resisted "the process of the ethnogenesis of Azerbaijanis, but because they arrived here with a great" delay "- when the train left and the Azerbaijani ethnos had already been formed before their arrival in the Caucasus.” That is, he does not refuse “Armenians of Persian sources” to participate in the ethnogenesis of some mysterious Azerbaijani ethnic group F. Bektashi (although no one, including himself, knows what kind of ethnic group this - Azeri).

It seems that Azerbaijanis actually appeared in 1939, before that they were called Turks, and even earlier just Muslims or Iranians, as is clear from all sources of the periods of history under consideration (“Iranlylar - in Baku newspapers of the founding period of Ekinchi”, “Shargi-Rus” and etc.).

But Bektashi speaks of a train that left in antiquity, when neither the name "Azerbaijanis", nor trains, nor even Stephenson himself was in sight. And if not, then what kind of allegedly departed train, and what ethnic groups allegedly late for it can we talk about? Either F. Bektashi, with a surprisingly serious expression on his face, decided to play a trick on all readers, or he considers everyone to be naive fools, or he mocks historical and ethnological sciences at the same time and at the same time.

Why do I think so. Yes, because with a difference in religious affiliation, ethnic groups mixed little in the Middle Ages. The mountainous and complex terrain formed linguistic and ethnic isolated "bags". What kind of active mixing can we talk about in the conditions of the Mountain of Languages ​​\u200b\u200b- the Caucasus?

The only thing that can actively advance under such conditions is religion, for which ethnicity is not a big hindrance. And indeed, even an uninformed reader, having opened before him only a physical map of the region, can almost accurately indicate the territories in which this or that religion can most quickly be spread. These will be flat areas, but not mountainous.

Let me give you one more, this time living, example: the Talysh Sunnis almost do not mix with related (!) Gilyak Shiites on the southern border, but on the northern border of the range, where the Talysh Shiites border on the Shiite Turks, assimilation processes are actively going on. As you can see, religion is more permeable or, conversely, it protects ethnic identity more strongly.

These processes are quite well studied in Azerbaijan, where for several centuries the propaganda and ideological machine of the Safaviye order dominated, which originated among the Talysh and was transferred to the Turkmen tribes of the Ag-goyunlu ("white sheep") union up to the province of Diyarbekr, where they roamed. And only the repressions of the Ottoman sultans on confessional and religious grounds forced the Turkmens, already Shiites, to seek protection in the territory controlled by the theocratic power of the Safavid sheikhs. Thus, the resettlement of part of the Turkmens and Kurds to the east, to Azerbaijan, took place. But these ethnic groups appeared in Aran later, in connection with the conquests of the son of Sheikh Heydar, who declared himself Shah and a descendant of the ancient Iranian crowned bearers, Ismail I Safavi.

By the way, this historical personality of the restorer of Iranian statehood is presented by Azerbaijani historians as a Turk (but not Turkmen!) and the founder of a certain “Azerbaijani state”. This is exactly what Azerbaijani authors write in all textbooks. Although the first to introduce this “innovation” into Soviet historiography was Z.I. Yampolsky, a Soviet historian, a Jew by nationality, who was completely free from the remorse of a professional.

This phrase is also bewildering: “Before that, there were practically no Armenians here, and those who were sometimes called such in the sources and whom the Persian Shah resettled to the south of the country were, in fact, non-assimilated remnants of Caucasian-speaking Albanians who professed Christianity, who, moreover, had own independent catholicosate in Ganzasar. They were sometimes called "Armenians".

Allow me, sir! What kind of Persian Shah is the article talking about? The Iranian monarchy dates back more than 2.5 thousand years, during which time several formations have changed, from a slave-owning society to capitalism! For some reason, for the historian F. Bektashi, this turns into an insignificant factor, which he easily neglects. No, that won't work, mister forger, you can't even falsify in this way, white threads are visible to the naked eye. You will have to explain to us, non-assimilated Talysh, how the ethnic group resettled to the south of the country (and this is the coast of the Persian Gulf), without the Armenian environment and interethnic contacts (there were practically no Armenians there according to F. Bektashi) managed in some incomprehensible way to assimilate without them, and, moreover, to manage to get into the annals under the name of Armenians?

Probably, Mr. Bektashi is one of those sorcerers-historians who, unlike academician Igrar Aliyev, are able to suck out the Turkic origin from anyone, even the Sumerians. Question two: If the mentioned “non-assimilated remnants of the Caucasian-speaking Albanians” were sometimes called Armenians, then how were they usually called? Unfortunately, F. Bektashi did not indicate exactly this much needed “common” and not “rare” name of the ethnos.

And I will tell you, dear readers, why he does not name this ethnonym. It simply does not exist in the mentioned sources. The fact is that the very term "Armenians" is an Iranian exo-ethnonym, which denoted the inhabitants of Aran. Subsequently, he denoted all the inhabitants of this country who professed Christianity. Therefore, it is possible to treat this term only as an ethnonym in the initial period of time of use. Gradually, this term began to designate both Armenians and all Monophysite Christians, including the Iranian-speaking and Caucasian-speaking ethnic elements of Aran. An example of this can be shown by King Varaz Tirdad from the Mehranid dynasty, Iranian in origin.

The term "Albanians", today the only one used by the historians of the AR, is taken from ancient Greek sources, therefore it looks strange in Azerbaijani sources, which, according to the logic of facts and tradition, should rely on Arab-Persian sources, in which this term is not present.

Based on the examples considered, one can only note the author's amateurish and frivolous approach to historical facts and his ignorance of the ethnological processes that have taken place and are taking place in the region.

With such quirks and somersaults, it will not be long for the Talysh, who are already watching how history and ethnogenesis are shamelessly falsified, turning into sheer nonsense.

So tomorrow, the same "Bektashi" will begin to assert that the Talysh are alien, especially since we already see in school textbooks today how, instead of the Talysh Khanate, the fantastic Lankaran Khanate of some fantastic Azerbaijan Shahship is cleverly screwed in. We observe the Turkization of Talysh toponyms even in Talysh itself, which is ordered in the media to be called only the "southern region" instead of the historical name. We clearly observe the course of falsification of everything in a row in the policy of the Azerbaijani-Turkic state, which is just "Turkic state No. 2".

We do not need unnecessary comments from any political crooks! And without comment, the predatory grin of the Turkic-chauvinists is visible, who planned to destroy both the indigenous peoples and real history, and replace them with pseudo-Atropatenes and their pseudo-historical tales.

The next very strange item in Fikrin Bektashi's opus is the following quote: “In our article there is no hint that these peoples completely lost their identity and became Azerbaijanis. On the contrary, today many peoples live in Azerbaijan (unlike the once multinational Armenia, which today holds an insignificant number of Yezidi Kurds as a “duty” example), which is the pride of multinational Azerbaijan. The emphasis in our previous article was put differently: today's Azerbaijanis are a conglomeration of those representatives of indigenous and immigrated peoples who have joined either completely or partially. However, whatever share this “partiality” may have, Azerbaijanis today are the majority of the population compared to those representatives of indigenous peoples who retain (and God bless them!) their identity...”.

The very tone of F. Bektashi's expressions in this quote is the tone of a market trader, accustomed to verbal skirmishes and loud insults, although he speaks of himself in the third person like plural monarchs. Pay attention to it "in our article". Very immodest, overly ambitious, and very inappropriate for a scientist or journalist. And here's why: The pride of today in multinational Azerbaijan is the slogan "One nation - two states!", which was repeated by Presidents A. Elchibey, G. Aliyev and I. Aliyev one after another.

Multinationality in today's Azerbaijan Republic is used only as a duplicitous excuse and a cover for the policy of forced assimilation - Turkization, which even F. Bektashi cannot hide. Therefore, I will remind him that it is indecent to lie and to deny the personal statements of the presidents is at least ugly. We must recognize the chauvinist and Nazi policies of our state, and not revenge with the tail in front of the readers of IA REGNUM.

The emphasis in his articles is precisely on the hope of naive and stupid politicians that the Turkification of indigenous peoples will be completed fairly soon. However, in the current state of affairs, smart people would not even dream about it. It is clear that the policy aimed at the Turkization-Azerbaijanization of the country's indigenous ethnic groups has failed, and today it is stalling in place, and is unlikely to be successful in the next century. Most likely, this policy will lead to civil and ethnic confrontation. Rely on the mythical majority of the so-called. assimilated Azerbaijanis is not serious. Firstly, the facts of the total registration of indigenous peoples by the Azerbaijani State Committee as Azerbaijanis are already widely known. Secondly, simultaneously with the censuses, a whole army of public groups and associations of indigenous peoples conducts parallel censuses and monitoring, which reveal an unprecedented scale of registration and falsification. As a result, the results of Azgoskomstat turned into an international laughingstock. To do this, it is enough just to wish a request in search engines, as immediately all the information gets to the reader in all details. So this old method of postscripts of the Brezhnev era is no longer valid, and there is no need to try in vain.

Conglomerates are not single nations and can never compete in the field of monolithic ethnic unity even with small ethnic groups, not to mention such large ones for the Republic of Azerbaijan as Talysh and Lezghins. Talking about the Tats, allegedly turned into Turks, can still somehow pass - the perpetrated ethnocide against this people is before everyone’s eyes, but this does not happen with everyone and one should not hope that these peoples, like a flock of sheep, will run after the goat-turkizer .

That's what it would be worth telling you in my articles about the departed train. The Bolshevik train of the Stalinist policy of manufacturing and amalgamating socialist nations indeed long ago at full speed slipped past Azerbaijanization, which today, with the sabotage of all international conventions on the rights of indigenous peoples and national minorities, has acquired a very negative significance. This ethno-politician in no way attracts ethnic groups to the Stalinist plan to create some kind of disenfranchised conglomerate from Muslims.

Ethnic groups no longer want to be a conglomerate. Finally, take a look around. Look soberly at the processes in the world. And then ask: “Who are you really, mysterious Azerbaijanis?”

Maybe they are blacks, as it seemed to you in your own example? Or maybe they are just, as you put it, a poorly mixed conglomerate, a solution, a vinaigrette, a salad, or, as it is called in Tat, a hafta-bijar? No, Fikrin Bektashi, this is not so, it’s just that there are no ethnic Azerbaijanis, there are Azerbaijanis who are citizens of the Azerbaijan Republic, but as soon as they change their citizenship, they lose their involvement in the vinaigrette-conglomerate along with citizenship. And this is despite the amazing efforts of such talkers as you and those like you, despite the incredible efforts of the special services of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the territory of Russia and other post-Soviet republics.

The East is a delicate matter, and ethnic issues are even more subtle and even more dangerous. It was necessary to try with all efforts to endow their indigenous peoples and minorities with a whole range of rights, but everything was done in the exact opposite way. And here is the result - ridiculous attempts to impose a falsified, invented story on everyone, to come up with a conglomerate salad that falls apart before our eyes, but is shown from the stage as a monolith with the help of a crudely and hastily put together agitation and propaganda scheme. You and your colleagues have to go out of your way to somehow fool your own people, and somehow "put noodles on the ears" of foreigners and international organizations. Even the Ombudsman-Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. to lie from the international platform Is this deceitful policy worth such effort and such shame?

You should be ashamed and ashamed for such a brazen imposition of a conglomerate, not an ethnic name on your fellow citizens. Or are you not able to experience such natural feelings for any normal person? Judging by your articles, I am sure that they are not capable. Why did you suddenly get the idea that betrayal of your people, your culture, your native language can have positive qualities, why did you get the idea that being called an Azerbaijani instead of the ethnonym Talysh, Lezgin, Udin, Avar, Kurd, Pars, Turk, finally , better and more honorable and more prestigious?

What you, with all your meager strength, are trying to impose on these proud peoples, is in fact a call for betrayal and ugliness. Throw away your lies, do not serve the devil, turn your face to the truth, to God, and although it will be bitter and difficult at first, but after committing the inner, biggest jihad against your own lies, you will be able to understand how sweet the taste of freedom and the feeling of belonging to your own history, to your ancestors...

You yourself wrote that “there is not a single Azerbaijani in the world in whose veins only the Oguz blood of the “Trans-Baikal spill” and “Altai seasoning” would flow. No one!". And in this you are right - there is not a single ethnic Azerbaijani, and there never was and never will be, no matter how much they say this every fifteen minutes on all Azerbaijani TV channels. There is no such ethnicity!

But, you are trying to suck such an ethnic group out of your finger, and even inspire readers that one exists. Are your readers zombies, are they mankurts? So what if the AR authorities want to see exactly what they want to see?

I want to remind you that the basis of any state is ethnic groups, real, not invented, but over-ambitious and self-confident governments and authorities - just transient personalities like Saddam Hussein, like Ben Ali, like Muammar Gaddafi and a string of the same dictators in other countries. All these rulers and their entourage were very fond of erecting statues for themselves and building museums and naming streets and avenues by their own names at the expense and on behalf of the peoples, but we know firsthand what such a hobby leads to. Today you yourself can look for the monuments of Stalin and Lenin, which stood in almost all settlements of Azerbaijan, and understand the futility of searching for these former idols and idols.

But they were not right a thousand times, but hundreds of thousands of times, but the Almighty judged their rightness differently. So with this false concept of ethnogenesis, there is no need to break spears in vain, it is unviable and detrimental to the unity of the ethnic groups of Azerbaijan, among which there is not a single ethnic group called Azerbaijanis.

This “concept” is not beneficial to anyone, to any ethnic group, neither large nor small, nor the smallest, and what does the quantity have to do with it, we all know very well that peoples are considered great not by the number of individuals. We know perfectly well that a few Mongols managed to rule numerous and many ethnic groups, we know how relatively few Manchus ruled all of China for centuries.

There is no need to disgrace all of us (hidden under a common name) before the enlightened world, because your policy can only have a dubious success and only in an unenlightened environment. You are forcing us to explain your point of view, your position, which is fundamentally different from your officialdom, to which we: the Talysh, Lezgins, Avars, Tabasarans, Rutuls, Kryz, Ingiloys, Kurds, Parsis and all other peoples of the Republic of Azerbaijan do not care.

And if you want to write on behalf of only officials and other associates and appointees, then write like that, God help you and the flag in your hands! But we have nothing to do with your articles and other opuses, and you have no moral right to write on our behalf, just as we do not have any ethnic rights in the Azerbaijani state with one nation with the Turkish one. And it is not you, who has not yet figured out who the Azerbaijanis are, who should write about the Turkish nation, but the Turkish press itself.

A very young nation, until recently its representatives themselves did not know what to call themselves and who they are. They called themselves whatever they wanted. Under Soviet power - "Baku people". The formation of the Azerbaijani nation took place under the Soviet regime, it took on such a task. But in 1926, the people were still recorded as "Turks", and already in 1939 - Azerbaijanis.

(Such types are not currently available)

Low awareness of one's own ethnicity and statehood is characteristic. Only Heydar Aliyev (father), one can say, became the creator of the nation in the full sense of the word. His son Ilham continued his father's work. His work is hard, because the technological and general level of culture of the people is very low (all this is superimposed on modern lack of culture). Historically, in these parts they not only did not know what to call themselves, but also did not strive to know anything and find out, for example, about the existence of atmospheric pressure and other physical laws. There was no Leiden jar here, Newton's apple did not fall, the Magdeburg hemispheres were not torn apart.

Even now I asked applicants and other young people what the number “pi” is, what is the radius of the Earth, its circumference, what is static electricity, what is the coefficient of friction, what is the width / length / depth of the Caspian Sea, etc. - no one answered a single question!

stylistic backwardness. Dressed as in uniform, all the guys are all as one, in jeans and white shirts. I would rather refrain from writing about girls and women. Outwardly everything Not good, so to speak. Not Italians. There are a lot of people with bad figures, women become shapeless very early. And men too. Bad teeth from the age of 25, they insert gold ones. They do not wear glasses, because don't need them. They meet through social networks, there are no live acquaintances. Men's eyes do not light up at the sight of any woman, as they once did. Facial expressions are poorly developed, expressing only gross and simple emotions. Innocent. Concrete thinking prevails. No romantics, no philosophers.

TV show.

But with all this, in general, Azerbaijan has achieved more than it should be due to its location. Thanks to natural wealth and thanks to the European ruler at the head of the country. Also an achievement!

The country looks decent, it is not a shame to show it. In general, order prevails - this is in the opinion of an outside observer (me). I have never seen anything negative or ugly. It doesn't happen often either.