National Identity in Azerbaijan

            Imagine you are at a soccer game. The crowd is roaring because your team is about to score a game winning goal. Suddenly, before the ball makes it into the goal it is blocked and your team loses. The other team screams in victory. After the game, the two teams’ fans break out into fights over their team allegiance and the loss. Who would have thought that devotion to a team could bring about such violence and hatred? These differences, ideas, and homages are what form national identity. National identity is defined as a, “psychological bond [that] is usually termed ‘a sense of belonging’ (Connor 1978) or ‘a fellow feelings’ (Geertz 1963). Such expressions point to the close link established between the individual and the collective self, namely the nation” (Triandafyllidou 1998). Soccer shows this sense of belonging with its separation of teams. Those who do not feel welcome in another team’s stadium are others. “Others” is a concept denoting that contrasting groups of people make national identity more visible. Between countries, these ideas of national identity and others is much more intricate and hidden.

              The country of Azerbaijan has been forming its national Identity since they left the Soviet Union around 1936. The separation and collapse of the Soviet Union led to the independence of Azerbaijan. Not only did Azerbaijan gain independence, it also went on to start forming its national identity. When the Soviet Union took hold of the country they imposed their pro-Russian values onto their states versus allowing the pro-Turk environment to grow. In her book Tokluoglu explains, “most interviewees agreed, during the Soviet period being modern meant speaking Russian, visiting Russian cities, studying in Russian schools, and attending the performances of visiting foreign show groups” (Tokluoglu 2005). This meant that the extent of brainwashing that transpired in Azerbaijan was widespread. This left no room for growth in their own national image because this Russian lifestyle was so imposing this led to a huge jump after independence. Azerbaijan's national identity suddenly changed to a different modern take. This meant, “speaking English, having a job in a foreign oil company, and being part of international trade networks,” to become more modernized and like western Europe (Tokluoglu 2005). This completely refined Azerbaijan’s national identity making them a modern pinnacle of eastern Europe (Tokluoglu 2005). In fact, Azerbaijan became even more liberal and free thinking for a Middle Eastern state as time went on. Through this new modern era Azerbaijan created a sense of ethnic nationalism drawing on its strong sense of separation from the Soviet Union as an External significant other. Azerbaijan wanted to create a country that held the interests of its ethnic origins, and those interests themselves were drawn from the strong modernization that is Azerbaijan’s national identity.

              Azerbaijan’s national identity isn’t only formed by the ethnic nationalism and modernization; it also comes from its religion and language, which are integral parts of the culture. Souleimanov iterates that, “The formation of the Azerbaijani identity at first played out as a contest between two ideological and political currents. The first current stressed the primacy of culture and religion (société persane), while the second emphasized origin derived from language (Souleimanov 2012). The Turkic Azerbaijani language was not the only prevalent language in the country. It had other small groups and some growing English, but these were all beat out by Azerbaijani itself. The Azerbaijani language is important to the national identity because it fought to stay alive in the countries changing environment. As for the religion, Azerbaijan falls into the Shiite sect of Islam. This is a smaller sect that slightly changes the main story of Muhammad. This idea of strong religion adds to the country's national identity because it is very different from its own neighbors. This religion is another piece of Turkic culture that survived the bout of time and became the main religion of the country.

              Conflict can become some of the best means to see the national identity of any country. Azerbaijan is no different. Nagorno-Karabakh is a region with misconstrued ownership in Azerbaijan. The ownership has been in question for nearly three dozen years. The area is populated by ethnically Armenian people, but Azerbaijan claims ownership over it (Blagov 2002). The region itself voted to secede into Armenia, but it is not being allowed. Goble explains, “Armenia is Christian and tied to Europe; Azerbaijan is Muslim and tied to Iran (it is predominantly Shiia) and to Turkey, with which it shares a virtually common language (Goble 1992). National identity is not only formed through strong individual traits, but it is also formed by the traits of others. Armenia, in this sense is the strong other. With their religious affiliation to Christianity it puts them apart from Azerbaijan. These ethno cultural differences make the national identity of Azerbaijan even stronger. Azerbaijan’s strong support of its own sect of Islam gains the most attention when facing the Christian unwavering region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

              It is clear that the national identity caused by historical events, current events, and the actions of others can bring out the best in a country. These events and outside sources are what makes countries who they are. Azerbaijan is a growing country that uses a strong sense of cultural significance such as language and Religion in addition to its modernized liberal society to launch them further into the future as their own person. They stand out against their past external significant other of Russia by constantly changing and adapting to a more western European lifestyle. They stand out against their current other of Armenia by practicing their religion. By combining all of these things Azerbaijan truly stands out against the crowd. They score a goal, defeat the enemy, and the crowd goes wild.

Word Count: 961

Works Cited

Blagov, Sergei. "POLITICS-ARMENIA: PEACE PACT WITH AZERBAIJAN FAILS AGAIN." Global Information Network, Aug 16, 2002. 1, http://login.proxy.seattleu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/457554496?accountid=28598.

CONNOR, W. 1978 ‘A nation is a nation, is a state, is an ethnic group, is a…’, Ethnic and Racial Studies, vol. 1, no. 4, pp. 377-400

GEERTZ, C. 1963 ‘The integrative resolution: primordial sentiments and civil politics in the new states’, in C. Geertz (ed.) Old Societies and New States: The Quest for Modernity in Asia and Africa, New York: Free Press

Goble, Paul A. "Coping with the Nagorno-Karabakh Crisis." Fletcher Forum of World Affairs 16.2 (1992): 19-28.

Rasizade, Alec. "NAGORNO-KARABAKH: AN APPLE OF DISCORD BETWEEN ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN: PART ONE." Contemporary Review, 06, 2011. 166, http://login.proxy.seattleu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/880152936?accountid=28598.

Souleimanov, Emil. "BETWEEN TURKEY, RUSSIA, AND PERSIA: PERCEPTIONS OF NATIONAL IDENTITY IN AZERBAIJAN AND ARMENIA AT THE TURN OF THE NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURIES." Middle East Review of International Affairs (Online) 16.1 (2012): 74-85. ProQuest. Web. 2 Feb. 2017.

Triandafyllidou, Anna. “National Identity and the ‘Other’.” Ethnic and Racial Studies, vol. 21, no. 4, 1998, pp. 593–612.

Tokluoglu, Ceylan. “Definitions Of National Identity, Nationalism And Ethnicity in Post-Soviet Azerbaijan in the 1990S.” Ethnic & Racial Studies 28.4 (2005): 722-758. SocINDEX with full text. Web. 2 Feb 2017.