Azerbaijan SSR Research Articles

Конструирование исторической памяти о революции 1917 года в школьных учебниках Азербайджанской республики (2018–2023 годы)

The paper deals with the main conceptual approaches to the presentation of the events of the February and October stages of the 1917 Revolution in the school textbooks of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Considerable attention is paid to the national component of the 1917 Revolution – the formation of the First Republic (Azerbaijan Democratic Republic) and the Second Republic (Azerbaijan SSR). The content of textbooks on academic subjects “History of Azerbaijan” for grades 5, 9, 11 and “General History” for grades 9, 11 published in 2018 - 2023 was analyzed.

Legal evaluation of the deportation of Azerbaijanis from the Armenian SSR in 1988-1991 from the perspective of the Declaration on Independence of Armenia and the constitution of Armenia: interpretation of the constitutional acts of the Republic of Armenia

The subject of the article is the return of Azerbaijanis to their native territories, a topic that has gained enough attention recently in the legal community and in both Azerbaijani and Armenian society, particularly after the 2020 clashes between the two states. The article's study direction, in contrast to many other scientific and journalistic works already in existence, addresses this return to the national level rather than the international ground. As a result, the constitutional acts of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Republic of Armenia are interpreted. To support this interpretation, the relevant legislation from the USSR at that time, as well as the Azerbaijan SSR's analogical citizenship acts are also evaluated. The article's goal is to assess the 1988–1991 deportation from the perspective of Armenian legislation. It was determined that the 1988–1991 deportation described in the article violated Armenia's constitutional acts in addition to other theoretical aspects and public legal relations. Keywords: citizenship, deportation, constitutional law, declaration of state independence, fall of the USSR, Azerbaijan-Armenia relations, Karabakh conflict.

The Formation of a New Soviet Education System in Azerbaijan SSR

The Formation of a New Soviet Education System in Azerbaijan SSR

Роль Гейдара Алиева в истории Южного Кавказа (1969-1982)

The main purpose of the study is to draw attention to the role of the personality factor in the economic, social and cultural development of the Azerbaijan SSR among the 15 republics of the Soviet Union from the 1960s to the 1980s. The article analyzes the essence of the purposeful policy of the national leader of the Azerbaijani people Heydar Aliyev, who led the country during the Soviet years, and identifies the main direction of the socio-economic development of the South Caucasus during that period. Scientific innovation: the role of the personality factor in the transformation of the Azerbaijan SSR into the leading republic of the South Caucasus was identified. The leadership characteristics of the national leader Heydar Aliyev, as well as the influence of his relations with other political figures represented in the government of the USSR on the overall processes of historical development were determined. As a result, it was noted that the period of Heydar Aliyev’s political and statehood activities covering the years 1969-1982 can also be characterized as a period of true development, progress, revival, and return to national self-awareness after the Sovietization of Azerbaijan. Heydar Aliyev’s policy transformed Azerbaijan from the most backward republic included in the Soviet Union into the most rapidly developing country of the South Caucasus.

BAKU STATE UNIVERSITY DURING THE HARD TRIALS OF 1920S-1930S: CRITICAL ADMINISTRATIVE CHALLENGES AND RED TERROR

This paper focuses on the higher education reforms carried out in the Soviet Azerbaijan in the 1920s and 1930s and their impact on Baku State University. Beginning from the first years of the Soviet rule, the People’s Commissariat of Education in the Azerbaijan SSR concentrated the authority to lead all cultural and educational affairs. The main areas of the spiritual life of the newly established Soviet republic, its education, science, literature, and art, were actually brought under the control of the party and state leadership. The conducted research shows that by putting an end to the existence of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic with the April invasion of 1920 and establishing their regime in Azerbaijan, the new authorities radically changed the conditions for the operation of Baku State University. Party and state bodies of the Azerbaijan SSR initiated immediate reorganization of the university's work in accordance with the new ideological and political realities. The main directions of education and scientific activity at the university began to be restructured on the principles of class and party affiliation. All these issues, related to the development of the university, are considered on the basis of archival documents in order to reveal the historical realities of the period under study.

Political relations between the Bukhara People's Soviet Republic and Azerbaijan SSR

Political relations between the Bukhara People's Soviet Republic and Azerbaijan SSR

The problem of “Great Terror” in the Azerbaijan SSR is at the point historiography

The problem of “Great Terror” in the Azerbaijan SSR is at the point historiography

Development of the system of preschool institutions in the Azerbaijan SSR in 1945-1960

Development of the system of preschool institutions in the Azerbaijan SSR in 1945-1960

Suleyman Rahimov s Role in the Development of Libraries in the 20th Century

This article contains significant information about Suleyman Rahimov, a popular writer and cultural figure, as well as his life and activities. Suleyman Rahimov’s outstanding cultural services and the attention he paid to library development were examined in further depth in the article, and his involvement in library construction was recognized. The first work of Süleyman Rahimov, who started his literary activity in 1930, is "Shamo". However, he worked on this work for 50 years and made additions to it. One of his most famous works is "Black Earth and Yellow Gold". Now this work is used in 5th grade literature. Süleyman Rahimov was the chairman of Azerbaijan Writers Union in 1939-1940, 1944-1946 and 1954-1958. Azerbaijan Lachin, Samukh, Shahbuz and Norashen regions worked as a party leader (1934-1937). Propaganda secretary at the Baku City Committee of the Azerbaijan K(b)P (1940–1941), deputy director of the propaganda and agitation department at the Central Committee of the Azerbaijan K(b)P (1941–1944), Azerbaijan SSR He worked as the chairman of the Committee for Cultural and Educational Affairs under the Council of Ministers (1945-1958). Suleyman Rahimov always thought it was vital to take special care of libraries, and in many papers and other scholarly works he authored in this field, he made numerous recommendations to help libraries do their jobs better. Examples of his scientific research works on libraries are also included in the article.

Проблемы советского национально-государственного строительства (историко-критический анализ на примере Армении)

Introduction. Throughout the shaping of the Soviets, the Armenian nation passed its historical way of development as a union member and grew to be administratively represented by two Soviet Armenian ethnic entities — the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (ranked a union republic) and Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (a territory within the Azerbaijan SSR). The First Republic was established in late May 1918 to be replaced by the Second Republic, or Soviet Armenia, in early December 1920. In 1920–1922, the latter was officially referred to as ‘independent Socialist Soviet Republic of Armenia’, and then as a territory within the Transcaucasian Soviet Federation (1922–1936) and the Soviet Union (1936–1991). After Transcaucasian Federation was abolished in 1936, Soviet Armenia was incorporated into the USSR as a self-sufficient union republic under the name Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic. Goals. The study seeks to show the process of nation-state building in the USSR through the example of Armenia. Materials and methods. The article analyzes archival materials represented by official documents and acts dealing with Soviet nation-state building, as well as collections of laws and party decrees. The main research methods employed are the historical/comparative and historical/genetic ones. Results. Soviet Armenia within the USSR, as well as other Soviet republics and autonomies, was no independent state in the conventional sense, but at the same time it was endowed with many attributes and symbols of statehood. Finally, it was Soviet Armenia that — for first time in the history of Armenian statehood — obtained its own Constitution. Conclusions. Soviet Armenia was a nation in the unified Soviet state, and in the conditions of seven decades of unlimited power of the Communist Party preserved and developed the Armenian Soviet statehood to a maximum possible then and there. Most Armenian historians believe the present-day independent Third Republic would never have emerged (since 1991) but for the period of Soviet Armenia.

On the necessity of reviewing maps of tectonic and oil-gas geological zoning of depressive regions of Azerbaijan

For more than twenty years ago, “Tectonic map of oil-gas bearing regions of Azerbaijan” and “Oil-gas geological zoning and oil-gas bearing perspectives of Azerbaijan” maps were published. When compiling them, along with the latest geological and geophysical data accumulated by that time (2003), the following maps were also used: “Oil and gas fields and promising structures of the Azerbaijan SSR” (1985), “Oil and gas potential of the Azerbaijan SSR” (1987) and the corresponding explanatory notes to them. Since then, the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea has again been covered by 2D seismic on a regional scale with a network density of seismic profiles of 2.5x2.5 km. On the land territory of Azerbaijan, a number of regional seismic profiles were developed using innovative technologies; the surveys continued to bring the discovered prospective objects into deep drilling. Based on the results of industrial and scientific research, the geological structure of the territory of Azerbaijan, including individual areas of depression zones and the water area of the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, has been clarified. All these facts substantiate the necessity to generalize geological and geophysical data, particularly the map of oil and gas geological zoning. The paper discusses the results of interpretation of the up-to-date geological-geophysical data justifying the necessity of updating the map of “Oil-gas geological zoning and oil-gas bearing potential of Azerbaijan”. It is recommended to use the main property of hydrocarbon system while updating this map: Source formation → channels (ways) of fluid migration → reservoirs (hydrocarbon traps) > fluid seal (cover layers).

Adaptation processes between local residents and newcomers

As known, in the modern world, demographic processes radically affect not only the socio-economic, but also the socio-political life of not only individual countries, but entire mega-regions. Recent events on the Polish-Belarusian border show that these processes can also be used as instruments of political and diplomatic pressure. At the same time, demographic processes play the role of a very significant factor in the internal life of individual countries. And in this, the Republic of Azerbaijan is no exception. Among demographic problems, a special place is also occupied by the adaptation of migrants to new conditions, as well as the establishment of normal relations between the local population and migrants. This article examines the course and course of adaptation processes between the local urban population of Sumgait and newly arrived migrants. As known, the city of Sumgait has formed from the very beginning as a multinational industrial giant. So-called beneficiaries were sent here from all over the Soviet Union. And after the restoration of state independence, and even before that as a result of the beginning of the Armenian aggression against the Azerbaijanis both in the Armenian SSR and in the NKAO of the Azerbaijan SSR, a significant part of the refugees and internally displaced persons took refuge in Sumgait. As a result of adaptation processes, universal, true human relations have been formed between people living in Sumgait, regardless of their nationality. People of different nationalities have become so friendly that they are free from all forms of national discrimination and feel like members of a loving family. Here moral and ethical values come to the fore. In young cities, where traditional family relations have not yet fully formed, young people belonging to different social groups, different nationalities, differing in profession and education, and sometimes incompatible with habits and personalities, come to family life. Long-term adaptation processes have also contributed to the correct preparation of young people who are full of everyday concerns and belong to a very difficult family life.

Первый всесоюзный тюркологический съезд: репрессированные и расстрелянные

In the article we made an attempt to study the primary sources of the history of the First All-Union Turkological Congress, which was held from February 26 to March 5, 1926, in the city of Baku. In this case, we have verbatim reports of the congress, which until recently were inaccessible to a wide range of researchers, relatives and descendants of the participants in that very congress, and we also have a number of other materials regarding participants from the Kyrgyz Autonomous Region within the RSFSR. In fact, it was the first official congress, the main issue of which was the transition from the Arabic script to the Latin alphabet, in all the Turkic republics and peoples of the USSR. Of course, the Azerbaijan SSR was the initiator of the latinization of the writing of the Turkic peoples of the USSR. Unfortunately, many of the current generations of young people of the Turkic-speaking countries and peoples of the CIS, especially among philologists and historians, know practically very little about the First Congress - the Kurultai of Turkologists. Therefore, this article is devoted specifically to the first congress of Turkologists in Baku, which was held almost a hundred years ago. It was the kurultai, which laid the foundation for the new national writing of many Turkic peoples, not only in the USSR, but in other countries of the world. However, this congress remained in history as a congress of repressed and executed delegates, scientists-turkologists, educators and government officials who took part in that famous congress. A vivid proof of this is our materials in this article.

ԼՂԻՄ-Ի և ՔՐԴՍՏԱՆԻ ԳԱՎԱՌԻ ԺՈՂՈՎՐԴԱԳՐՈՒԹՅԱՆ ՈՐՈՇ ՀԱՐՑԵՐ (1920-ԱԿԱՆ ԹԹ.). ՀԱՄԱՌՈՏ ԱԿՆԱՐԿ / SOME ISSUES ABOUT THE DEMOGRAPHY OF THE NAGORNO-KARABAKH AUTONOMOUS REGION AND KURDISTAN UEZD (IN THE 1920s): SHORT OVERVIEW

Obtaining demographic data was very important for the newly created Soviet state. Despite the difficult economic and political situation, the Soviet authorities tried to carry out censuses not only in the RSFSR, but also in other Sovietized republics. The first of them was the agricultural census of 1921 in the Azerbaijan SSR, the data of which, despite the methodological and technical shortcomings that force this data to be approached with reservations, are an exceptional historical and demographic source. The first All-Union census of 1926 was organized with the most developed methodology. The combination of the results of these censuses and other additional studies makes it possible to reconstruct the population size and ethnic composition of two newly created administrative units: Nagorno Karabagh Autonomous Region and Kurdistan uezd (the creation of which pursued not only regional, but also geopolitical consequences). If the homogeneous Armenian population of Nagorno Karabagh Autonomous Region was able to resist the discriminatory policies of the Azerbaijani authorities, partly due to the status of an autonomous region, the provincial status and the low level of development and self-identification among the Kurds easily led to the abolition of the province and the artificial reduction of the Kurdish population at the expense of “Turkification” and then “Azerbaijanization” of that narrow corridor between Soviet Armenia and Nagorno Karabagh Autonomous Region

Formation and Creation of the Academy of Sciences of the Azerbaijani SSR (1920–1945) in the Works of Azerbaijanian and Foreign Scientists

In this article the author examines the historiography on the problem of formation and creation of the Academy of Sciences of the Azerbaijan SSR in 1920-1945. The aim is to summarise the available literature on the subject, to analyse the works on the history of the foundation and the first years of the Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan and to show the development of the research interest in this field. This article examines the works of Russian, Soviet, and international historians of science. Soviet historiography was based on communist methodology. Soviet publications were characterised by the use of a large number of published documents and statistical materials. The issues of the development of science, the scientific intelligentsia, scientific personnel, research work; the activities of public organizations of the intelligentsia; the organization of science in various branches and periods of the development of Soviet society were actively studied. Particular attention was paid to the system of Party and state management of science, policy in the field of its organisation, the attitude to the old scientific intelligentsia, the composition of scientific employees and the conditions of their work were analysed, and changes in their socio-political position were noted. During the Perestroika and post-Soviet periods, the tasks of studying the history of the organisation of science in the USSR expanded, new documents were introduced into academic circuit, many facts, events and names were restored, and the methodology and methods of research were improved. The author shows that post-Soviet Azerbaijani historiography of the formation and establishment of the Academy of Sciences, although it inherits the Soviet one, in many ways offers not only new approaches to understanding the history of its foundation, but also a new research topic. By the quantity and quality, time range, geography of publications by Azerbaijani, Russian and international historians, it can be argued that the problem of the formation of the Academy of Sciences is one of the areas of Azerbaijani historical scholarship.

HOW MODERN AZERBAIJAN WAS FORMED?

This article is devoted to the history of Soviet and modern Azerbaijan. The regime established by the Bolsheviks in 1920 in Azerbaijan was essentially an occupational one and was based on a repressive policy. S. Kirov, who was placed at the head of the Azerbaijan SSR, relied on Russians and Armenians. In the first years of Soviet power, the Musavat nationalist underground continued its activities. Almost until 1932, the Bolsheviks did not trust ethnic Azerbaijanis to rule Azerbaijan. Only in 1932, J. Stalin instructed M. D. Bagirov to manage Azerbaijan. This faithful Staltinist was previously involved in the massacres of Azerbaijani peasants and was tied to I. Stalin by blood. M. D. Bagirov carried out the Great Terror of 1937-1938. and repressions of the 40s. 20th century in the republic. First of all, the national intelligentsia became the victims of repressions. Forced collectivization and industrialization was carried out, which, however, led to a number of problems in agriculture and industry. The situation was somewhat corrected after the removal of M. D. Bagirov from power in 1954 and after the trial in 1956 of the organizers of the great terror. In the 50-60s. 20th century formed numerous humanitarian intelligentsia. In 1969, G. Aliyev came to power, having made a career for himself in the Soviet special services. In the 70s. 20th century he carried out purges against party members who came to power during the Khrushchev thaw and were guilty of corruption. Under H. Aliyev, Soviet Azerbaijan reached the peak of its development. In addition to heavy industry and oil production, agriculture and light industry also developed. M. Gorbachev's replacement of the Azerbaijani Communist Party leadership plunged the Azerbaijani Communist Party into a crisis. The Azerbaijani communists failed to adequately respond to the challenges from the Armenian irredentists and Azerbaijani national democrats. The People's Front in 1990 actually put Azerbaijan in a state of dual power. M. Gorbachev's attempt to keep Azerbaijan under the rule of the imperial center led to the bloody events of Black January 1990. In the autumn of 1991, Azerbaijan already de jure withdrew from the USSR. The inability of the communists to solve the Karabakh crisis of 1988-1991 actually brought A. Elchibey to power. However, neither A. Mutalibov nor A. Elchibey could cope with the political crisis that engulfed Azerbaijan in 1991-1993. Even G. Aliyev needed several years to build his vertical of power. The opposition was suppressed only in 1995. G. Aliyev was able to stabilize the economy and attracted investments. The authoritarian model made it possible to achieve internal political peace, while under A. Elchibey's democracy, Azerbaijan was in a fever. G. Aliyev transferred power to I. Aliyev in 2003. I. Aliyev liquidated regional clans in 2005 and further strengthened the vertical of power by concentrating power in the hands of his clan. The authoritarian leadership style made it possible to strengthen the economy and modernize the army. The apogee of I. Aliyev’s successes was the Second Karabakh War in 2020. The current president of Azerbaijan is pursuing an emphatically pro-Turkish foreign policy course, which was expressed in the signing of the Shusha Declaration in 2021.

Commonly Used Turkic Language in the Declaration and Treaty on the Formation of the USSR

In the article, the author draws parallels between the content of the union treaty on the formation of the USSR and the Soviet language policy of the 1920-1930s. In particular, the “commonly used” Turkic language mentioned in the treaty is considered. The author examines it in the context of the social movement proclaimed by I. Gasprinsky in the late 19th - early 20th centuries for the unity of the Turkic Muslim peoples in their movement towards progress. The pioneers in the development and introduction of the Latin alphabet were representatives of the Azerbaijan SSR, who were among the first to propose such projects of the alphabet reform. Its important element was the unification of the alphabet. In this regard, the author considers the projects for creating a single unified alphabet for the Turkic peoples of the USSR; it was the Azerbaijani version of the Latinized alphabet that was supposed to be the basis for it. This situation gave the leaders of Soviet Azerbaijan the opportunity to lead the process of cultural transformation among the Turkic peoples of the USSR. The article also considers the organizational efforts of the initiators of the idea of latinization to create a unified structure for managing the process of latinization in the USSR, as well as some aspects of their struggle with supporters of a different direction of cultural reforms among the Turks who proposed simplifying the Arabic alphabet.

Бакинский период в деятельности Левона Мирзояна – первого руководителя Казахской ССР

This article is devoted to the famous political and party figure LevonIsaevich Mirzoyan, who held high public positions in several regions of the USSR, particularly in the Azerbaijan SSR; the Ka-zakh ASSR transformed into a union republic under his leadership, the successor of which is the modern Republic of Kazakhstan. In recent years, under the influence of biased politicians and his-torians, the activities of a well-known politicians, thanks to whom an incredible civilizational leap of the people, who had previously wandered through the boundless Asian expanses for thousands of years, have been falsified and his services to Kazakhstan and its people have been forgotten. Other people’s atrocities are attributed to him, against which he fought. Of course, the activities of the Republican leadership in the late 30s were not without the stamp of the brutal Stalinist era of the Great Turning Point.

Source Studies and Historiography of the Economic Situation of the Azerbaijan SSR (1920-1927)

The first half of the 1920s is an extremely interesting and at the same time complex and contradictory period in the history of Azerbaijan. During this period, the April Revolution, which determined the historical fate of our people for the next 70 years of the 20th century, took place, our country lost its state independence, and radical changes began in all spheres of social-political, socio-economic, cultural and spiritual life. During the writing of the article, rich source archival materials were used, first of all, the State Archive of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Archive of Political Documents of the Office of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Scientific Archive of the History Institute named after A. A. Bakikhanov of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences. The problem of the economic situation of the Azerbaijan SSR is one of the problems that the researchers of the relevant period paid special attention to, both in the historiography of the Soviet era and in the historiography of the Motherland during the years of independence. During the writing of the historiography section of the studied problem, the works of those researchers were widely used.

ORGANISATION, MANAGEMENT, ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES, AND LEGAL QUALIFICATION OF THE MASSACRES OF ARMENIANS IN 1988 IN KIROVABAD (GANDZAK)

Anti-Armenian pogroms in the city of Kirovabad (Gandzak) of the Azerbaijan SSR in November-December 1988 were organized. This is proved by the reaction (lack of it) of the healthcare system to the massacres, the inaction of law enforcement agencies, and sometimes their active participation in the crimes, disruption of public services in the Armenian part of the city, and the presence of instigators in the city. Historical data on the Kirovabad massacres are sufficient to claim that crimes defined by the international criminal law took place in Kirovabad and other settlements of Azerbaijan in 1988. The crimes committed against the Armenians in Kirovabad correspond to the elements of the crime of genocide, as well as the crimes against humanity both with their objective and subjective aspects.