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DEMOGRAPHICS According to the 1999 census, ethnic minorities in Azerbaijan represent 10% of the population, including Lezgins (the largest minority group, making up 2.2% of the population), Russians (1.8%), Armenians (1.5%), and others, such as Talysh , Tats (Muslims and Judeo-Tats ), Avars , Georgians , and Ashkenazi Jews , which comprise the remaining 3.9% European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), Second Report on Azerbajan, CRI(2007)22, May 24, 2007 CIA World Factbook - Azerbaijan . However according to Prof. Svante, Cornell: Cornell, Svante E. Small Nations and Great Powers : A Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict in the Caucasus . Richmond, Surrey, , GBR: Curzon Press Limited, 2000. p 308. BACKGROUND According to Professor Douglass Blum: Freedom House has reported, in July 2005, that some ethnic minorities have encountered discrimination in such areas as housing, education, and employment. The United Nations Committee On The Elimination Of Racial Discrimination (CERD) noted that, although Azerbaijan had demonstrated improvements by enacting legislation with provisions for racial discrimination, there had been no discrimination related cases prosecuted. In its summary record, the CERD questioned how such legislation would stem the reportedly discriminatory practices of public officials and law enforcement personnel. The CERD also recommended that Azerbaijan broaden its hitherto narrow understanding of discrimination by not only addressing its "most severe and extreme manifestations" but its commonplace occurrence. Concern over the lack of programs to support minority languages or those fostering inter-cultural education was also expressed by the Committee. Azerbaijan has attempted to curb discrimination by enacting laws. Immigration and refugee board of Canada LINGUISTIC RIGHTS Article 21 ("State Language") of Section II of the Constitution of Azerbaijan states Constitution of Azerbaijan :
Furthermore, Article 45 ("The Right to Use Native Language") of Section III of the Constitution of Azerbaijan states :
According to the 2007 report by the Council Of Europe 's Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) : GENERAL REPRESENTATION IN PUBLIC AND POLITICAL LIFE According to the Resolution on the implementation of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities issued by the Council Of Europe in 2004 :
According to the European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), the human right's body of the Council Of Europe : ASSIMILATION According to the 1998 book “Linguistic Minorities in Central and Eastern Europe”Christina Bratt (EDT) Paulston, Donald Peckham (eds.), Linguistic Minorities in Central and Eastern Europe, Multilingual Matters publisher, 1998, ISBN 1853594164, p. 106: The Russian expert on the nationalities issue, Valery Tishkov, stated that Azerbaijan is one of the biggest assimilators of the former Soviet republics, the other two being Georgia and Uzbekistan Thomas de Waal. ''Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War. '', New York: New York University Press, 2003, ISBN 0-8147-1945-7, p. 133. ARMENIANS Most of the Armenians in Azerbaijan currently live in Nagorno-Karabakh , however, there are still 30,000 Armenians residing in the rest of Azerbaijan , primarily in Baku . Armenians in Azerbaijan are at a high risk as long as Nagorno-Karabakh conflict remains unsettled University of Maryland Center for International Development and Conflict Management. Minorities at Risk: Assessment of Armenians in Azerbaijan, Online Report, 2004 . Azerbaijan SSR During Soviet rule, the question of Karabakh festered for Armenians. The Armenians of Karabakh made claims of economic neglect, charging that Azeri authorities with under-investment in the region in an attempt to keep it impoverished. In addition, Baku placed restrictions on cultural ties with Armenia. Tensions rose in the early 1960s, and in 1968 clashes erupted between Armenians and Azeris in Stepanakert (the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh). The Armenians feared that the Armenian character of Karabakh would disappear as it had in Nakhichevan over the decades, where the Armenian population had disappeared and all of the Armenian monuments were systematically removed and reportedly destroyed by the Azerbaijani authorities. In 1979, Nagorno-Karabakh had a 74% Armenian majority but received no Armenian television broadcasts and had no Armenian institution of higher learning According to Thomas De Wall de Waal, Thomas (2003). Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War. New York: New York University Press. ISBN 0-8147-1945-7. pg 133: However, some other evidences suggest that the Armenians lived in better conditions in Nagorno-Karabakh than Azerbaijanis. According to Yamskov, A.Yamskov. Ethnic Conflict in Transcaucasus: The Case of Nagorno-Karabakh. In Theory and Society, Vol. 20, No. 5, 1991, pp. 631-660 The Soviet laws ensured that in Nagorno-Karabakh ''"party and state organs were staffed primarily by Armenians who not only ensured Armenian cultural autonomy with Armenian-language newspapers, schools, and arts but strengthened it"'' Audrey Alstatd. The Azerbaijani Turks : Power and Identity Under Russian Rule (Studies of Nationalities). Hoover Institution Press, 1992, p.126 1991 to present See Also: Nagorno-Karabakh War War soon broke out over Nagorno Karabakh and ended in 1994 with the Armenian separatists gaining control over the territory. Turkic nationalism is the leading force in Baku and has undoubtedly contributed to the conflict with the Armenians given the historical enmity between Armenians and Turkey. All the major human rights monitors agreed that the status of Armenians, those married to or those who associate with Armenians, and those who are perceived to be sympathetic to Armenians, is extremely grave. There has also been numerous acts of vandalism against the Armenian Apostolic Church throughout Azerbaijan. Armenians within Azerbaijan at the time complained that they were subject to human rights violations, harassment, and terrorization. Armenians and part Armenians living in Azerbaijan were reported as being refused permission to leave the country. They have also reported that the Department of Visas and Registrations took them off of the list of residents Azerbaijan: The Status of Armenians, Russians, Jews and other Minorities . A 1993 report from the American Embassy in Baku noted: According to a 1993 Department of Justice report: i soldiers allegedly finishing off the remaining of Armenian khachkars.]] Armenia has accused Azerbaijan of embarking on a campaign beginning in 1998 to December 2005 to completely demolish the cemetery of finely carved Armenian khachkars in the town of Julfa , Nakhchivan , an exclave of Azerbaijan. Claims by the Armenians that Azerbaijan had undertaken a systematic campaign to destroy and remove the monuments first arose in late 1998 and those charges were renewed in 2002 and 2005. Numerous appeals were filed by both Armenians and international organizations, condemning the Azerbaijani government and calling it to desist from such activity. In 2006, Azerbaijan barred ''. April 16 , 2006 . Retrieved April 16 , 2007 . KURDS There were some 41,000 Kurds residing in Azerbaijan during the Soviet Era Rauf Orujev. "Azerbaijan: Kurds Targeted Again", ''Institute for War and Peace Reporting'', Caucasus Service, CRS No. 174, April 11, 2003 . Local Kurds had always been on good terms with the Azerbaijani majority, a Kurdish radio station, newspaper and numerous schools attempt to keep Kurdish culture alive, but fewer families bother to teach their mother tongue . According to Thomas de Waalde Waal, Thomas (2003). Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War. New York: New York University Press. ISBN 0-8147-1945-7. pg 133: The geographical areas of concentration of Kurds (Muslim) in Azerbaijan were population of these regions were forcefully displaced to other parts of Azerbaijan . TALYSH According to a 1926 census, there were 77,039 in Azerbaijan SSR . From 1959 to 1989, the Talysh were not included as a separate ethnic group in any census, but rather they were included as part of the Turkic-speaking Azerbaijani's, although the Talysh speak an Iranian Language . In 1999, the Azerbaijani government claimed there were only 76,800 Talysh in Azerbaijan, but this is believed to be an under-representation given the problems with registering as a Talysh. Some claim that the population of the Talysh inhabiting the southern regions of Azerbaijan is 500,000. According to the Talysh Cultural Center in Lenkoran , 60% of Masalli is Talysh, only two villages in Lenkoran are Turkic, Astara is entirely Talysh, and in Lerik only two villages are Turkic. Obtaining accurate statistics is difficult, due to the unavailability of reliable sources, intermarriage, and the decline of the Talysh Language . Although oppressed by poverty, unemployment, lack of basic infrastructures such as electricity, the Talysh have a high birth rate and thus their proportion of the Azerbaijani population will grow. These issues, combined with the fear of repression and associations of colluding with Armenia, many Talysh assert their ethnic identity or nationalism. Hema Kotecha, Islamic and Ethnic Identities in Azerbaijan: Emerging trends and tensions, OSCE, Baku, July 2006 In Azerbaijan SSR The Talysh identity was strongly suppressed during Soviet times. In the early Soviet period, there were Talysh medium schools, a newspaper called "Red Talysh", and several Talysh language books published, but by end of the 1930's these schools were closed and the Talysh identity was not acknowledged in official statistics, with the Talysh being classified as "Azerbaijani". From 1991 to present Historical repression of identity and the inability to practice their culture and language has led the Talysh to an internalized self repression. This makes it hard to gauge support for any type of Talysh movement. According to Hema Kotecha, many Talysh fear being associated with the separatist Talysh-Mughan Autonomous Republic , with Russia , or with Armenia if they acknowledged or attempted to talk about their beliefs in the public sphere. One instance of current repression was when a school in Lerik wanted to invite a poet from Lenkoran to have a party in his honor and for him to speak to Children; the headmaster was told that he would be dismessed if the event went ahead. The fear of the police is also another factor to this silence, although support for a secular democracy and shared Azerbaijani-Talysh feelings towards Nagorno-Karabakh contribute as well. LEZGINS The UNHCR states that Lezgins make up 75% of the populations of the Qusar and Khachmaz regions and that Greater Baku is 15% Lezgin. Official Azerbaijani government statistics state that the Lezgin population is only 2% of the total population of the country, bringing the number to 178,00, however, this figure could be up to double. Arif Yunus suggests that the figure is closer to 250,000-260,000, while some Lezgin nationalists claim that they number more than 700,000. Qusar town is approximately 90 to 95% Lezgin according to the local NGO Helsinki Committee office. According to the Center for International Development and Conflict Management at the University of Maryland University of Maryland Center for International Development and Conflict Management. Minorities at Risk: Assessment for Lezgins in Azerbaijan, Online Report, 2004 : According to Thomas de Waalde Waal, Thomas (2003). Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War. New York: New York University Press. ISBN 0-8147-1945-7. pg 122: According to Svante E. CornellCornell, Svante E. Small Nations and Great Powers : A Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict in the Caucasus. Richmond, Surrey,, GBR: Curzon Press Limited, 2000. p 262.:
RUSSIANS A representative of the Molokan (ethnic Russian) community, in an interview on July 21, 2005, reported that there is no conflict between ethnic Russians and Azeris in Azerbaijan and that "there is no intolerance to the Russian language, culture or people" according to a parliamentary official. Similarly, Interfax News Service, on July 6, 2004, reported that a Russian Foreign Ministry representative stated, "We {Link without Title} have no particular problems in Azerbaijan". JEWS See Also: Mountain Jews Israel-Azerbaijan relations FOREIGN INTERFERENCE Neighboring countries, Armenia , Iran , and, to a lesser extent, Russia were reported to support separatist sentiments in Azerbaijan . Armenia In May 2005, Armenia organized the "First International Conference on Talysh Studies". The event was hosted by the Yerevan State University's Iranian Studies Department and the Yerevan-based Center for Iranian Studies in Armenian resort town of Tsaghkadzor. According to Valdimir Socor Vladimir Socor. "Talysh issue, dormant in Azerbaijan, reopened in Armenia", The Jamestown Foundation, May 27, 2005 : In April 1996, Azerbaijan's National Security Ministry claimed that Armenian intelligence recruited and trained Armenian members of the Daghestan-based Lezgin separatist organization "Sadval" who subsequently perpetrated a bomb attack on the Baku metro in March 1994 that killed 14 people Liz Fuller. "Azerbaijan: Baku Implicates Armenian Intelligence In Alleged Coup Bid", Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, August 5, 2005 . Iran According to Hema Kotecha: Hema Kotecha, Islamic and Ethnic Identities in Azerbaijan: Emerging trends and tensions, OSCE, Baku, July 2006 Russia In the northern regions of Azerbaijan , Russia was reported to have linkage with Lezgin separatist movement: REFERENCES |
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