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| Nasib Nasibli |
Nasib Nasibli, former ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan to Iran and historian, asserts that the different names given to the Azerbaijani Turkish language serve strategic purposes imposed by colonial states. According to him, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin’s replacement of the term "Turkish language" with "Azerbaijani language" laid the foundation for a national identity crisis, the effects of which are still felt today. In an interview with Voice of America, Nasibli discussed the ongoing debate surrounding language and its consequences in both the Republic of Azerbaijan and Iranian Azerbaijan.
The historian emphasizes that the cases of Azerbaijan and Moldova are comparable, as both underwent the same kind of renaming process regarding their language and national identity. “Just as the term ‘Romanian’ was banned in Moldova, the words ‘Turk’ and ‘Turkish’ were forbidden in Azerbaijan,” he adds.
According to the Associated Press, Moldova’s Constitutional Court ruled last December that the country’s official language should once again be recognized as Romanian. Nasibli argues that the official language of the Republic of Azerbaijan should similarly be renamed to Turkish.
“It is nearly impossible to find another nation that willingly accepts a name imposed by outsiders,” he says, criticizing the use of the terms “Azerbaijani language,” “Azerbaijani,” or “Azari” instead of Turkish. In his view, changing the name of one’s native language damages national identity both theoretically and practically.
He relates this identity crisis to the concept of the "mankurt" from Chinghiz Aitmatov’s novel The Day Lasts More Than a Hundred Years and stresses the importance of the awareness shown by Southern Azerbaijani activists on this issue. According to Nasibli, these activists are, in fact, fulfilling a duty that should have been undertaken by their Northern Azerbaijani counterparts.
The former ambassador also refers to the policies of pan-Iranist groups and Iranian authorities against Turkish identity:
“They deliberately associated the word ‘Turk’ with a well-known slur. However, despite these efforts, the people continue to identify as Turks and have not abandoned the term. The slogan most frequently heard during mass protests in Southern Azerbaijan, ‘Haray, haray, I am a Turk!’ is a direct response to these policies.”
Nasibli believes that the solution to the issue of the language’s name lies in the hands of the Republic of Azerbaijan. He argues that the Azerbaijani government could simply issue a diplomatic note requesting other countries, including Turkey, to use the correct name.
From a national identity perspective, he also claims that the Republic of Azerbaijan has had a negative influence on Iranian Azerbaijan:
“Northern Azerbaijan has not only played a positive role in the developments in Southern Azerbaijan; it has also had negative effects. The most significant negative impact has been regarding identity. This influence was already evident during the era of the Azerbaijan National Government.”
He points out that political movements emerging later in Iranian Azerbaijan also faced national identity issues and draws attention to the political legacy of that period. “This negative impact persists today, as some Southern Azerbaijani leftist forces influenced by Northern Azerbaijan and viewing the Soviet Union as a model continue to adopt the term ‘Azari’ and accept ‘Azerbaijani language’ as a proper name,” he concludes.
Link to the original interview in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
Nəsib Nəsibli: Türk dilinin "Azərbaycan dilinə" çevrilməsi Arazın hər iki tayında milli kimlik böhranı yaradı