Sovyet döneminde okutulan tarih ders kitaplarinda azerbaycan halkinin etnik kökenine ve diLİne yaklaşim 1960

EXTENDED ABSTRACT
In this study, as a reflection of the Soviet understanding of official history during the USSR period, the 
approach to the ethnicity and language of the Azerbaijani people is analyzed as it is reflected in the 
history textbooks taught in Azerbaijan between 1960 and 1990. Document review method was used in the 
research. The research was carried out on a sample of five different Azerbaijan History textbooks taught 
in Azerbaijan during the Soviet period. The data obtained from the examination of these textbooks were 
evaluated through “descriptive analysis”. With the social engineering based policies that the Soviet 
administration began to implement throughout the country in the early 1930s, it aimed to create a unique 
and homogenous Soviet society that adopted the socialist ideology and a sense of belonging to the USSR 
state by removing the people living in the republics from traditional affiliation and environmental 
influences. In order to achieve these goals, they tried to overlook and forget the Oghuz-Turk origin of the 
Azerbaijani people by intervening in the fields of language, alphabet and historiography in Azerbaijan as 
in all republics included in the union. Within this framework, as a result of the interventions of the Soviet 
rulers, the ethnic roots and characters of the Azerbaijani people from the mid-1930s began to be denied 
and the term “Azerbaijani” was used with no reference to their Turkic origin. Thus, it has been claimed 

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Türkiye Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi –
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that the Azerbaijan people are the Azeri Turks who are the most ancient and local people of Azerbaijan 
since the earliest periods of history. According to this approach, which based the ethnic origin of the 
Azerbaijani people on the “Med tribal units”, the peoples of Azerbaijan, who came to the Caucasus at 
different times and were assimilated by the indigenous people, played an active role in the formation 
process of the current Azerbaijani people. Although some Turkish tribes came to the region towards the 
end of the 1st millennium BC, the Azerbaijani people were able to maintain their existence and dominant 
position in the region. In this process, the language of the Azerbaijani people was formed and this was 
based on language of one of the Med tribes living in Azerbaijan, which came to be called the “Azeri 
lang
uage” in the following periods. Reflecting the Soviet official view since the 1930s, this approach was 
further developed and enriched in the three-volume 
History of Azerbaijan
published in 1958 by the 
Azerbaijan SSR Academy of Sciences. In the history textbooks taught in Azerbaijan during the Soviet 
period, it was stated that the occupation and dominance of Azerbaijan by different states throughout 
history accelerated the convergence of the people living there and thus the formation process of the 
Azerbaijani people. In particular, it is noted that first the Sassanids and then the Muslim Arabs dominated 
both the northern and southern regions of Azerbaijan, which led to the beginning of cooperation and 
rapprochement between the people living in these two regions. However, the Turkish-speaking nomadic 
tribes, who had migrated in great numbers and settled in Azerbaijan, played the greatest role in the 
formation process of the Azerbaijani people. Turkish raids to Azerbaijan started in the first years of the 
Bible and the VIth century, the Huns and Khazars from the north began to settle here. Over time, the 
Turkish tribes that settled in Azerbaijan came under the civilized influence of the Azerbaijani people and 
merged with them. The formation process of the Azerbaijani people during the period of Seljuk Rule (XI 
and XII. centuries) was completed due to the intense Turkmen migration to Azerbaijan. Although the 
nomadic Turks who settled in Azerbaijan, especially the Seljuk Turks, played a decisive role in the 
formation of the Azerbaijani people and language, the Azerbaijani people have preserved their original 
existence to the present day. It is stated in the history textbooks taught in Azerbaijan during the Soviet 
period that many different languages have been spoken in Azerbaijan in the historical process, but among 
them the Azeri language, Alban language, Aran language and Azerbaijan language have become a 
common language for a large part of Azerbaijan. Nomadic Turks, who came from the North and settled in 
Azerbaijan, played the most important role in the formation of a common language understood and 
spoken by everyone living in Azerbaijan. Turkmen immigration, especially in the V.-VIII. and XI.-XII. 
centuries, and the long-term Seljuk rule led to the Turkish languag
e’s establishment of superiority over 
the native languages spoken in Azerbaijan. As a result of this intense Turkmen migration, the role of 
Turkish language in Azerbaijan has increased and in time it has become a common language for all 
people living in the North and South regions of the country. This language is Azerbaijani language, which 
is a member of Turkic languages family. The general approach in the history textbooks taught in 
Azerbaijan is that one of the ancient languages of the tribes living in Azerbaijan became the common 
language of Azerbaijan over time. Since the early 1980s, objections from academic circles began to rise 
to the Soviet official approach to the ethnicity and language of the Azerbaijani people. Those who 
objected claimed that the Azerbaijani people were of Turkish origin and that they lived in Azerbaijan 
from the earliest periods of history. During the historical process, the Azerbaijani people mingled with 
various tribes from outside Azerbaijan, especially with Turkish tribes. It was largely shaped in the VIIIth 
and especially in the XIth-XIIth centuries. This process of nationalization has accelerated with the 
intensive Turkmen migrations of centuries. Azerbaijani Turkish is the language spoken in Azerbaijan 
since the earliest times of history. As a result, the widely accepted approach to the ethnic origin and 
language of the Azerbaijani people today is that the Azerbaijani people were formed as a result of the 
mixing and integration of etnic groups of Turkish origin who have lived in Azerbaijan since the periods 
before the Christian Era and the Turks who migrated to the region in various periods. This approach was 
upheld in the general history works and textbooks related on the history of Azerbaijan written after 
Azerbaijan declared independence in the late 20th century. 

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