Give Azerbaijan its language!

[Alik Bahshi]

Alik Bakhghi



 Give Azerbaijan its language!



   Stalin coined the term "Azerbaijani" for the language spoken in Azerbaijan. Before the Russians arrived in the Caucasus, the language was defined as Turkic. In fact, the Russians sometimes called the population of Azerbaijan "Caucasian Tatars" or "Persians," but they were wary of calling them Turks for political reasons. Any analogy with Turkey was perceived by Moscow as a political provocation and was strictly persecuted.



   Recently, the slogan "one people, two countries" has come into common usage. If we accept this as reality, then the people of Azerbaijan and Turkey are precisely Turkic, and their language is Turkic. Regarding citizenship, Turkic people living in Azerbaijan will retain their citizenship as citizens of Azerbaijan, just as Turkic people living in Turkey are citizens of Turkey; their people and language are Turkic.



   For example, the English in England speak English, and the English in Australia also speak English, but their citizenship is different.



  The time has come to correct the historical mistake imposed by Stalin and return the people of Azerbaijan to their original Turkic language.



September 25, 2026

[Doll2233]

You are mixing up National identity political history and languages. It is true that Azerbaijani is a Turkic language. But it is not true that it's name was invented by Stalin. Language and its tradition were existing way before the Soviet period but latter they played role in standardising and promoting its modern form. The comparison with Australia and English in England is sporting your point both are using English but Australian English is different they have developed their own pronunciation identity and vocabulary similarly Turkish and Azerbaijani are also closely related to Turkic language but they have also developed separately over the period of time. Turkic origin is not erase by calling the language other by Azerbaijani.

[Alik Bahshi]

You are mixing up National identity political history and languages. It is true that Azerbaijani is a Turkic language. But it is not true that it's name was invented by Stalin. Language and its tradition were existing way before the Soviet period but latter they played role in standardising and promoting its modern form. The comparison with Australia and English in England is sporting your point both are using English but Australian English is different they have developed their own pronunciation identity and vocabulary similarly Turkish and Azerbaijani are also closely related to Turkic language but they have also developed separately over the period of time. Turkic origin is not erase by calling the language other by Azerbaijani.

  You've missed the concept of language dialect. Even in England, there are a dozen dialects of English—remember George Shaw's play "Pygmalion"—yet the language is defined as English. However, you're free to think as you please. Work is currently underway on a common alphabet for all Turkic countries, replacing the Cyrillic alphabet, which has had a significant impact on the distancing of Turkic dialects in countries that were once part of the USSR.