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АЗЯРБАЙЪАНЫН ХЯЗЯР ДЯНÌЗÌ СТРАТЕЭÌЙАСЫ

GENDER AND NATIONAL IDENTITY IN POST-SOVIET AZERBAIJAN: A REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE

Journal Name:

  • Khazar Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

Publication Year:

  • 2000
Author NameUniversity of Author
Abstract (2. Language): 
In post-Soviet Azerbaijan, as in other successor states to the Soviet Union, people are going through a semi post-colonial process of constructing a new and independent national identity. In their nation-building attempt, the Azeri elite, predominantly nationalist and male, seeks to reassess, re-imagine, and redefine ethno-cultural and national identity of Azerbaijan. One of the targets or objects of this redefinition is the role of women in society. This, however, has not been a totally one-way process prescribed merely by the male elite. Women have not remained simply as passive objects of nationalist transition, inter-ethnic conflict or inter-national contest. Despite all the odds and limits, many women in Azerbaijan strive for a subject status and demonstrate a considerable level of agency by taking part in various aspects of socio-economic restructuring and cultural redefinition.1 As a borderland, geo-politically and geo-culturally situated between the ―East‖ (Asia) and ―West,‖ (Europe), Azerbaijan has a multifaceted national and cultural identity. It is among the most secularized and relatively modernized Islamicate republics. The interplay between several domestic and regional factors has shaped the gender dynamics and social status of women in Azerbaijan, including, the Caucasian cultural and historic milieu; the Islamic tradition; the Russian political and cultural influence; and the Azerbaijani nationalism. The definition of womanhood, manhood and Azerbaijani national identity in Soviet Azerbaijan were construed, in part, in comparison and contrast to the perceived image of the Russian ―other‖. Women were expected to be the main identity markers, the primary repositories of ―authenticity‖ (asalat), tradition, ethnic codes and customs that would demarcate Azerbaijani cultural boundaries from those of Russian rulers. Following its independence since 1991 and its entrance into market economy and capitalism, Azerbaijani nationalism is supposedly playing a central role in democratization of society and in articulation of its new national identity and gender regime. Yet, as will be discussed later, it is only within a new regional and international context and through a contest with certain new ―others‖ (Turkey, Iran, ‗West‘, and Armenia) that Azerbaijani ―national idea‖ is being articulated. Similar to many other post-colonial nationalization and democratization, these processes have been based on a modernist male-normative implying a yet more unequal gender arrangement than the one in the former Soviet system.
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Abstract (Original Language): 
Qärbìn Avrasìyada äsas räqìbì Rusìya olduõu üçün, onun bu regìondakí rolunu, maraqlaríní vä mäqsädlärìnì araådíran här hansí bìr elmì tädqìqat ìåì mütläq Rusìya faktorunu ähatä etmälìdìr. Qärb-Rusìya münasìbätlärìnì anlamaq vä bu münasìbätlärìn Qärbìn Avrasìya sìyasätìnä necä täsìr etdìyìnì görmäk üçün, ―hegemonìya‖, ―qloballaåma‖, ―regìonallaåma‖ vä s. kìmì mühüm näzärì anlayíålarí bu mövzuya tätbìq etmäyìn böyük faydasí olar. ―Hegemon qüvvä‖ anlayíåínín bìr neçä tärìfì vä ya ìzahí vardír. Änänävì sayílan ―hegemonluq‖ konsepsìyasí ìqtìsadì, sìyasì vä härbì gücä ìstìnad edän här hansí bìr domìnasìyaya äsaslanír. Antonìo Qramåìnìn beynälxalq münasìbätlär elmìnä gätìrdìyì ―hegemonluq‖ anlayíåí ìsä daha färqlìdìr. Qramåìyä görä, hegemonìya bìr dövlätìn dìgär dövlätlärìn könüllü razílíõí vasìtäsìlä äldä etdìyì domìnasìya formasídír. Bu halda, hegemon qüvvä legìtìm (mäåru) sayílír, çünkì onun üstün statusu baåqalarí täräfìndän normal olaraq qäbul edìlìr. Dìgär nöqteyì-näzärdän, hegemon dövlät (qüvvä) beynälxalq vä ya regìonal mìqyasda tählükäsìzlìyì tämìn edän dövlätdìr. ―Hegemon sabìtlìk‖ näzärìyyäsì dä mähz buradan gälìr: hegemon qüvvä ümumì bìr qlobal tählükäsìzlìk mühìtì yaradír vä onu qoruyur. Doõrudur, bu mühìtdän än çox fayda götürän hegemon özü olur, ancaq öz üzärìnä än çox mäsulìyyät götürän dä mähz odur. ―Hegemon qüvvä‖ näzärìyyäsì çärçìväsìndän baxdíqda görürük kì, Rusìyanín Avrasìya mäkanínda hegemon dövlät kìmì gücü get-gedä azalmaqdadír. Moskvanín regìonal sìyasätìnä bìr çox MDB üzvü ölkälär cìddì müqavìmät göstärìr. Mäsälän, Azärbaycan vä Özbäkìstan artíq rus qoåunlarínín keçmìå Sovet särhädlärìnì qorumasína qaråí öz etìrazlaríní ämälì åäkìldä göstärmìålär. Ìqtìsadì cähätdän baxsaq, Rusìya öz MDB partnyorlaríní lazím olan ìstehlak mallarí ìlä tämìn edä bìlmìr. Eynì zamanda, onun sìyasì gücü regìonal münaqìåälärì häll etmäyä yetmìr, sadäcä onlarín dondurulmasína çatír. Yänì artíq Rusìyanín härbì, sìyasì vä ìqtìsadì gücü ona Avrasìyada hegemon dövlät kìmì çíxíå etmäk ìmkaní vermìr. Mähz buna görä dä, Rusìya bölgädäkì dövlätlärìn etìmadíní vä razílíõíní qazanmaqda çätìnlìk çäkìr. Belälìklä, bölgä dövlätlärì daha çox Qärbìn bu regìonda öz hegemonluõunu qurmasíní ìstäyìrlär.
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REFERENCES

References: 

1. Speeches of representatives from Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan delivered in the Seventh International Oil and Gas Conference (Caspian Oil and Gas 2000), June 6-9, 2000, Baku, Azerbaijan.
2. See, Nasib Nassibli. ―Azerbaijan‘s Geopolitics and Oil Pipeline Issue‖, Perceptions, December 1999-February 2000, pp. 97-98.
3. Martin Sieff, ―Armenia Armed by Russia for Battles with Azerbaijan,‖ The Washington Times, April 10, 1997, p. AI1.
4. See for example, Richard K. Herrmann, ―Russian Policy in the Middle East: Strategic Change and Tactical Contradictions,‖ Middle East Journal, Vol. 48, No.3, Summer 1994, pp. 455-456; Patrick E. Tyler, ―Russia‘s Links to Iran Offer a Case Study in Arms Leaks,‖ The New York Times, May 10, 2000, p. A6.
5. Svante E. Cornell, ―Iran and the Caucasus,” Middle East Policy, Vol. V, No. 4, January 1998, pp. 59-64.
6. See for example, Francoise Thom, ―Eurasianism: A New Russian Foreign Policy?‖ Uncaptive Minds, Summer, 1994, pp. 65-77; Jonathan Valdez, ―The Near Abroad, the West, and National Identity in Russian Foreign Policy,‖ Adeed Dawisha and Karen Dawisha (ed.), The Making of Foreign Policy in Russia and the New States of Eurasia, [M. E. Sharpe: Armonk, New York, 1995], pp. 84-109; Alexander Dugin, ―Основы геополитики‖, [Moscow:
THE WEST, HEGEMONY AND EURASIA 75
Arctogea-center, 1999], 389-406, 629-686.
7. Izvestiya, 02.01.1992
8. Difference of tactics within Russian government, see Андраник Миграньян, Россия и Ближнее Зарубежье, Независимая газета, 18.01.1994; Jonathan Valdez, ―The Near Abroad, the West, and National Identity In Russian Foreign Policy,‖ pp. 84-109; Thomas L. Timothy, Shull John. ―Russian National Interests and the Caspian Sea,‖ Perceptions, December 1999-February 2000, p. 83.
9. Andrei Shoumikhin, ―Developing Caspian Oil: Between Conflict and Cooperation,‖ Cooperative Strategy. An International Journal, Vol. 16, No.4, 1997, pp. 342-343; Richard K. Herrmann, ―Russian Policy in the Middle East: Strategic Change and Tactical Contradictions,‖ pp. 458-460; Независимая газета, March 18, 1994; Dmitri Trenin, ―Russia‘s Security Interests and Policies in the Caucasus Region,‖ Contested Borders in the Caucasus, Chapter III, Bruno Coppieters (ed.). VUB University Press,1996, http://poli.vub.oc.be/publi/ContentBorders/org/ch0101.htm. Dmitri Danilov, ―Russia‘s Search for an International Mandate in Transcaucasia,‖ Contested Borders in the Caucasus, Chapter V; Sherman Garnett, ―Russia‘s Illusory Ambitions,‖ Foreign Affairs, March/April, 1997, pp. 62-65.
10. See Umit Ozdag, ―S.S.C.B.‘den Rusiya Federasiyonuna (1985-1993),” Avrasiya Dosyasi, Vol. 3, No.4, 1996, p.174.
11. Izvestiya, 08.08.1992.
12. Защита интересов русских меньшинств в пост-советских государствах по Сергею Станкевичу, Независимая газета, July 3, 1992, p. 5; according to the 1989 official statistics, there were 393,000 Russians in Azerbaijan (5.6% of the total population), the majority of whom lived in Baku. Russians and their Sodrujestvo organization took an active part in the democratic movement in the late 80s. There used to be a department for protection of ethnic minorities in the Azerbaijan Popular Front established in 1989. The department was engaged in active work among ethnic minorities. Leyla Aliyeva, ―The Institutions, Orientations, and Conduct of Foreign Policy in Post-Soviet Azerbaijan,‖ Adeed Dawisha and Karen Dawisha (ed.). The Making of Foreign Policy in Russia and the New States of Eurasia, p. 300.
13. According to a survey conducted in the late 1999 by ―Adam‖ sociological center, when asked ―How would you characterize Azerbaijan‘s relations with Russia?‖, 15.7% of respondents regarded Russia as a friendly country, 28.4% as an unfriendly country, 18.0% as a neutral country, 2.0% as a hostile country, while 25.9% had difficulty in answering. Azadlig, 28.12.1999. Azerbaijanis, in their turn, are not among most popular nationalities in Russian public opinion. According to a 1996 survey, Azerbaijanis were next only to Chechens among mostly disliked nations. Азер Мурсалиев, ―Политика России на Кавказе‖, III ERA (Baku), No. 1, 1996, p. 15.
14. To see how erroneous these widely spread arguments are, see: Audrey L. Altstadt,"The Azerbaijani Turks. Power and Identity under Russian Rule," [Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, 1992], pp. 89-127; Audrey L. Altstadt, "O Patria Mia: National Conflict in Mountainous Karabakh," W. Raymond Duncan and G. Paul Holman, Jr. (ed.), Ethnic Nationalism and Regional Conflict, [San Francisco: Westview Press, 1994], pp. 101-133; Anatoly Yamskov, "Inter-Ethnic Conflict in the Trans-Caucasus: A Case Study of Nagorno-Karabakh," Kumar Rupesinghe, Peter King and Olga Vorrunova (ed.), Ethnicity and Conflict in a Post-Communist World: The Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and China, [London, 1992], pp. 134-139; Svante E. Cornell, "Undeclared War: The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict Reconsidered," Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. XX, No. 4 Summer, 1997, pp. 1-23; Эльхан Мехтиев, "Некоторые аспекты развития армяно-азербайджанского конфликта и усилия для его урегулирования," Этнополитические конфликты в Закавказье: Их истоки и пути решения,
76 Leonard Abdullah STONE
Центр Международного развития и Конфликтологии. Мерилендский Университет. Колледж Парк Мериленд. США, 1997, с. 83-84; Jeyhun Mollazade, "The Legal Aspects of the Karabakh Conflict," Mehmet Tutuncu (ed.), Caucasus: War and Peace, [SOTA: Haarlem, Netherlands, 1998], pp. 22-29; Nasib Nassibli, The Karabakh Problem: Old Stubbornness and New Hopes, Journal of Azerbaijani Studies, Vol. 2, No. 3, 1999, pp. 51-59.
15. Armenians and pro-Armenian Western authors claim that the developments were exacerbated by the very Sumgayit tragedy and maintain that it is the Azerbaijan party that is to blame for the escalation. However, blood had been shed earlier (in Armenia‘s Gukark, Masis, Kafan and Spitak provinces, as well as Askaran province of Upper Karabakh) and the flow of people ousted from Armenia to Azerbaijan had started. Another indicative point is that the Sumgayit developments were carefully masterminded and orchestrated by the Soviet KGB.
16. Monitor, (A Daily Briefing on the Post-Soviet States), April 9, 1998.
17. Gareth M. Winrow, Azerbaijan and Iran, A. Rubinshtein and O. Smolanski (ed.), Regional Rivolries in the New Eurasia. Russia, Turkey, and Iran, [M. E. Sharp: Armonk, New York, London, England, 1995], p.96.
18. See Tadeusz Swietochowski, ―Azerbaijan: Between Ethnic Conflict and Irredentism,‖ Armenian Rewiew, Vol. 43, No. 2-3, 1990, p.45.
19. Gareth Winrow, ―Azerbaijan and Iran,‖ p. 96.
20. Avrasiya Dosyasi, cilt 2, sayi 1, 1995, p. 128
21. See: Millet, 10.07.1995; Ayna/Zerkalo, 07.10.1995, 08.03.1996; Azerbaycan, 05.03.1996
22. Jomhuriye Eslami, 20 Dey 1374.
23. Svante Cornell, Iran and the Caucasus, p.63; Nezavisimaya Gazeta, November 25, 1998.
24. See: Ayna/Zerkalo, 18.04.1997, 17.05.1997, 24.05.1997, 31.05.1997; and Azadlig, 11.01.1997, 01.02.1997; Muxalifet, 03.05.1997
25. Mustafa Budak, "Azerbaycan-Ermenistan Iliskilerinde Daglik Karabag Meselesi ve Turkiyenin Politikasi," Kafkasya Arastirmalari, II, Istanbul, 1996, p. 132-137
26. A. Nejdet Pamir, ―Turkiye‘nin Enerji Gereksinimi, Uluslararasi Boruhatlari ve Jeostratejisi,‖ Stratejik Analiz, Cilt 1, Sayi 1, 2000, p.49; Osman Demirag, ―Energy Demand of Turkey, Provisions for Oil and Gas Supply and TPAO‘s Role and Strategy in this Context,‖ Addressed at The Seventh International Caspian Oil and Gas Exhibition and Conference, June 6-9, Baku.
27. Владислав Шорохов, ―Энергоресурсы Азербайджана: Политическая стабильность и региональные отношения,‖ Caucasus Regional Researches, No.1,1996,p.46.
28. For statements and speeches made by US officials on the matter, see: USIS Washington File, December 14-15, 1998; Los Angeles Times, December 1, 1998, p. 9; Turkistan-Newsletter, volume 98-192-13 November, 1998; Independent researches on the region by Sohrab Sobhani and Ariel Cohen, see S. Rob Sobhani. ―The `Great Game` in Play in Azerbaijan,‖ The Washington Post, February, 20, 1997; Ariel Cohen, ―Ethnic Conflicts Threaten U. S. Interests in the Caucasus,‖ The Heritage Foundation Backgrounder, no 1222, September 25, 1998.
29. Patrick Clawson, ―Iran and Caspian Basin Oil and gas,‖ Perceptions, December 1997-February 1998, pp. 19-20.
30. John J. Mareska, ―A `Peace Pipeline` to End the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict,‖ Caspian Crossroads, no 1 (1995), pp. 17-18.
31. Current Digest of the Post-Soviet Press, October 21, 1998.
32. USIS Washington File, October 29, 1998; Los-Angeles Times, October 29, 1998.
33. Ron Synovits, ―Georgia: Most Important Transit Country Upgrades Infrastructure,‖ RFE/RL, June 29, 1998;
THE WEST, HEGEMONY AND EURASIA 77
Turkish Daily News, April 17, 1998; Monitor, January 15, 1999, January 20, 1999; Nezavisimoye Voennoye Obozreniye, no 42, 6-12 November 1998; USIS Washington File, November 2, 1998.
34. Azer-Press, December 7, 1999.
35. Succession and Long-term Stability in the Caspian Region: Caspian Studies Program Experts Conference Report, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government, October 1999, pp. 5-8.
36. Ibid, p.8
37. Mahir Ibrahimov and Erjan Kurbanov, ―Getting it Wrong in the Caucasus,‖ Middle East Quarterly, December, 1994, pp. 65-70; Thomas Goltz, ―Catch-907 in the Caucasus,” The National Interest, Summer, 1997 No. 48, pp. 37-45.
38. Azerbaijan, October 14, 1993, December 18, 1993.
39. What is TRACECA? - http://www.traceca.org/whatis.htm; Turkistan-Newsletter, volume, 98-176-15-October-1998; Eduard Shevardnadze, “Great Silk Route,‖ [Tbilisi: Georgian Transport System, 2000], pp. 21, Marco Polo Magazine, December 11-12, 1998, pp. 26-32.
40. Interfax in Russian, January 27, 1999.
41. Steve Liesman, ―Three Oil Giants and Kazakhstan will Push Plan for Caspian Sea Pipeline to Turkey,‖ Wall Street Journal, December 10, 1998, p.4; Azadlig, October 27, 1998, p.8
42. Oil and Gas Journal, March 9, 1998, p.32.
43. Interfax in English, January 27, 1999; Agence France Presse, December 10, 1998.
44. Turkistan-Newsletter, volume 101:036, April 21, 2000.
45. Turkistan-Newsletter, volume 4:135, July 10, 2000.
46. Rajan Menon, ―Threacherous Terrain: The Political and Security Dimentions of Energy Development in the Caspian Sea Zone,‖ NBR Analysis, Volume 9, Number 1, p.20
47. Azadlig, December 24, 1998.
48. Commonwealth of Independent States and the Middle East, volume XXII, No.1-2, 1997, pp. 9-10; Yolbars Kerbanov, ―The New Legal status of the Caspian Sea is the Basis of Regional Cooperation and Stability,‖ Perceptions, December 1997-February 1998, p. 14-15; Vladimir Mesamed, ―Turkmenistan: Oil, Gas, and Caspian Politics,‖ Michael P. Croissant and Bulent Aras (ed.), ―Oil and Geopolitics in the Caspian Sea Region,‖ [Westport, London: Praeger, 1997], pp. 214-215. Yagmur Kochumov, ―Issues of International Law and Politics in the Caspian in the Context of the Turkmenistan-Azerbaijan Discussion and Fuel Transport,‖ - http://ourworld.compuserve.com/hompages/usazerb/422.htm
49. See Azerbaijan International, Autumn 1994, (2.4), p. 29; Sabit Bagirov, ―Azerbaijani Oil: Glimpses of a Long History,‖ Perceptions, Vol. 1, No. 2, June-August 1996, pp. 31-51.
50. Speeches by Natik Aliyev, President of SOCAR, and Dr. K. Yusifzadeh, Vice-President of SOCAR, delivered in the Seventh International Caspian Oil and Gas Exhibition and Conference (Caspian Oil and Gas, 2000), June 6-9, Baku-Azerbaijan.
51. Ibid.
52. A. Necdet Pamir, ―Baku-Ceyhan Boru Hatti. Ortaasya ve Kafkasya’da Bitmeyen Oyun, ―[Ankara: Asam, 1999], p. 96-97
53. Caspian Investor, August 1999, Vol. 2, No. 10, pp. 3, 11-13; RFE/RL , 31 May 2000, 29 December 1999, 16 March 2000.
54. S. Frederick Starr, ―Power Failure. American Policy in the Caspian,‖ The National Interest, No. 47, Spring 1997,
78 Leonard Abdullah STONE
p.20
55. Yeni Musavat, 24-26.10.1998; Azadlig, 21.07.1999, 02.06.2000.
56. Zerkalo, 20.04.2000
57. David I. Hoffman, ―Oil and Development in Post-Soviet Azerbaijan,‖ NBR Analysis, Vol. 10, No 3, August, 1999, p.23.
58. Country report. Azerbaijan. The Economist Intelligence Unit. 1st quarter 2000, p.35
59. David I. Hoffman, ―Oil and Development in Post-Soviet Azerbaijan,‖ p.24; Vichael Wyzan, ―Transcaucasia/Central Asia: Oil, Gas No Cure For Economic Woes: - www.rferl.org/nca/features/1999/01/F.RU.990105135631 htm.
60. Country Report. Azerbaijan. The Economist Intelligence Unit, 1st quarter 1998, p.16
61. Zerkalo, 02.06.2000.
62. The Azerbaijan Government has announced that net oil profit in the year 2005 will constitute $1 billion (Country Report. Azerbaijan. The Economist Intelligence Unit. 1st quarter 2000, p. 18). According to a statement by the Azerbaijan Prime Minister in Washington D.C., Azerbaijan‘s oil revenues in 25 years will amount to $210 billion. (Alec Rasizade, ―Azerbaijan and the Oil Trade: Prospects and Pitfalls,‖ The Brown Journal of World Affairs, Vol. IV, No. 2, 1997, p. 283) The first contract alone is expected to fetch $80 billion to the state budget (Azerbaijan International, Summer 1995 [3:2], p.40)
63. Гасан Гулиев, ―Мифы и реальности нефтяной стратегии Азербайджана‖. Центральная Азия и Кавказ, No. 4 (5), 1999, p. 168; Zerkalo, 31.12.1999, 12.08.2000, Azadlig, 31.12.1999-03.01.2000
64. Azadlig, 19.01.2000, 02.02.2000, 12.07.2000; Zerkalo, 12.08.2000.
65. Azadlig, 1-3. 04.2000, Zerkalo, 11.12.2000.
66. In my opinion, oil revenues could be spent on infrastructure and education: See Nasib Nassibli, ―Azerbaijan: Oil and Politics in the Country‘s Future.‖ Michael P. Croissant and Bulent Aras (ed.), Oil and Geopolitics in the Caspian Sea Region, pp. 122-125.

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