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University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses
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Education and language policies in Moldova and Azerbaijan: Soviet and post-Soviet period
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Education and language policies in Moldova and Azerbaijan: Soviet and post-Soviet period
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EDUCATION AND LANGUAGE POLICIES
IN MOLDOVA AND AZERBAIJAN:
SOVIET AND POST-SOVIET PERIOD
by
Lilia Artemon Rilea
A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
Master of Science
in Education
Copyright 1998 Lilia Artemon Rilea
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UMI Number: 1393184
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U N IV ERSITY O F S O U T H E R N C A L IFO R N IA
T H E G R A D U A T E SC H O O L
U N IV E R S IT Y PA R K
L O S A N G E L E S . C A L IF O R N IA 8 0 0 0 7
This thesis, w ritten by
Lilia Artemon Rilea____________
under the direction o f k-ex. Thesis Committee,
and approved by a ll its members, has been pre
sented to and accepted by the Dean of The
Graduate School, in partial fulfillm ent of the
requirements fo r the degree of
Master of Science in Education
D tm a
Date.
/
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
As a fellow in the 1997-1998 Edmund S. Muskie / Freedom Support Act Graduate
Fellowship Program, funded by the United States Information Agency and sponsored by
the Open Society Institute, I would like to express my gratitude to my sponsors for the
great opportunities offered for research and study. The twelve-month fellowship I have
been awarded made the writing of this thesis possible.
I am also extremely grateful to my academic advisor, Dr. William Rideout Jr.,
for his constant and generous support throughout the course of my studies.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.....................................................................................................ii
INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................1
Statement of Purpose...................................................................................................2
The Rationale for the Study........................................................................................3
Definition of Terms.....................................................................................................5
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND............................................................................................7
The Period Until the 19th Century............................................................................. 7
19th-20th Centuries Up to the Soviet Period............................................................. 9
SOVIET LANGUAGE POLICY
AND ITS IMPACT ON EDUCATION................................................................................14
Various Policy Trends................................................................................................15
The Russification Process......................................................................................... 18
Alphabet Reforms...................................................................................................... 21
The Impact on Education...........................................................................................22
CURRENT LANGUAGE POLICIES AND EDUCATION
Early Stage (The Beginning of the 1990s)............................................................... 26
Changes in the Language Policies............................................................................ 28
The State of Affairs in Education............................................................................. 30
COMMENTS, CONCLUSIONS, OPINIONS.....................................................................34
APPENDIX
I—Map of Moldova....................................................................................................39
II—Map of Azerbaijan............................................................................................... 40
BIBLIOGRAPHY...................................................................................................................41
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INTRODUCTION
The last two decades have witnessed important transformations in the world’s
geopolitical context. Many of them are an outcome of the demise of the former Soviet
Union, recently a very important economic and political power. The disintegration of this
multi-national state was a premise for the emergence of a number of new independent
countries both in Europe and Asia. Among themare Moldova, an Eastem-European
country situated between Romania and Ukraine, and Azerbaijan, a country which lies at
the juncture of Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Turkey, Iran and the Caspian Sea.
(See Appendixes 1 & 2).
What are the most distinctive characteristics of these two relatively young states?
Moldova is a small sunny land with a mild climate and hospitable people. The
country is endowed with prime agricultural land that can support a number of high-value
crops. Due to the extremely fertile soil and temperate climate, Moldova’s economy is
dominated by agriculture and related industries. The main crops include wine grapes,
fruit, vegetables, sugar beets, tobacco and grain. Moldova has a very dense
(129 inhabitants per square kilometer) and ethnically diverse population. (Belarus and
MoldovarCountry Studies, 1995) Several years ago, this part of the world provoked
severe debates regarding the issues of ethnicity and language policy—a legacy left to
Moldova by the former communist regime. These issues still remain challenging and
rewarding topics of research.
Azerbaijan is called the Land of Fire because of its rich oil resources. According
to a widely circulated legend, the name originates from the Persian word azer which
means “fire”. The history of Azerbaijan and its capital Baku is connected with oil from
ancient times. More than 2000 years ago, people already knew the value of this
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“fire water.” The first reliable information about oil extraction on the Apsheron
Peninsula, where Baku is located, dates from the 7th and 8th centuries. (Aliyev, 1994)
The country is also rich in natural gas and iron, copper, lead, zinc and other ores. Because
of its location in a beautiful but somehow contentious region, Azerbaijan has been subject
to violent upheavals caused by the ethnic conflicts between Armenians and Azerbaijanis
of Nagomo-Karabakh, an Armenian majority region of Azerbaijan. The hostilities were
halted a few years ago, but no agreement has been achieved, which makes the region still
volatile. The complex ethnic composition of the country and the turbulent past and
present make it an interesting subject for studies.
Statement of Purpose
The main focus of this study is on the Soviet and post-Soviet language policies in
Moldova and Azerbaijan and the extent to which they affected education.
First, in order to better elucidate the topic, a concise historical background will be
given, which is intended to throw some light on the origins and cultural beginnings of the
two countries. This will help in understanding some of the policy failures mentioned later
in the paper. Then— a brief description of the main trends in the Soviet language policy
will follow. The focus will be on the rationale behind these policies and the role they
played in shaping the education systems in Moldova and Azerbaijan. Special attention
will be devoted to the alphabet changes that occurred in the two countries in this century
and their consequences. Third—I will elaborate upon the post-Soviet language policies in
Moldova and Azerbaijan and their impact on education. I will also make an attempt to
predict (or speculate on) the possible outcomes of the current, very complex linguistic
situation in both countries. Finally, some comments, conclusions will be made and
opinions on the topic will be expressed.
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The Rationale for the Study
Once the Soviet Union started its decay, the Soviet republics opted for
independence and proclaimed language laws which decreed the indigenous languages as
the official languages of the constituted states. Given this fact, enormous interest in the
possible future development of the previous communist territories arose. A real puzzle
was the emergence of violent ethnic conflicts in almost all the republics despite the
assiduous efforts of the former regime to inhibit the national conciousness of the
indigenous people for the purpose of creating a new communist nation. Eventually, the
new nation was to speak Russian and share preponderantly Russian values. Whereas this
assimilation policy was grudgingly accepted during the Soviet years (but the grudge was
seldom openly expressed because of fear of consequences), it did not eradicate all the
national features nor did it put to oblivion the national languages. Different nations
fought to preserve their identity in different ways and succeeded in doing that to
different extents. Therefore, it is interesting to analyze this process comparatively and
find out what factors hindered or stimulated opposition to the Soviet language policy in
different republics. Moldova and Azerbaijan were not the most active in opposing the
Soviet language policy, on the contrary they seemed to be the “good hosts” for the “big
brother”, but in fact this was not more than an illusion. Both peoples were perfectly
aware of Soviet discriminatory actions and were patiently waiting for the appropriate
moment to express their feelings. And, when it came, they did not hesitate. It is
interesting to follow the paths of their evolution after they got independence and see the
results of independence in the two countries in terms of their perspective language
policies and educational systems.
The choice of these particular two former Soviet republics is motivated by some
of the existing similarities between them.
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First, both Moldova and Azerbaijan have historically been separated from the
majority of their titular ethnic groups living within the boundaries of another state. The
river Prut separates Moldova from Romania. Although Romania and the Republic of
Moldova are independent states in the international system, a common language, history
and culture link the Romanians living on the both sides of the Prut. The river Araks
(Araxes) separates Azerbaijan from Iran, and from another 13 million Azerbaijanis living
there. The territory in Iran populated by Azerbaijanis is often referred to as South
Azerbaijan, in distinction from North Azerbaijan, i.e., the former Soviet Azerbaijan, now
the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Second, both countries have experienced a rather tumultuous history. They have
been subject to myriad invasions, migrations, and cultural and political influences due to
their geographical locations. Because of its strategic location on “the road of all
misfortunes,” as a medieval chronicler stated, Moldova for centuries has been a bone of
contention between the surrounding empires: Russian, Ottoman, and Austro-Hungarian,
which were constantly competing for spheres of influence and looking for new chances to
expand their territories. Azerbaijan is located “smack-dab on top of the greatest ethnic,
religious and political fault-lines in the world. It is the place where semi-East meets
semi-West, where Russia meets Iran and Turkey, and where Orthodox Christianity abuts
not only Islam, but both the Sunni and Shiite varieties of it.” Rivalry between Moscow,
Ankara and Tehran is often called “the Great Game” in reference to the 19th century
Anglo-Russian competition for economic and political influence in Central
Asia. (Goltz, 1994:5)
Third, both Moldova and Azerbaijan have been for the greatest part of the 19th
century under Russian occupation. The life within the Russian Empire had its advantages
and disadvantages, the advantages being some degree of stability, the disadvantages
being a total disregard of the indigenous populations and maladministration of their areas.
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However, for an effective cross-country comparison of cultural and linguistic
change some essential dissimilarities should be mentioned as well. The most distinctive
seem to be the language and religion. Moldova is the only former Soviet republic with the
population speaking a Romance language - Romanian, a descendent of the Indo-
European family-tree, and a representative of the Italic group. The population of
Azerbaijan speaks a Turkic language - Azeri (or Azeri Turkish) which belongs to the
southern branch of the Altaic languages. The Romanians living in Moldova profess
Christianity, the largest denomination being the Eastern Orthodox Church.
The Azerbaijani religion is Islam. About three quarters of Azerbaijani Muslims are
Shiites, the rest being faithful to the Sunni variety of Islam.
Definition of Terms
To avoid any ambiguity of form and meaning, some names and terms will be
defined in conformity with their usage in the paper.
AZERI — The term is being used, alongside with “Azerbaijani”, to identify the
population (Azeris or Azeri Turks) and the language (Azeri or Azeri Turkish) of
Azerbaijan both North and South of the border. For the language, the name “Azerbayjan
dili” was widely used in the former Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan, while ‘Turk dili” or
“Azeri” was kept in Iran (Nissman, 1987). In the post-Soviet period, “Azeri” is preferred
on both sides as a symbol of common identity.
B ASSARABIA — This is the name of the territory lying between the Prut and
Nistru (Dneister) rivers, once the eastern part of historic Moldova. The name came into
being after the Russian occupation of the province, in 1812. Alexander I, the Russian
czar, preferred to call the territory “Bessarabia” (in the Russian variant) rather than
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“Moldova”, in order to shun any incrimination of having partitioned Moldova. (Popovici,
1931) “Bassarabia” originates from the Basarab dynasty, who owned part of the land in
the 14th century. Most of the sources use the Russian variant of the name— Bessarabia,
although in some works (Jewsbury, 1983; Manoliu-Manea, 1983) it still appears as
Bassarabia which is closer to the original Romanian name of Basarabia.
Bassarabia roughly corresponds to the present-day Republic of Moldova. That is why, the
two names are interchangeable, their use depending on the period described. It should be
mentioned, however, that Bassarabia does not include the Western part of the medieval
Moldovan principality, which after 1859 became part of Romania, and is known today as
the Romanian province of Moldova. Thus, the actual Republic of Moldova shares its
name with the Romanian region right across the Prut river.
LANGUAGE POLICY— The phrase is being used to denote the interdependence
between language and politics. It usually refers to a set of language-related political
actions, exercised either through administrative agencies or from outside administration,
which aim at initiating both political and social change. According to Weinstein (1990:5),
“language policy ... means deliberate and conscious choices of language form and / or
language function made by important institutions believed to be capable of long-term
implementation over a significant area and among a significant population.”
Given the fact that language is implicitly connected to educational theories, values
and goals, that is, an education through a given language will normally mean that that
language is acquired in addition to the language spoken in the home, education is
regarded as a crucial area for language policy. (Herriman & Burnaby, 1996:4)
RUSSIFICATION — The Soviet policy of coercive imposition of Russian
linguistic and cultural dominance at the expense of the indigenous languages and
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cultures. Its final goal was assimilation of ethnic minorities for the benefit of creating a
new communist nation, Russian speaking throughout the Soviet Union. There is abundant
material about Russification in all the literature on Soviet language policies.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
For the purpose of revealing more vividly the parallels between the two countries,
the historical survey will be divided into two sections: the first section will include the
period until the 19th century, and the second section will reveal the 19th-20th century
events up to the Soviet period.
The Period Until the 19th Century
The origin and culture of Moldova and Azerbaijan are deeply rooted in history.
The origin of the Moldovan population dates back to the seventh century B.C.
when, after a series of invasions from Cimmerians and Scythians, the area of
contemporary Moldova became the site of Greek colonies. Then Geto-Dacian tribes
settled in the region. During the period from A.D.105 to aproximately A.D.270 the
Roman colonists intermingled with the local population of the region, the Geto-Dacians.
This stimulated the absorption by the local population of the Latin language, which in its
Romanian form would serve as the essential cultural tie in defining and uniting the
Romanian people. (Jewsbury, 1983) Moldova, as a border region, has been politically
insecure for centuries. It experienced pressures from different Asiatic and European
peoples (Magyars, Tataro-Mongols, Poles) the most insistent of which were the Slavs. In
the mid-fourteenth century the medieval Principality of Moldova emerges as an important
regional power. It included the area of the present-day Republic of Moldova, Northern
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Bucovina and the region of Moldova in Romania. During the long reign of Stephen the
Great (1457-1504) Moldova reached the apogee of its prosperity. Stephen the Great, now
one of the most cherished national heroes, fortified Moldova’s borders against
Hungarians and Tatars, and especially against Turks, who were increasingly dangerous.
He fought to save as much of Moldova’s independence as possible, but after his death,
his son Bogdan could not stop the Turkish invasion. Thus, in the 16th century the
principality came under Ottoman domination and had to accept Turkish suzerainty for
two centuries. (Dima,1982) In the 18th century, with Russia increasing its pressure on the
Ottomans, Moldova got involved in some anti-Turkish coalitions and Russia’s
intervention in the region’s politics became excessive.
Azerbaijan’s history reaches back to the 9th century B.C. when the seminomadic
Scythians settled in areas of what is now the Republic of Azerbaijan. Two centuries later,
it was conquered by Persians. But in 330 B.C. Alexander the Great took possession of the
Persian territories. The Greek domination was interrupted by the Romans, who, between
the first and the third centuries A.D. annexed the region of present-day Azerbaijan. In the
7th-l 1th centuries Azerbaijan came under Arab control and was subsequently converted
to Islam. However, the increasing influx of the Oghuz Turkic tribes under the Seljuk
dynasty ended Arab control. The Seljuks brought with them the Turkish language and
Turkish customs. Gradually the native population began to be fused with Turks. Thus, by
the 13th century the basic characteristics of the Azerbaijani (or Azeri Turkic) nation had
been established. (Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia:Country Studies, 1994) In the 15th
century a native Azeri state flourished. It soon became the power base of the native
dynasties of the Shirvanshahs and the Safavids. Under the early Safavids, Azerbaijan was
frequently the battleground in the wars between Shiite Iran and Sunni Turkey. A
strategically vital point, it also attracted Russia’s attention. Since then, the Caspian Sea
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and the Caucasus Mountains have formed the disputed frontier between Turkish, Persian
and Russian empires. (Swietochowski, 1994)
Thus, there are some commonalties in historical context between Moldova and
Azerbaijan. They both initially shared Scythian settlers. Later, they both underwent
waves of Greek (Moldova—7th century B.C.; Azerbaijan—3rd century B.C.) and Roman
(1-3 centuries A.D.) civilizations. They both passed through a period of independent
political development during the 14th and 15th centuries. And, as early as the 18th
century, they both attracted Russia’s attention as strategically vital points and resource
abundant areas.
19th-20th Centuries Up to the Soviet Period
Russia asserted its political domination over the northern part of Azerbaijan and
the eastern part of Moldova at the beginning of the 19th century.
The Treaty of Gulistan (1813) determined the division between Russian and
Persian Azerbaijan, establishing the Russo-Persian border along the Araks (Araxes) river,
and the Treaty of Turkmanchay (1828) awarded Russia the Nakhichevan and Erivan
Khanates. (Armenia, Azerbaijan and GeorgiarCountry Studies, 1994). The area populated
by Azeris was divided into equal parts, but a larger proportion of the Azeri-speaking
population remained in Iran. Moldova was divided into two parts under the Treaty of
Bucharest (1812): the eastern territory, called Bassarabia (after the name of the dynasty
Basarab to whom the central part of the land previously belonged), situated between the
rivers Prat and Nistra, was ceded to Russia, while the western part of Moldova remained
under the Ottomans. This was the first Russian annexation. The annexed province of
Bassarabia had an area o f46,000 square kilometers and approximately 480,000 people,
of whom 90 percent were Romanians (Dima, 1982). Russian domination did not
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considerably influence the economy and culture of either Moldova or Azerbaijan. The
degree of economic and social change troughout most of the century was modest.
Because of its geographical location (separated from Russia by a mountain range)
Azerbaijan was seen as a bridgehead for further expansion rather than part of the Russian
state. As a frontier province, Moldova (Bassarabia) served as a supply depot for the
Russian armies passing through and fighting in various wars. Both countries suffered the
usual fate of the peripheral regions—neglect. The fact that both Azerbaijanis and
Bassarabian Romanians had well-defined cultural patterns and interests made Russian
administration of the areas difficult. Initially, up to the 1930s the accommodating policies
prevailed. The Russians governed the area through the local laws and forms of
government. The creation of a local Azeri and Romanian elite devoted to the Russian
czar was begun. Some of the representatives of the new elite, while working for the
Russian authorities, also served the interests of their people. For instance, it was during
this period that the Romanian Orthodox religious leader Gavriil B anulescu-B odoni
published a number of books in Romanian, among which were a grammar and a
Romanian Bible. He also lobbied the czar to continue the use of the local customs, laws,
and traditions. (Jewsbury, 1983)
The most significant changes were in the administrative sphere. The khanate
system in Azerbaijan was gradually replaced by the Russian territorial system of division
into provintsii (provinces) and uezds (districts). (Altstadt, 1992) In Moldova the zemstvos
were established. Most of the leading positions were held by Russians. Moreover, after
1860, the use of the native languages was considerably reduced, and Russian was the
only language used in local governments. This situation was supposed to facilitate the
process of integration into the Russian state and reinforce further centralization.
At the same time, the central authorities made little effort to aid the Azeri and
Romanian inhabitants to be educated in their own language and culture. In 1897 the
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census noted that 82 percent of the male and 96 percent of the female population in
Bassarabia were illiterate. (Jewsbury, 1983) After one hundred years of Russian rule,
“In 1911, Bessarabia, with a population of about two and one-half million, had only
1,522 schools, with 100,375 pupils. The school year lasted only 181 days in the cities and
157 in the villages. During the last fifty years of Russian occupation in Bessarabia, the
Romanians had not one school of their own; and in the Russian schools the Romanian
language was not taught even as a curiosity.” (Popovici, 1931:110) Bassarabia was
practically being transformed into a Russian province and Russification was clearly the
policy after the Crimean War of 1853-1856. But it made little headway because the rural
masses were illiterate and they remained loyal to their folk culture and language. Russian
literature and education affected the local intelligentsia to a certain extent, although many
local writers took refuge in Romania because of the increasingly restrictive measures.
(Dima, 1982)
Similarly, in Azerbaijan, the use of Azeri in secondary schools and institutions of
higher education was forbidden. The majority of children received no education and the
literacy rate was extremely low. The Muslim population refused to have their children
trained in Russian-language schools. They took great pride in their ancient culture and
regarded Russians as retrogrades. Native-language instruction was offered in religious
schools, madrashahs. But it didn’t prepare students for future secular occupations,
alienating them more from social mobility. However, towards the end of the century,
Azerbaijan faced an incredible economic and cultural boom because of the rapid
development of the oil industry. The exploitation of oil brought an influx of Russians into
Baku who came to dominate the oil business and government administration. At the same
time, the door was also opened wide to native and foreign investors with substantial
capital. Among foreigners, the most famous was the Nobel Brothers Company, a leading
Swedish firm. It produced and exported half of the Baku oil, and introduced many
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innovations and modem technology related to oil extraction. Another oil giant was the
«
Paris Rothschild’s Company. In 1883, it built the Batum-Baku railroad, enabling the oil
to be transported to the Western markets. The “oil revolution” turned Baku into a bustling
boom city with the highest rate of population increase in the Russian Empire. The
number of inhabitants rose from 14,000 in 1863 to 206,000 in 1903, making it the largest
city in Transcaucasia. (Swietochowski, 1995) In a short time Baku became a
multinational urban center where the three largest groups were the Russians, the
Armenians, and the Azeris. But the city was hardly a melting pot, with the ethnic groups
living in separate communities. Russians and Armenians dominated politically and
economically. The economic and political inequality emphasized the cultural, religious
and linguistic barriers. The natives felt they were being discriminated against by the non
native majority. Nonetheless, this amalgam of cultures and the contact of the two
civilizations, the traditional Islamic and the modem European, created the Azerbaijani
intelligentsia. It made a great contribution to the spread of literacy among the local
population. The intellectual elite also opted for language and education reforms, and
endorsed the development of press and arts. One of its outstanding representatives was
the great Azeri thinker and dramatist Mirza Fathali Akhundzadeh. He contributed to the
rise of the theater as an important cultural institution. Simultaneously with the rise of
theater the Azeri press was emerging. But one of the most remarkable achievements of
the period was the wide range of educational ventures, among them schools and
scholarships, supported by various philanthropists. The famous Azerbaijani philanthropist
Haji Taghiev, for instance, established the first Muslim Girl’s School in Baku and
sponsored the education of many young people. A number of schools for adults were also
opened with the aid of wealthy people. (Altstadt, 1992) It was during this period that
formal education was established in Azerbaijan.
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The events that took place in Russia at the turn of the century played an important
role in the destinies of Moldova and Azerbaijan.
In Azerbaijan, the aftermath of the Russian revolution and the end of World War I
created conditions for the founding of an Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in 1918-1920,
but it was short-lived. In 1920 the Red Army invaded Azerbaijan and two years later the
Transcaucasian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic was formed comprising Azerbaijan,
Armenia and Georgia. With the abolition of the Transcaucasian Federation in 1936 the
three constituent parts were proclaimed separate Soviet republics. The Soviet odyssey
ended in 1991 when an Azerbaijani referendum declared Azerbaijan independent of
Soviet Union.
In Moldova, during the period of confusion after the Russian revolution in 1917,
the Bassarabian State Council (Sfatul Tarii) was organized in December, 1917, and it
voted for reunification with Romania. In 1920 the union of Bassarabia with Romania was
recognized in the Treaty of Paris. Thus the Romanian nation state was formed,
reintegrating all of Romanian land and people. But the newly created Soviet Union did
not accept Bassarabia’s union with Romania. During the interwar period the Bassarabian
question was pivotal in Soviet-Romanian relations. The Soviet government made some
attempts to regain Bassarabia, but they were unsuccessful (the Vienna conference in
1924; then the 1934 negotiations in Riga). However, the notorious German-Soviet “non
aggression” pact, known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, was signed on August 23,
1939. It was accompanied by a secret protocol which divided the spheres of influence
between Germany and the Soviet Union and allowed the expansion of the Soviet Union
into Eastern Europe. Germany accepted the Soviet claim to Bassarabia. Thus, on June 28,
1940, Molotov handed the Romanian envoy an ultimatum which required that Romania
evacuate Bassarabia and Northern Bucovina within 24 hours. This was the “peaceful’
Soviet solution to the Bassarabian question. Romania couldn’t do anything but yield to
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Soviet might (Dima, 1982) Two-thirds of former Bassarabia plus a small strip of land on
the left bank of the Nistru, previously part of the Moldavian autonomous republic,
formed the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. New administrative units were
introduced and the Romanian language was replaced by Russian in all official dealings.
Industry was immediately nationalized and agriculture collectivized. Large-scale
deportations of Romanians to Siberia started. During World War n (1941-1944),
Bassarabia was reunited with Romania, but the Soviet Union reannexed the region in
1944 and the Moldavian SSR was re-established. This remained until 1991, when, after
almost five decades of Soviet rule, the Moldovan Parliament proclaimed Moldova’s
independence from the collapsing USSR.
SOVIET LANGUAGE POLICY AND ITS IMPACT ON EDUCATION
What happened to the cultural and linguistic heritage of Moldova and Azerbaijan
during the Soviet era?
Not many national societies experienced such a devastating totalitarian regime
as did the nations of the USSR. The Marxist-Leninist ideology, which was methodically
being instilled in every Soviet citizen, played an enormous role in bringing together under
the single umbrella of a multi-national state 15 titular ethnic groups (nations) and more
than one hundred ethnic minorities (nationalities) scattered all over the Soviet Union. Not
less important in pursuing the goal of a common co mmunist nation was the language
policy intensively promoted by the Soviet rulers. Language as a fundamental institution
of society has always been an important ingredient in the boiling pot of politics.
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It has proven to be an excellent tool for politicians to exercise power at various times in
history, be it in Bismarck's Germany, Czarist Russia or eighteenth century France. But in
the pot of Soviet politics language was the main ingredient.
Various Policy Trends
Most of the research (e.g., Chinn/Kaiser, 1996; Kolstoe, 1995; Comrie, 1981)
identifies two main phases in the Soviet language policy: early policy in the 1920s-1930s
aimed at developing indigenous languages, using them in for education, communications,
administration and social life. The covert goal was to sovietize the population and
reconcile all the nations to the Soviet rule. The second phase—starting with the late 30s—
sought to universalize the knowledge of Russian, to glorify and unify the USSR. With
this came the forced cyrillicization of former Roman or Arabic scripts, compulsory
learning of Russian in all non-Russian schools, the pushing of terminological borrowings
from Russian to further advance its dominance. Covertly this was Russification, a process
whereby, according to Aspaturian (1968:160) “non-Russians are transformed objectively
and psychologically into Russians.”
Azerbaijan experienced the impact of both these policy trends. Moldova, which
joined the Soviet system later (1940), was immersed directly thereafter in the
Russification process.
In Azerbaijan, one of the manifestations of the Soviet nation-making activity in
the 1920s was the korenizatsiia (indigenization) policy. It encouraged the development of
local languages and the education of the native population. Natives were promoted in
local party and government structures, they were favored in high status occupations,
although they were still under-represented. It was a good strategy to tame the national
spirit of the Muslim intelligentsia. To be sure, korenizatsiia brought about the elimination
of illiteracy, an increase in the number of schools, the growth of communication media,
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the promotion of women’s rights. In addition, it stimulated the formation of a native
literary language. The theaters flourished and several literary-artistic associations sprang
up. Even more successful was the so-called Turkification of higher learning. An
Education Commissariat directive called for making Azeri the language of instruction on
the university level. In the course of Turkification the proportion of Azeris in the
universities was increased, until, by 1930, they accounted for about 70 percent of students
and 75 percent of instructors. The indigenization contributed to the drive against
illiteracy. The literacy rate, which was 25.2 in 1926, grew to 50.9 in 1933. By this time
also a law on compulsory education was adopted. (Swietochowski, 1995) After all,
literate, educated minorities were more likely to succumb to the influence of the Soviet
propaganda. Moreover, cultural and educational contacts with South Azerbaijan were
permitted. But in Iranian Azerbaijan the situation was quite the opposite of what was
going on in Soviet Azerbaijan. While the Soviet Azeris were passing through a period of
national awareness and consolidation, in Iran, the fear of possible Azeri separatism under
Soviet tutelage led to a government ban on the use of Azeri in schools and religious
ceremonies, and closure of all Azeri-language media (Altstadt, 1992). The Pahlavi regime
started an intense Persianization campaign.
Ironically, soon, by the late 1930s, the language policy was re-oriented in Soviet
Azerbaijan as well. So far the Soviet Azeris experienced an anti-Islamic campaign,
collectivization, industrialization, alphabet Latinization. Next came Russification. In
1936, in conformity with Stalin’s new constitution, the Transcuacasian Federation was
abolished and Azerbaijan became a full union republic, the Azerbaijan SSR. To prevent
any regional association, and consistent with the principle of divide and rule, horizontal
links among the national republics were strongly discouraged and they were entirely
accountable to the center. This was a new phase in the Soviet policy toward nationalities,
and it would go hand in hand with Russification. The Stalinist purges o f 1937 created
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favorable conditions for implementation of the new language policy. Azerbaijanis were
accused of “nationalism”, sabotage, espionage. Many prominent intellectuals, among
them university professors and teachers, were “liquidated” on the charge of spreading
“bourgeois” views among youth.This annihilated the Azerbaijani intelligentsia, mutilated
people’s souls and minds, made them incapable of any protest or opposition. New elites
with new values—conformism, docility and fear of creativity— were being created. The
higher education institutions, among them Baku University, Azerbaijan Medical and
Pedagogical institutes, were reorganized, with the old, nationally conscious personnel
being replaced by Soviet-forged cadres. (Altstadt, 1992)
Moldova experienced the Stalinist terror in the years following the war.
Deportations, the severe 1945-1947 drought and the famine caused by it, and by the high
agricultural quotas set up by the Soviets, destroyed a substantial proportion of the native
population. After Stalin’s death, the policy of denationalization and Russification was
continued in a more veiled way. “Planned” migration to Kazakhstan during the Virgil
Land Program and “voluntary” departures to the Urals and Oriental Russia replaced the
deportations to Siberia. At the same time, great numbers of Russians, Ukrainians and
other nationalities poured into the Moldavian SSR. (Dima, 1982) The Romanian
intellectuals who tried to oppose the communist regime were terrorized by the Party and
the secret police. The slighest hint of the Romanian heritage of Bessarabia (now the
Moldavian SSR) was considered by the Soviet authorities as a nationalistic view and
could end in many years of prison.
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The Russification Proces
During the post-war period, Moldova and Azerbaijan were subjected to an intense
process of Russification. However, in Moldova, unlike in other Soviet republics, Soviet
policy also pursued the isolation of the region from its historical, ethnical and culural
links with Romania. What was the rationale behind this? Moldova was the only republic
in the USSR which was linked to a nation-state outside the country’s boundaries. That is
why a campaign to foster a cultural distinction between these two populations was
launched in order to eliminate any Moldovan tendency to rejoin Romania. To facilitate
this process the former Soviet regime resorted to hideous means—the falsification of the
history of Moldova and the attempt to create an artificial Moldovan nation, and an
artificial Moldovan language. It is much easier to convert people who had no history and
language of their own. Russification was to play a crucial role in this campaign. It was
designed to weaken the national spirit of Romanians living in Moldova, and the Russian
language was used as a vehicle to promote the culture of the predominant Soviet ethnic
group.
According to Dennis Deletant (1996), language policy in the Moldavian SSR
could be divided into three stages. The first stage would include the immediate post-war
period which followed the official adoption of the Cyrillic script in 1941. Large numbers
of Russian loan words were introduced in the newly created “Moldavian” language as
opposed to the native Romanian. Attempts were made by different Soviet linguists to
prove that the artificial Moldavian was an “independent” language of Slavic origin. The
1950s may be considered as the second, and the most liberal, phase in the Soviet
language policy in the MSSR. In 1951, at the language conference held in Chisinau,
Moldova’s capital, academician Shishmarev, head of the Romance linguistics section of
the Institute of Linguistics of the USSR Academy of Sciences, criticized the
“independence” theory and mentioned the affinity between Romanian and “Moldavian”.
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Once the assumption that the Moldavian language had a Slavic origin was rejected, new
possibilities for assimilation with the literary Romanian language were open and the
power of expression of Moldovan culture grew. Soviet Romanians were even allowed to
receive books and other publications from Romania. This spiritual stir, however, didn’t
influence education too much, because the Cyrillic alphabet was kept and the books with
a Latin script were not of much use to the young generation. The “euphoria” of spiritual
freedom didn’t last long. The 1960s marked the beginning of the third stage in the
language policy which was characterized by the re-emergence of the theory of the
“independence” of “Moldavian” from the other Romance languages. Again Soviet
linguists, including some Moldovan pseudo-linguists, were trying to prove how distinct
Moldavian was from Romanian. Cultural relations with Romania were reduced, books,
newspapers, movies coming from Romania were censored or simply rejected. Permission
to visit Romania was achieved with great difficulty. Having relatives in Romania was a
disadvantage if you wanted to join the Communist Party or be in a high level position.
In Azerbaijan, the language policy was rather controversial during the process of
Russification (especially during the 1950s-1980s). It was closely linked to Soviet-Iranian
relations. On the one hand, an Azeri national identity was being reinforced, cultural and
linguistic autonomy for Iranian Azerbaijanis was being advocated, even moderate pan-
Islamic attitudes were tolerated. In distinction from Moldova, close ties (through press,
radio, literary and cultural associations and meetings) between intellectuals of both
Azerbaijans were strongly endorsed. Conditions for collaboration became favorable on
the Iranian side too, especially in the first years after the Khomeini revolution (late 70s-
early 80s), when the ban on the use of Azeri language was lifted and a vast number of
publications was allowed. Soviet Azeri poets wrote about the difficulties their brethren in
Iran went through before, when their native tongue was forbidden. In turn, Azeri poets
from Iran came with volumes of “poetry of longing” for national unity.
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The Soviets published a number of literary works (e.g.,“The Coming Day” by Mirza
Ibrahimov; “Smoke-covered Tabriz” by Mammad Said Ordubadi) devoted to the national
liberation of Iranian Azerbaijan. National liberation was also advocated by Soviet Azeri
publications and Radio Baku broadcasts. (Nissman, 1987) Gradually, the “poetry of
longing” was replaced by a more active trend towards “one Azerbaijan”, which put the
Iranian government, concerned with the penetration of Soviet propaganda in Iranian
Azerbaijan, on guard. This, consequently, led to another communication breakdown
between the two Azerbaijans. What was the purpose of this skillfully orchestrated
irredentist movement? Soviet authorities aimed at indoctrinating the Iranian Azeris with a
nationalistic ideology, which could further promote their possible separation from Iran.
Actually, it reveals the Soviet intentions for the region. At the same time, nationalistic
outbursts among the Soviet Azerbaijanis were prevented by emphasizing the superiority
and privileges of life under Soviet rule. Thus, enhancing Azeri national awareness served
to promote political interests.
On the other hand, Azerbaijanis’ national values were repressed by Russification.
It is interesting to notice that in the mid-50s, during Khrushchev’s era, Azerbaijani
Turkish was proclaimed the official language of the republic de jure, but the law had
never been implemented. Russian still maintained its hegemony in all economic and
social activities. A dissonance between what was said and what was done is typical of the
Soviet policy. Russification made progress at all levels. Significant changes were
introduced in the names of the cities, districts, streets; even Azerbaijani last names
underwent change, often the Russian suffixes -ov, -ova, -yev, -yeva being imposed on
them. Similar name changes occurred in Moldova, as well as in other Soviet republics.
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Alphabet Reforms
For Azerbaijan, most frustrating were the four major alphabet reforms which
occurred in less than a century. Moldova experienced an imposed change from Latin to
Cyrillic as well. These changes had a considerable impact on education from both an
economic and cultural perspective. The motivations for these changes were primarily
political: in Azerbaijan-centralization and disassociation with the Islamic past, isolation
of Northern Azerbaijan from Southern Azerbaijan and from related Turkic-speaking
peoples; in Moldova—separation from the rest of the Romanian nation through
differentiating the Moldovan and Romanian languages by using different alphabets.
The first alphabet change in Azerbaijan ocurred in the 1920s. The idea itself was
not new. After the conquest of Islam, the only official written language in Azerbaijan was
Arabic, the lingua franca used by the Islamic caliphate to unify its territory. By the
beginning of the 20th century, the Arabic alphabet had been in use by Azerbaijanis for
more than one thousand years. But because the Arabic writing system was created for
Semitic languages it did not perfectly fit the Turkic phonetic and morphological systems.
That is why the question of alphabet change became a major topic of discussion among
Azeri intellectuals as early as the end of the 19th century. The first attempts to alter the
Arabic script were made by Mirza Fathali Akhundzadeh, the great Azerbaijani
philosopher and writer. There were also recommendations from the 1906 Baku teachers’
convention, but all these reformist proposals were severely attacked by the clergy as anti-
Islamic. (Swietochowski, 1995) Only during the Soviet era the alphabet issue found its
solution. Ironically, the Latinization was more designated to alienate the Azerbaijanis
from their Islamic past than to solve any orthographic problems. Subsequently, in step
with the new language policy toward Russification, came the 1940 alphabet reform.
This time Cyrillic was adopted as the official alphabet, “the alphabet of the great
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geniuses of mankind—Lenin and Stalin”, as an Azerbaijan Party leader called it.
(Swietochowski, 1995) One of the objectives of the Soviets in changing the alphabet was
to bring the other peoples (nationalities) closer to the great Russian people’s culture.
Actually, it meant Russification and isolation between Turkic nations. Stalin was aware
that the Turkic-speaking republics (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan
and Kyrgyzstan) could be a real threat to Soviet power if they united. That’s why, to
prevent them from communicating with each other, different Cyrillic characters were
assigned for the same sounds in various Turkic languages. For example, there were seven
different letters created in Turkic Cyrillic scripts to represent the one sound /ng/ that is
found in the word “English”. (Bayatly, 1997) At the same time, Soviet historians were
encouraged to find examples of friendship between the Azeri and Rusian peoples, and
describe the beneficial effect of Russian annexation on the economic and cultural
development of Azeris. Thus, the emphasis shifted from indigenization to fusion of the
Soviet nationalities.
In Moldova, the official adoption of the Cyrillic script took place in 1941. It was
intended as an additional barrier between the Romanians living in Moldova and those in
Romania. Actually, the alphabet and the name were the only difference between
Romanian and “Moldavian” languages. Because all the publications started to come out
exclusively in Cyrillic script, and also because of a rigid censorship, many classics of
Romanian literature remained unknown to the population of Bessarabia. This situation
was detrimental to the young people, who were simply cut off from the linguistic
thesaurus of previous literary works.
The Impact on Education
All this turmoil had a great impact on the education systems in both countries.
Russification influenced the content and structure of the highly centralized education
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systems determining what poets, Azeri/Romanian or Russian, were to be taught, in what
language, Azeri/Romanian or Russian, should the students study, how much Russian
should be taught and how much Azeri or Romanian, if any? Actually, education was
being used to propagate the Russian language and culture.
The Soviet decree of March, 1938, introduced Russian as a compulsory subject in
all national schools. Following the decree, in September, 1940, at the opening of the new
school-year about 500 teachers from Russia and 380 from the Ukraine were brought to
Moldova. (Dima, 1982) In Azerbaijan, especially disturbing was the fact that in almost
3,000 non-Russian schools there were only 440 teachers of Russian. A teacher-training
program was immediately started, and the study of Russian became compulsory from the
fifth grade. (Swietochowski, 1995)
Moreover, in 1958, a major school reform was launched in the entire Soviet
Union. Among other pedagogical issues some changes in the existing language training
curricula were proposed in the national and autonomous republics. The law stipulated
that in Russian schools in the non-Russian areas the study of the local language should be
optional. Likewise, pupils in the native-language schools in the Union and autonomous
republics should be free to drop the study of Russian if they wished. (Kolstoe, 1995)
Whereas the new reform was accepted momentarily by the Russian Diaspora who
practically dropped the study of republican languages, it provoked an open debate among
representatives of other nationalities. Without knowledge of Russian the highway to
social mobility was closed, that is why the native students could ill afford to drop the
Russian course. The new law served to degrade the Azeri and Romanian languages to
second-hand status. On the other hand, wherever Russian speakers went, they enjoed
extensive linguistic rights, and they had no need to learn the local languages. In this way,
a step forward in the process of Russification was being taken.
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In Moldova, Russian was studied in primary schools beginning with the second
grade. At the secondary level, the classes in Russian language and literature were equal in
number with those in Romanian (Moldavian). Because Russian was seen as the key to
social advancement, many Romanian families sent their children to Russian schools. On
the other hand, because the great majority of pre-elementary institutions were Russian,
parents had to accept, although often unwillingly, a Russian kindergarden. In 1990, just
one year before independence, a total of only 614 pre-schools were taught in Romanian,
while 1,333 were taught in Russian and 373 were taught in both Romanian and Russian.
To see how the principle of equity was being respected, it should simply be added that,
according to the 1989 census, ethnic Romanians numbered 2,795,000 persons, accounting
for approximately 65 percent of the population; Ukrainians—about 600,000 (14 percent);
Russians—562,000 (13 percent); other nationalities—about 250,000 (8 percent). At the
primary and secondary levels there were 1,025 Romanian language schools with 399,200
students; 420 Russian-language schools with 239,100 students and 129 mixed language
schools with 82,500 students. (Belarus and Moldova: Country Studies, 1995) Regarding
equity, some other figures should be presented as well. In 1987, in the town of Tiraspol,
which included 25,000 Romanians in its population, there was not one Romanian school.
Out of 1,523 books published in 1985, only 514 were in Romanian (34%), and out of 244
journals and other periodicals, only 97 were in Romanian (38%). The dominance of
Russian was reinforced by Russian-language TV-programs, that occupied most airtime,
while programs in Romanian were broadcast for only 4 hours daily by Moldovan TV. In
the period between 1970-1986 there was a decline in the percentage of “Moldavian”
language teachers relative to the number of teachers as a whole—from 13.8% to 12.9%,
whereas the percentage of teachers of Russian increased from 17.1% to 20%. (Deletant,
1996) The Soviet language policy most severely affected higher education. In 1987 in the
republic’s medical and agricultural institutes not a single subject was taught in Romanian.
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Very often Romanian professors had to deliver lectures in Russian in front of an entire
Romanian audience. Future doctors, engineers, agronomists had no idea of the Romanian
equivalents for different medical or technical terms they were supposed to use in their
professions. The number of students admitted in 1982 to the Faculty of Philology at the
State University of Chisinau was 100 for Russian language and literature and 50 for
Moldovan.
What did Azerbaijan education inherit from the past? Formal education, as
mentioned previously, began at the turn of the last century and coincided with
Azerbaijan’s oil boom. During the Soviet period Azerbaijan became the best educated
Muslim nation. The literacy rate increased from 8.1 percent in 1926 to over 99 percent in
1970. (The Europa World Year Book, 1997) A relatively high percentage of the
population received some form of higher education. Compared to Moldova, a higher
percentage of Azeri youth were enrolled in universities and institutes. Most of them chose
scientific and technical training because of the important role of the oil-industry in the
country’s economy. But, regarding the proportion of the Russian population, the Russians
were still overrepresented. Especially at the tertiary level, the emphasis was on Russian-
language instruction, though bilingual institutions existed too. As a matter of fact, all
technical education was conducted in Russian. Russian was the only language of
instruction at the Oil and Gas Institute, which is the second higher education institution in
Azerbaijan (Altstadt, 1992) The great majority of the educated elite were bilingual.
However, there was a considerable discrepancy between the urban and rural Azeris as to
the degree of acquisition of Russian. Only 10 percent of the rural population knew
Russian as opposed to one-third of the urban population. For the sake of comparison, it
should be added that in 1989 only 14.3 percent of all Russians living in Azerbaijan could
speak Azeri. (Chinn/Kaiser, 1996)
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CURRENT LANGUAGE POLICY AND EDUCATION
Early Stage (the Beginning of the 1990s)
The policy of glasnost (openness) introduced by the Soviet leader Mikhail
Gorbacev, in 1986, in support of the perestroika (reconstruction) process, permitted the
open opposition to the process of Russification. It energized a major movement among
intellectuals for restoration of heritages that had been stolen under Soviet rule.
The deculturization campaign which reduced Azeri and Romanian to kitchen languages
depriving them of their official status came to an end. The language issue was the first to
appear on the political agenda.
The first signs of this political openness in Azerbaijan became evident in the great
number of articles in Azeri press criticizing the colonialist nature of the Cyrillic alphabet.
There was a consensus that Cyrillic should be rejected as a symbol of Russification and a
barrier that cut off the Azeris from the world outside the USSR. The question was: should
Azerbaijan restore the Latin alphabet of the 1920s or should it return to the Arabic script?
The alphabet issue divided Azeri intellectuals into pro-Latinists and pro-Arabists. The
discussions promptly extended beyond Azerbaijan’s geographical boundaries. They
involved also Iran and Turkey.
Iran advocated the use of Arabic for this was seen as an opportunity to expand the
influence of Shiite Islam in Azerbaijan. At the same time, it began increasing the number
of publications available to its own Azerbaijani population. Actually, publications in
Azeri had been forbidden in Iran from 1925 to 1979, during the Pahlavi regime. In 1989,
for instance, there was only one single Azeri publication with a circulation of 2,000 for
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all the Azerbaijanis living in Iran. (Bahadori, 1993) There were also no schools teaching
in Azeri for the Iranian Azerbaijanis. Therefore, Iran could not provide the northern
Azerbaijanis with a strong literary basis for reintroducing the Arabic script. Besides, the
more tedious spelling and writing techniques with the Arabic alphabet made the position
for the Latin alphabet stronger. The pro-Latinist stance was also supported by Turkey,
which played an active role in the alphabet debates. It organized different linguistic
seminars and conferences on the Turkic alphabet. Thousands of students were invited to
Turkish universities. Turkish state television was soon being broadcast into Azerbaijan
so that Azeris could be informed of the flow of events in Turkey. Another plan was to
present the Azeri government with a gift of thousands of Turkish-key type-writers to
facilitate the transition from Cyrillic to Latin. (Goltz, 1994)
Finally, in December, 1991, the legislature approved a gradual return to the Latin
alphabet. Thus, Azerbaijan adopted its fourth alphabet. The adopted Latin version was
more simplified than that of the 1920s. The reason for simplification was the
requirements of the computer age and the desire to accelerate integration into the global
community.
What was happening in Moldova? Moldovan intelligentsia expressed
dissatisfaction about the status of their language and the lack of schooling in Romanian.
In 1988 there were demands for the restoration o f the Latin alphabet and for Romanian to
be declared the official language of the republic. On September 1,1989, a law was
enacted which provided for the official language to be Romanian and the Latin script
reintroduced. Russian was to be retained as a language of inter-ethnic communication,
thus losing its previous status of official language. The law provoked opposition from
Russian-speakers, who went on strike demanding that Russian also be proclaimed a state
language. The phobia for a possible reunification with Romania caused the secession of
the territory on the left bank of the river Nistru, heavily populated by Russians, and the
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formation of the self-proclaimed Republic of Transnistria. In 1990 the parliament adopted
the Romanian name of the republic—Moldova—instead of the Russian form—Moldavia.
On August 27,1991, the Moldovan Parliament and the Grand National Assembly
proclaimed Moldova’s independence from the USSR. ( The Europa World Year Book,
1997) Why did the new language policy stir the spirits of non-Romanians? The
introduction of Romanian as the new state language and the concomitant linguistic
demands were seen as a threat to the Slavic population (Russians and Ukrainians)
because only a few spoke Romanian. Therefore, most state employees had to learn
Romanian in order to carry out their duties and to secure their jobs. Another consequence
of the language law was the switch to Romanian as the language of instruction at the
university level and the introduction of a Romanian language test as part of the university
entrance examinations. This was a barrier to many Slavic students. In addition, many
primary and secondary schools downgraded or simply dropped education in Russian.
The national revival in Moldova brought to the world’s attention a very
little-known ethnic group—the Gagauz of Southern Moldova, Turkish-speaking, but
Orthodox Christians. Like Romanians, Gagauz were culturally deprived in the Soviet
period. Gagauz language had been replaced by Russian in schools. They were also, to a
considerable degree, assimilated. Eighty percent of Gagauz in 1989 claimed that they
spoke Russian, either as their first or second language. What made them opt for
secession? Romanophobia and the envisaged linguistic barriers would be the answer.
Changes in the Language Policy
The complexity of the current linguistic situation in both Azerbaijan and Moldova
is determined by the still existing tensions between the ethnic groups in each country.
The new 1994 Moldovan Constitution provides for a special autonomous status for
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Transnistria and Gagauzia. Whereas a peaceful settlement with Gagauzia was quickly
reached, the relations between Moldova and Transnistria are regulated by
a memorandum, stating that the two states would develop relations within the framework
of one state, whose borders would correspond to those of the former Soviet Republic of
Moldova. (The Europa World Year Book, 1997) In Gagauzia Gagauz was proclaimed
one of the three official languages (with Moldovan and Russian). The only official
language in Transnistria is Russian. However, the language policy of the Moldovan
government towards minorities outside Transnistria or Gagauzia is quite positivist.
Although Russian is being gradually expelled from almost all the social spheres, it is still
kept as a language of instruction in Russian schools, and in the Russian groups at the
university level. There are also several Ukrainian and Gagauz schools. TV and radio
programs in Gagauz and Bulgarian have been inaugurated.
The situation in Azerbaijan is more problematic than in Moldova. The 1989
census shows that Azeris constitute an overwhelming majority (85%). The next two big
groups are Russians (5.8%) and Armenians (5.8%). Relations between Azeris and
Russians have already been elucidated in the previous pages. Presently, of great concern
is the mutual hostility between Armenians and Azeris. Armenians living in Nagorno-
Karabakh claim that they have been deprived of rights and discriminated against by the
Azeri population. Nonetheless, during the Soviet period Armenians received education in
the existing Armenian schools. Azerbaijanis,on their part, protest against the illegitimate
occupation by Armenians of 20 percent of their territory. There seem to be additional
reasons for the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict; to start a war is not that difficult, it is far
more complicated to stop i t Anyway, the war disrupted the normal activity of both
Armenian and Azeri schools.
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The State of Affairs in Education
What are the changes that occurred in the education systems of Moldova and
Azerbaijan? In the late 80s-early 90s the communist influence was gradually removed
from schools. The Komsomol and Pioneers’ Movements were abolished and Marxism-
Leninism was dropped from the curriculum. Schools became the main battle front in the
language war. In 1990-1991 the Moldovan government conducted a campaign for the
“nationalization” of the education system at all levels. The Romanian language was
restored in schools and courses in Romanian literature and history were added to the
curriculum. Romanian education institutions were opened at all levels, from pre-
elementary through higher education. A number of Ukrainian schools were also opened.
Pupils from other language groups switched to schools offering education in their native
language. Consequently, many Russian schools were being deserted and had to close
down. (Kolstoe, 1995) The governments of Romania and Moldova established strong ties
between their education systems. Several thousand Moldovan secondary school pupils
and university students were awarded grants by the Romanian government to study in
Romania. The Romanian government also helped the Moldovan students with large
donations of textbooks with Latin script So, the old textbooks from the Soviet era are
gradually being replaced, but there is still a shortage of manuals and literature, especially
at the tertiary level. The wholesale switch to the Romanian language for instruction has
been partially impeded by the fact that many textbooks used at the universities, especially
in the sciences, still are in Russian. Big donations of books to the universities of Moldova
have been made by the American Soros Foundation, the United States Information
Service and the British Council. But taking into consideration the popularity English has
gained in Moldova, English textbooks are still very few. Russian instruction is no longer
mandatory in the public schools, and English as a foreign language has been introduced
in an overwhelming majority of primary and secondary schools. Data from the Moldovan
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Ministry of Education show that, during the 1996-1997 school year, 12,470 Romanian
second-grade students versus 7,280 of their Russian peers were studying English as a
foreign language. English is no longer the priviledge of the Russian schools as it used to
be in the communist era.
Recently, the Moldovan Government has been engaged in an ambitious program
to reform all sectors of the education system. A framework law on education (Legea
Invatamintului) was adopted in 1995, putting an emphasis on the development of new
curricula, retraining teachers and the setting up of educational standards and assessment
criteria. The Ministry of Education has been trying to attract foreign assistance in order to
carry out education reforms successfully. In April, 1997, the World Bank prepared and
promoted a loan to cover education reform in Moldova. The project is designed to
enhance the quality of primary and lower-secondary education (grades 1-9). It consists of
the following five components: curriculum development, learning assessment, teacher re
training, textbook development and finance. This Bank-assisted project will help to
prepare skillful human resourses for the demands of a market economy. Education has
always been a national priority, although, at different times it served different purposes.
Today, in an independent Moldova, it aims at creating an independent individual, free to
speak his own language and to build his own history.
What is the current state of affairs in Azerbaijan education?
At present, one of the major tasks of Azerbaijan education is reforming its
ideological basis. It is not a simple task. And, like in Moldova, it is being impeded by
unfavorable economic conditions caused by the collapse of the USSR. But Azeri
education faces additional problems created by the Azerbaijan-Armenian conflict in
Nagorno-Karabakh. Budgetary allocations to education decreased from 27.3 percent
in 1992 to 18 percent in 1997. However, during the last decade many private schools and
universities have opened. Russian is preserved at all levels of education but the prestige
31
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it once had is gone. In 85 percent of secondary schools Azeri is used as the language of
instruction,while only 13 percent use Russian. (The Europa World Year Book, 1997)
Moreover, at one of the biggest private institutions in Azerbaijan, the Caspian University,
(a pseudonym used by the author) the classes are conducted mainly in English.
(McGhee, 1997) In 1995, at Baku University for Foreign languages, 700 students
enrolled for the English program. Out of the 2,500 university’s students 80 percent
studied English. (Bonner, 1995) English is becoming increasingly popular among Baku
youth, and there is a sound reason for that. In 1994, Azerbaijan signed a major agreement
with a consortium of European and US companies regarding exploration for petroleum,
natural gas and other mineral resources. Foreign investment and technological expertise
are seen as potential factors for revitalising Azerbaijan’s economy. This is also meant to
partially solve the country’s unemployment problems by creating a large job m arket And
a great number of jobs require knowledge of English.
The consequences of the Karabakh war are still the most difficult to overcome.
According to the United Nations’ data, nearly one million people have been displaced
from their homes and communities because of the war with Armenians over Nagorno-
Karabakh. The conflict began in 1988, and thousands have died on both sides. One
person out of every seven is a refugee. According to the data presented by Azerbaijan’s
Deputy Minister of education, an estimated 200,000 children of primary school age are
refugees. Approximately 15,000 teachers have been displaced, have lost their jobs and
are scattered all over the country. Damage to educational property is estimated at $ 1.3
billion as nearly 900 educational institutions have been bombed or burned to the ground.
An estimated 10 million books have been destroyed. Moreover, thousands of children,
living in “tent cities” or other temporary shelters made of reeds or mud bricks have not
attended school for three to four years. (Abdinov, 1996) An entire generation of children
has no access to formal education during the most formative years of their lives.
32
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Who will be held responsible for this? Why should children suffer because of the ultra-
nationalistic views of their parents, whose ideologies have been bom in fear and hatred of
each other? Pursuing the dream of self-determination does not necessarily mean
destroying the dreams of your children. The refugee problem affected every single person
in Azerbaijan. It had a disastrous effect on many children in the non-refugee population.
Many of their schools have become living quarters for the refugees. Education has been
totally disrupted for the young people who normally attended those schools. The 18% of
the national budget designated for education is apparently not enough to solve the
additional problems created by war.
Alphabet change has created an enormous financial strain, as well. Thousands of
textbooks and materials should be transliterated and republished, which means
supplementary allocations of public money .The transition from Cyrillic to Latin is
relatively slow. Primary education is using exclusively Latin-printed materials, the first
primers with Latin script were introduced in schools in September, 1992. Turkey also
helped with primers. But in upper grades old Cyrillic textbooks are still being used
alongside of the new Latin-printed materials. Cyrillic is still the primary alphabet of
publishing. Some of the more recent publications using the Latin alphabet include two
volumes of Fizuli’s poetry, a folklore anthology entitled “Azerbaijani Customs and
Traditions”, A. Jafarzade’s new novel “Zarintaj Tahira”, Vahid’s gazelles and a few
scientific books (Bayatly, 1997). The implementation of the new alphabet seems to have
been impeded by economic pressures, especially those related to the conflict in Nagorno-
Karabakh. Besides, such a transition is difficult and costly even under normal conditions.
In this respect, Moldova encounted far fewer obstacles because of the considerable
support of the Romanian government, which helped with large donations of textbooks
and literature with Latin script. But the financial strains are not the most important. The
frequent changes of the alphabet had an ominous impact on the nation’s cumulative
33
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potential. They served as a barrier in perpetuating the wealth of knowledge and cultural
values through generations. Valuable literary works , volumes of human wisdom
acquired over centuries, remained practically inaccessible to most young people. Children
often cannot read their parents’ and grandparents’ writing. In Moldova, it has frozen the
development of the Romanian language for half a century cutting the access to
masterpieces of prose and poetry written in Latin script Because the alphabet changes
were carried out merely for political purposes the damage caused proved to be
irreparable.
COMMENTS, CONCLUSIONS, OPINIONS
What conclusions can be drawn regarding the linguistic situation in Moldova and
Azerbaijan, if any?
Taking into consideration the complexity and sensitivity of the issue, to come up
with firm and unequivocal pronouncements about the possible outcomes of the present-
day language policies in the two countries would be thoughtless and even risky. What can
be stated with certitude is that, whatever the political and social changes, the correlation
between the language policies and education will persist. To be more certain, language
policies will always affect, more or less, the educational systems. After all, education is
the context that provides the optimal conditions for speaking, reading and writing in a
language. And these are the three basic components that assure the vivacity and
prosperity of any language. Consequently, education is the best channel for promoting
a language policy. As Herriman & Burnaby mention, “by planning a role for
a language in education, one is planning for its acquisition and its place and
status in society.” (1996:4)
34
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Still, there is plenty o f room for speculations and opinions on the topic.
Optimists would say that there is no way back to the Soviet’s discriminatory
language policies. Once the Moldovans and Azerbaijanis are on a democratic track, they
are empowered to decide how to activate their cultural and linguistic patrimony, they can
make the right choices. Hopefully, these choices will be made from a global perspective,
with an increasing amount of tolerance for and acceptance of other cultures and
languages.
Pessimists could argue that history has shown many ups and downs in the
development of the two nations and one more unexpected turn is quite conceivable.
Ultimately, Moldova and Azerbaijan are just small states, surrounded by huge powers
that may, at an opportune moment, absorb them into their holdings as they have done
before. History repeats itself. Or, the possibility of a voluntary union (or reunion) with
the neighbor states (e.g., Romania, Iran, even Russia) should not be excluded either.
Meanwhile, the Moldovans and the Azerbaijanis are striving to maintain the
integrity and independence of their states, as well as their national identity and language.
Apparently, the Soviet planners were extremely erroneous in believing that centuries of
history and cultural tradition could be easily thrown into the abyss of nonexistence. They
failed to achieve complete linguistic assimilation, but succeeded in considerably affecting
the vocabulary and orthography of both languages. Not to mention the dysfunctional
effects on people and their spiritual degradation, the uncertainty and despair of the young
generation during the demoralising separatist crises of 1991-1993 in Moldova, the
lamentable effects of the frequent alphabet changes on the cultural value accumulation of
the Azeri youth.
Despite the imposed policy of assimilation both peoples have shown great
resilience. After five decades o f Soviet rule and forced Russification the pendulum has
swung back hard and fast. Moldova is now fiercely protecting its language and culture,
35
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regaining the native language is still a battle that has to be fought every step of the way.
Azerbaijan is more than ever proud of its cultural and linguistic heritage.
Both Romanian and Azeri languages became the preservers of the national culture rather
than serving as a bridge to lead their speakers through bilingualism to Russian
monolingualism in the realm of communism.
What would have happened to the two languages provided the Soviet regime had
lasted for another seventy years? How much would Russification have affected them?
The questions carry more of a rhetorical note. Nevertheless, they can help in
drawing an important conclusion. Language policies seldom work the way they are
planned. They might experience a total failure when they are being shamelessly imposed,
forcing people to break away with their identities and historical roots. According to
Cooper, “language policy alternatives which are consistent with the values and belief
systems of the target population are more likely to succeed than alternatives which
conflict with those values and beliefs.” (Cooper, 1989:184)
On the other hand, repressive language policies can result in total extinction of
languages. The situation becomes disputable when certain languages resist any
repression. What makes them resilient? Why are some languages more resilient than
others under similar conditions? Probably, it has to do with the love and respect for the
traditional cultural patterns cultivated over centuries and transmitted from parents to
children. Or, past experience of oppression develops a certain amount of perseverance of
national identity in subjected populations, wisdom in compromising, ability to
accommodate to the dominant culture and yet not lose their own distinctiveness and
cultural identity. And, it should also be acknowledged, human nature presupposes the
existence of a need to know your ancestors, your genealogical foundation.
Now, newly independent, the two states still have to overcome some of the
legacies of the past regime. Much damage has been done to the Romanian population in
36
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the second half of this century. How long will it take to repair it? Though they remained
Romanians “at heart”, many of them still cling to the term “Moldavian” language, trying
to preserve it in Moldova’s constitution. Why? The most imposing Romanist scholars
from all over the world in their Appeal of 2 April, 1993, wrote very explicitly that “The
language spoken in Moldova east of the Prut is the Romanian language, a glotonym that
should be made official, in conformity with the scientific and historical truth...’ ’(Bruchis,
1996). Avoiding to call things by their names is being justified by the necessity of
achieving a compromise with the ethnic minorities. Why should a compromise rely on
lies is, still, unclear. It seems that past history has inculcated too much caution. The need
for spiritual regeneration is now more actual than ever, the lack of social and religious
integration— more threatening. Whether Moldova will attain democracy or not, whether it
will be able to get rid of the Soviet remainders, and not forget Moldovan roots, could not
be predicted one hundred percent. But optimistic assumptions about Moldova’s future
ought to be made. Hope, always, is the last to die.
Azerbaijan, like the fabulous Phoenix, is gradually recovering from ruins.
Achieving the country’s independence was a hard-fought process. It has been stained by a
bloody war, economic hardships and social uncertainty. Is the path to democracy and
cultural identity worth such sacrifices? After all, democracy means also participation in
decision-making regarding your own destiny. Hopefully, the Azerbaijani people will
make the right decisions regarding their and their children’s future. The Azerbaijani-
Armenian feud is not genetic, it can and must be ended, a reasonable compromise is
always achievable; where there is a will, there is a way.
Fortunately, Azerbaijan is richly endowed with natural resources, which may, if
wisely administered, ensure promising perspectives to the country. Now, that bonanza
fuels hopes of prosperity, unity and stability are crucial for growth.
37
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The United States denial of economic aid worked to the detriment of the country as well.
But recent events demonstrate a radical change in the relations between the two countries.
The United States has become involved in efforts to mediate the conflict between
Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh. A relationship that involves
cooperation in a whole range of issues is being developed. As this turn of the century is
likely to bring another oil boom, a United States-Azerbaijan partnership forged on oil
would enhance the energy needs of the U.S. and help Azerbaijan exploit the oil industry
for the benefit of its people.
One of Moldova’s well-known writers, Ion Druta, gave a very significant and
symbolic speech at the Grand National Assembly in 1989 in Chisinau. An extract from
this speech has been quoted by the British researcher, Charles King, in his article “The
Politics of Language in the MSSR”. (Dyer, 1996) The discourse expresses the desire of
many Moldovans for a reclaiming of control over their own destiny. And it could be
eloquent regarding the aspirations of the Azerbaijanis as well. I would like to conclude
with this quotation: “The sanctity of man before the land on which he thrives, his care to
leave it in all its fullness and beauty to his descendants, is the wheat, but the chaff is that
which believes that the history of any region starts with the moment of his setting foot in
it and ends once he has left it...The tragedy of the situation consists in the fact that,
unfortunately, we have too little wheat and too much chaff...Up to now we have often
found ourselves with the chaff at the head of the table, dictating when and how and where
the wheat which remains will be cultivated, when it will be harvested, where it will be
processed, what sort of bread will be made and at what time it will be served.”
38
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APPENDIX I
MAP OF MOLDOVA
39
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APPENDIX I I
MAP OF AZERBAIJAN
B 11S| | | 81
S iM l
I (Khachmas)
*Lyakl Sumqayjf
BAKU
Nagorho* •kfirdSmir
XankSndi
* (Stepanakert)
M W l A
il®S S S ®S ? l ®
40
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Rilea, Lilia Artemon
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Core Title
Education and language policies in Moldova and Azerbaijan: Soviet and post-Soviet period
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School of Education
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Master of Science
Degree Program
Education
Publisher
University of Southern California
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education, history of,education, sociology of,OAI-PMH Harvest,political science, general
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Rideout, William M. (
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