The Azerbaijani Diaspora in Russia

By Vestnik Kakvaza

Today Gia Saralidze and Olga Podolyan are invited to the studio of Vesti FM the president of the Consulting-Alaitic-PR Companies Union, assistant professor of History Department of MSU, Islamil Agakishiyev. The topic for the discussion – the Azerbaijani Diaspora in Russia.

Saralidze: The program is devoted to interethnic relations in our country. Different people have different opinions. Speaking about stereotypes, the Azerbaijanis are perceived as people selling fruit at markets. How do Azerbaijanis living in Russia treat this attitude? I have many friends of Azeri origin who do absolutely different business.

Agakishiyev: In fact the ethnic problem is one of the sharpest and acutest questions. It is very complicated. But without studying the problem in such a big multinational country as Russia where 180 ethnic groups live, one cannot manage the country. The Azerbaijanis have lived in Russia for many years.

This year it is the 200th anniversary of Azerbaijan joining Russia. It happened in 1813. In 1828 it was confirmed by the peace treaty between Russia and Persia. Since then representatives of the Azerbaijani Diaspora appeared in Russia. The first Azerbaijanis in Russia were military men, noble men, aides of khans and beks of such khanates as Yerevan Khanate, Baku Khanate, Talysh Khanate. Among them were generals-Azerbaijanis – Ismail-khan Nakhchivansky, Ali Aga Shakhlinsky, and others. The Azerbaijanis can be found in the U.S. as well. For example, the grandson of a Baku resident, Bloomberg, is the mayor of New York today.

When we speak about the Azeri Diaspora, we should remember that Azerbaijani is international. Before the collapse of the USSR, the Azerbaijanis studied in Moscow; moreover, many artists and activists lived there – Muslim Magomayev, Tair Salakhov, Heydar Aliyev who was one of leaders of the country, the minister of gas industry Orudzhev. But there was no mass migration of the Azerbaijanis to other countries.

Saralidze: As far as I know, there is a big diaspora in Iran…

Agakishiyev: If we address to the treaties of Turkmenchay or Gulistan, we can see that the south part of Azerbaijan stayed in Iran and today there are about 25-30 million Azerbaijanis. The Azerbaijani Republic includes 10 million people.

One of reasons for collapse of the USSR is thought to be the economic crisis. They say that the dissolution of the Union didn’t see any wars, but it’s not true. There were wars. And their consequences, unfortunately, and a real opportunity of their revival remain in the South Caucasus. The Karabakh conflict led to appearance of a million refugees in Azerbaijan. The economic crisis forced people to search for jobs. Many Azerbaijanis found shelter in Russia. Not in Turkey or Iran, but in Russia. Residents of villages came to Russia…

Saralidze: Why residents of villages?

Agakishiyev: A conflict was the reason for this. A conflict not in Baku, but in the whole country – Azerbaijan lost eight regions near Karabakh and the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomy. This was the first reason. The second reason was that after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, infrastructure of collective and Soviet farms began to break-up.  What kind of people came to Russia? They were not rich in villages. Usually they had a two-storey house where one of the rooms was for guests. In this room the best furniture stood. A guest of any nationality was the dearest person for an Azeri.

The first time I heard that people are divide into ethnic groups was in Moscow. I studied in MSU and found out that I was “an ethnic person.” Baku is a very multinational city; it gave to the world Rostropovich, Landau; and such a phenomenon as “Baku residents” was formed here. When they said: “Rafik is a nice guy”, nobody thought about Rafik’s nationality – whether he was an Armenian, a Lezgin or so on… It was enough that he was a nice person.

God gave the Azerbaijanis land which has a high differential rent. Thus, fruits and vegetables grown on the land differ from each other. And farmers had to leave. Why did they have to sell at markets? At that time Russia had no an infrastructure for they could do farming. They had to work where they could. In the early 1990s people found jobs at markets and managed to survive.

Time has changed. Today many Azerbaijanis don’t work at markets. There are many Azerbaijani builders, doctors, show-business workers, journalists, athletes. Nargiz Asadova, Tair Mamedov, Ilgar Mamedov, Enver Mamedov. Unfortunately, market is like a label which catches the eye, but the Azerbaijanis have never been owners of markets.

Saralidze: I found out that the number of the Azerbaijanis living in Russia reduced. Sociologists explain this by several reasons – tough competition with migrants from Central Asia, stabilization of the economic situation in Azerbaijan. What is the crucial factor?

Agakishiyev: Parting is always painful for either those who leave or those who stay. The Azerbaijanis don’t want to leave their home. They love Russia, serve Russia, and appreciate Russia. Mistrust insults people. The main reason for reduction of the number of Azerbaijanis at markets is that they had to work there. Someday there will be no Azerbaijanis at markets at all. There were 450 restaurants of Azerbaijani cuisines in Moscow. One of the most popular was “Fairytale of the East.” Working at markets was timely job.

In the early 1990s Azerbaijan experienced the economic collapse. Previously there was no such a situation when thousands of Azerbaijanis left the country. But today the right policy of the authorities enabled the country to overcome the crisis.

Tomorrow President of Russia Vladimir Putin will visit Baku. I think it will be the next page in inter-governmental relations. Azerbaijan created new jobs, the construction boom began…

Saralidze: It is true. Recently we have visited Azerbaijan. The fact that roads, farms, enterprises are being built not only in the capital is impressive.

Agakisgiyev: Azerbaijan is double lucky. First of all, for the authorities who rule the country today, Azerbaijan is really their motherland. They want the country to develop. Secondly, oil money enables building modern hotels, promote industry. That’s why the Azerbaijanis come back. But some Azerbaijani businessmen stay in Russia. They contribute to Russia’s economy.

Podolyan: Isn’t competition a main factor for returning of the Azerbaijanis?

Agakishiyev: I don’t want to offend anyone, but I cannot believe that such a strong competition is at markets. If we speak about business capabilities, every nation has talented people. I think an average number of the Azerbaijanis who can professionally organize business is a bit higher than representatives of Central Asia’s republics.

There is a word “Russia” in the Azeri language. We understand that the indigenous population of Russia is the Russians. We respect very much Russians, the Russian culture which is a part of the world culture. I wish the Russians learn their history, like other nations learn it. When I asked one of students of a technical university: “When was St. Basil’s Cathedral built?” He answered: “I don’t know when it was built, but I know who built it. St. Basil!” The Azerbaijanis are one of native ethnic groups of Russia. In Dagestan 135 thousand Azerbaijanis live. We should know our history.

Russian business is presented in Azerbaijan by such companies as LUKoil which has 10% in Shakh Deniz. The company “Baltika” is actively working in Azerbaijan, as beer is popular everywhere. The Russian Diaspora in Azerbaijan is the greatest in the South Caucasus. You can speak Russian in Azerbaijan freely.