"All signs in Cyrillic — [...] as part of the Soviet Union — must go.

[Mariboulg]

Azerbaijan Switches Languages
The Associated Press, Sun 29 Jul 2001

BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — The billboards have been torn down. The shopkeepers have been warned. All signs in Cyrillic — a vestige of this impoverished nation's 70 years as part of the Soviet Union — must go.

On Wednesday, the whole of Azerbaijan is switching to the alphabet you're looking at — its third change of script in the past century.

These are heady days for the country's language cops. According to a June decree by President Geidar Aliev, all official documents, commercial signs and outdoor advertising, as well as Azerbaijani-language newspapers, magazines and books, must change to the Latin alphabet.

Proponents of the change say it will bind the Caucasus nation of 7.7 million people closer to the outside world and reduce Russian cultural domination. But many Azerbaijanis fear it will marginalize Russian-speakers and cause a rift in this mostly Muslim society.

``I am afraid of becoming a second-class citizen in the country where I was born and which I consider my homeland, just because I don't know Azerbaijani,'' says 50-year-old Rugiya Mamedova, a teacher at a Russian-language elementary school in Baku, the capital.

Mamedova says she fears the decree will cause enrollment at Russian-language schools to decline and that she will be out of a job.

In Baku, city authorities have torn down about 50 billboards with Cyrillic ads, which will be replaced when the ad companies come up with Latin ones. Authorities also began visiting shops on Thursday and warning that they had to change their signs — though no fines are planned as yet if they don't.

Some companies have made the switch. Pepsi-Cola's urge to ``buy, open, win'' is now in Latin letters, as is a local cell phone company's ``Have a good time with Sim-Sim.''

To help the new campaign along, billboards have been painted with Latin-lettered verses from one of Azerbaijan's classical 20th-century poets, Samed Burgun:

``You're my breath, you're my light and water,

Before me your cities open up

I'm all yours forever, given to you as a son,

Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan!''

Alphabet switches aren't new to this part of Asia. Turkish, to which Azerbaijani is closely related, went from the Arabic alphabet to Latin letters in 1928. In the past decade, the former Soviet republics of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, whose languages are also part of the Turkic family, have adopted the Latin alphabet, which linguists argue is better suited to Turkic phonetics.

Azerbaijan has been slowly moving toward the Latin alphabet since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, but previous decrees lacked strict requirements and concrete deadlines.

The Azerbaijanis, who for centuries wrote in the Arabic script, had to use Cyrillic for most of Soviet rule, except for a 1929-1939 experiment with Latin. Cyrillic, the old Slavic alphabet ascribed to Saint Cyril, is currently used in modified form for Russian, Bulgarian and certain other Slavic languages.

``The Soviet leadership was afraid of strengthening ties with the Turkish world,'' says Nizami Dzhafarov, head of the Ataturk Center, which studies Turkic languages.

Soviet policies and ethnic diversity also led to the widespread use of Russian across Azerbaijan. Those who did not speak Russian fluently came to be considered ignorant.

Linguist Sanubar Abdullayeva says her father, Alovsat Abdullayev, was fired from his post as vice-rector of Baku State University in the 1970s after he opposed making Russian the language of instruction instead of Azerbaijani.

With the coming changes, Russian speakers fear they are facing similar discrimination. They say the switch will make it harder for them to understand written Azerbaijani, and the requirement that the language be used in official documents will make it hard for them to get jobs.

Russian remains widely spoken in Azerbaijan, not only among Russians and other minorities, but also among ethnic Azerbaijanis in urban areas.

``Knowledge of this language will remain important for a long time, if not forever, since many of us view our northern neighbor, Russia, as a place to find a job or open a business,'' says 35-year-old businessman Fuad Mamedov.

An estimated 2 million people from Azerbaijan live in Russia, in large part because of the lack of jobs in economically depressed Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan shares borders with Russia, Georgia, Iran and Armenia. In recent centuries it was variously under control of Russia and Persia.

[ILay]

'A person of interesting destiny' - in the best Soviet tradition could be called Geidar Aliev, the President of Azerbaidjan.

1. 'Son of the usual worker'. So it's stated in the official biography of Mr. Aliev.
Ali Aliev, the 'usual worker' in the early 30s became the head of proletarian control of Nachichevanj Autonomous Republic.
Gasan Aliev, uncle of Geidar, was at the same time the secretary of the Communist Party of Azerbaidjan.
Elder brother of Geidar, after finishing the Arts Academy in Leningrad took the post of Republican Cometee for Custody of Historical and Architectural Treasures for 50 years long (those who were living in USSR will understand)

2. 'Professional Historian' is another point from the biography.
It's also true.
In 1939 he finishes the Pedagogic technicum of Nachichevanj. And in 1957 - the State University of Azerbaidjan. What lies between the 2 dates is more interesting.
In 1939 he goes to Baku to his uncle, who promotes young Geidar for a good job in Komsomol (Communist Union of the Youth) and helps him to apply for the Azerbaidjan Industrial Institute for the Archtecture class. But, in 1941 the war starts. According to the official biography, Geidar Aliev was born in 1923. So, he should go and fight (18 years was the military service age in Soviet Union). But, he goes back to Nachichevanj to work (official biography) as the Department Chief of the Agricalture Department of the Sovnarkom of the Nachichevanj ASSR (Sovnarkom - Union of Peoples Comissars. ASSR - Aoutonomous Soviet Socialist Republic)

After the war, then Geidar was already working in Moscow, hundreds of letters from the war veterans were coming to the Central Comitee of the USSR Communist Party. All accusing Geidar in fraud actions in order to stay away from the frontiers. In one of the letters it was stated that Geidar Aliev presented the fake tuberculosis aegrotat to the comission. The letter came from the well-known War veteran, so the head of the Comitee for Party Control, Boris Pugo, had to send a comission to Azerbaidjan to clerify the facts. Comission found nothing. Absolutely. Not even the documents supporting the age of mr. Aliev.
The metrics of Nachichevanj mosk were lost. So were the documents in the state archives. But, the comission found the entry application to the Pedagogigal Technicum, hand written by Aliev, there it was stated that he was born 1922 (not 1923). Without any doubt the military age by the date of 22 of June 1941 then the war started.

The comission tried to check the personal file of G.Aliev in the Industrial Institute. Rector, all of sweat, explained that some people from the regional KGB came short before, took the file and did not return.

So, the comission flew back without success. The war veteran, btw, who wrote the letter, had to flee from Azerbaidjan and hide in Leningrad.

What was his duty in the Agricultural department?
I don't know. But, according to the archives, Geidar Aliev starts working in NKVD in 1941. In 1944 he starts working in MGB (Minestry of State Security, later renamed to KGB) of Azerbaidjan.

1949-1950 is the year of study in Moscow in the School of Retraining of the higher operative staff of MGB of USSR.
(Putin already looks like a lamb comared to him, isn't he?)

1964, becomes the deputy chief of the Azerbaidjan Republican KGB. From 1967 he is the Chief of Azerbaidjan KGB.

Since 1969 he is the First Secretary of the Central Comitee of the Communist Party of Azerbaidjan.

1982-1987, Deputy Prime Minister of the Soviet of Ministers of USSR.

1987-1990 - a pensioneer.

In 1990 he comes back to Baku and in 1991 he leaves the Communist Party of Soviet Union (just a month before the august 91)

Short after it he becomes the head of the Higher Medzhlis of Nachichevanj Republic.

In 1993 he becomes a leader of the insurrection against the President of Azerbaidjan Abuljfaz Eljchibey.


Now Mr. Aliev is a big friend of Turkey, Nato and USA.
His son, Ilham Aliev is the vice-president of the 'Azerbaidjan Oil Consorcium' created jointly by USA, Azerbaidjan, Turkey and GB.
His daughter, Sesilj Alieva is the head of main Azerbaidjan cotton exports.


Several years ago we had a broad discussion in the place I live - should the pre-revolution toponimic names be returned or not. The main argument of the opposers was the price the city will have to pay for it (changing all the signs, maps etc). And this - in a comparatevely well-doing city.
Now imagine all the costs for the poor republic, where one third of the population fled from the poverty and autocracy of mr. Aliev. It's estimated 3.5 millions of Azerbaidjan citizens living in Russia (including the season workers). But who counts the money then there is such a nice opportunity to show to the friends that Azerbaidjan does not want to have anything in common with Russia.

Btw, according the the Soviet procedure the vice-rector of the main University could not be fired without the order of the head of the Republican Party Commitee. Who was the first secretary at the year 1970? See above, mr. Aliev.

Mariboulg

Please don't be insulted by my message.
I simply do not like the time-servers like, IMHO, is Geidar Aliev. For me, he leads the row of weathercocks like Jeltsin, Kravchuk, Schevarnadze, Niyazov.

And I also hate the double standard of the Western media.
Again, Putin looks like a lamb compared to Aliev or Schevarnadze. I wish all the best to Azerbaidjan and also wish the people of it not to become a khanate like already happend in Turkmenistan.

[mastodon]

Azerbaijan Drops Cyrillic for Latin Script

Reuters - Azerbaijan took another step away from its Soviet past on Wednesday as it ditched the Cyrillic alphabet in favour of Latin letters.

A decree issued by President Haydar Aliyev has ordered that all official documents, Azeri-language magazines and newspapers, outdoor advertising and signs be written in the Latin script from August 1.

This is the third change of script in a century for the oil-rich country on the shores of the Caspian Sea.

In 1921, Azeri leaders decided to drop the Arabic script and adopt the Latin alphabet. Eighteen years later, by which time Azerbaijan was part of the Soviet Union, Cyrillic letters were adopted.

The latest change aims to strengthen the process of nation-building in the mainly Muslim state which gained its independence with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

"In order to strengthen Azerbaijan's independence, to respect its history and cultural development, it is necessary to observe the norms of the Azeri language and namely the Latin script," the presidential decree read.

The decree demands the reprinting of all important scientific and cultural literature in the Latin script and orders that more foreign language films be dubbed into Azeri.

The law on the restoration of the Latin alphabet was actually adopted in Azerbaijan 10 years ago, but it was never enforced during the country's turbulent first decade of independence.

A war against neighbour Armenia over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh was halted by a ceasefire in 1994 but it remains unresolved.

Since then, the country has signed some $50 billion worth of oil and gas contracts with foreign companies, but remains impoverished and burdened by an 800,000 refugee population.

Azeri, part of the group of Turkic languages, dates back to the 4th or 5th centuries.

It is spoken by the majority of the country's eight million people but Azerbaijan's significant Russian speaking minority fears it may be marginalised under the new rules.

Former Soviet republics Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, whose languages also belong to the Turkic group, have already switched to the Latin script which linguists say is better suited to Turkic phonetics.

[justoleme]

i dont have any opinion on this because it is for Russians to decide what they want..but i have looked at Russian writeing and wondered if it has any connection to that writeing that is on or in the pyramids in Egypt? if his is a real dumb question please try to ignore it..

[Mariboulg]

Russian writing ?

The Cirilic is named after St Cyril and is largely based Greek letters.

[Ronald_Barbour]

So that's the reason Russian is all Greek to me!!!!