From: Justin Burke (JBurke@sorosny.org)
Date: Fri Mar 23 2001 - 09:51:33 EST
Azeri paper publishes report on country's ethnic composition
Excerpt from report by Azerbaijani newspaper Ayna on 16 March entitled
"Azerbaijan has preserved its `unique country' image because of the
population's ethnic composition" by I. Umudlu
[Subhead] Figures reported by the [Azerbaijani] State Statistics Committee
demonstrate this
The Azerbaijani State Statistics Committee has published a report on the
1999 census of population. This report, which is the second in the planned
complete works consisting of six volumes, presents the ethnic composition
of the country's population.
[Passage omitted: census of population has been held in accordance with the
UN recommendations]
The head of the population census department of the Azerbaijani State
Statistics Committee, Ziyad Abbasaliyev, said that during the census every
individual defined his nationality himself, as was the case with the
answers to all questions in the poll, and no documents confirming these
answers were asked of him at that moment. This approach has two advantages:
an official loses the opportunity to register the citizen as a
representative of another nationality, and, on the other hand, the citizen
is free to present his nationality as he wishes. Simultaneously, in this
situation the citizen can identify himself as a member of one nationality
and register the mother tongue of another nationality as his own. Such
cases have been registered during the recent census in our country.
Those ethnic groups and nationalities, which constitute the larger groups
among the population, are presented separately and groups whose numbers are
insignificant, are summarized and presented as "other nationalities".
Thus, the dynamics of change in the ethnic composition of the Azerbaijani
Republic's population in accordance with the census in 1979, 1989, and 1999
are given below:
The total population (thousands of people): 1979 - 6,026,500
1989 -
7,021,200
1999 -
7,953,400
Azerbaijanis: 1979 - 4,708,800
1989 - 5,805,000
1999 - 7,205,500
Ukrainians: 1979 - 26,400
1989 - 32,300
1999 - 29,000
Russians: 1979 - 475,300
1989 - 392,300
1999 - 141,700
Turks: 1979 - 7,900
1989 - 17,700
1999 - 43,400
Tatars: 1979 - 31,400
1989 - 28,600
1999 - 30,000
Talysh: 1989 - 21,200
1999 - 76,800
Lezgins: 1979 - 158,100
1989 - 171,400
1999 - 178,000
Jews: 1979 - 35,500
1989 - 30,800
1999 - 8,900
Kurds: 1979 - 5,700
1989 - 12,200
1999 - 13,100
Armenians: 1979 - 475,500
1989 - 390,500
1999 - 120,700
Avars: 1979 - 36,000
1989 - 44,100
1999 - 50,900
Georgians: 1979 - 11,400
1989 - 14,200
1999 - 14,900
Udins: 1979 - 5,800
1989 - 6,100
1999 - 4,100
Sakhurs: 1979 - 8,500
1989 - 13,300
1999 - 15,900
Tats: 1999 - 10,900
Other nationalities: 1979 - 40,200
1989 - 41,500
1999 - 9,600
Percentage indices of the dynamics of these changes are as follows:
The total population (per cent): 1979 - 100
1989 - 100
1999 - 100
Azerbaijanis: 1979 - 78.1
1989 - 82.7
1999 - 90.6
Ukrainians: 1979 - 0.4
1989 - 0.5
1999 - 0.4
Russians: 1979 - 7.9
1989 - 5.6
1999 - 1.8
Turks: 1979 - 0.1
1989 - 0.2
1999 - 0.5
Tatars: 1979 - 0.5
1989 - 0.4
1999 - 0.4
Talysh: 1989 - 0.3
1999 - 1.0
Lezgins: 1979 - 2.6
1989 - 2.4
1999 - 2.2
Jews: 1979 - 0.6
1989 - 0.4
1999 - 0.1
Kurds: 1979 - 0.1
1989 - 0.2
1999 - 0.2
Armenians: 1979 - 7.9
1989 - 5.6
1999 - 1.5
Avars: 1979 - 0.6
1989 - 0.6
1999 - 0.6
Georgians: 1979 - 0.2
1989 - 0.2
1999 - 0.2
Udins: 1979 - 0.1
1989 - 0.1
1999 - 0.05
Sakhurs: 1979 - 0.1
1989 - 0.2
1999 - 0.2
Tats: 1999 - 0.13
Other nationalities: 1979 - 0.8
1989 - 0.6
1999 - 0.12
Ratio (per cent) between the population's ethnic origin and mother tongue is
also interesting:
The total number of population (per cent): the tongue of own nationality -
99.0
languages of
other nationalities - 1.0
Azerbaijanis: the language of own nationality - 99.7
languages of other nationalities - 0.3
Ukrainians: the language of own nationality - 32.1
languages other nationalities - 67.9
Russians: the language of own nationality - 99.3
languages of other nationalities - 0.7
Turks: the language of own nationality - 94.6
languages of other nationalities - 5.4
Tatars: the language of own nationality - 86.7
languages of other nationalities - 13.3
Talysh: the language of own nationality - 89.6
languages of other nationalities - 10.4
Lezgins: the tongue of own nationality - 96.1
languages of other nationalities - 3.9
Jews: the tongue of own nationality - 87.1
language of other nationalities - 12.9
Kurds: the language of own nationality - 48.9
languages of other nationalities - 51.1
Armenians: the language of own nationality - 99.9
languages of other nationalities - 0.1
Avars: the language of own nationality - 98.2
languages of other nationalities - 1.8
Georgians: the language of own nationality - 98.0
languages of other nationalities - 2.0
Udins: the language of own nationality - 98.8
languages of other nationalities - 1.2
Sakhurs: the language of own nationality - 99.3
languages of other nationalities - 0.7
Tats: the language of own nationality - 83.0
languages of other nationalities - 17.0
Other nationalities: the language of own nationality - 75.3
languages of other nationalities - 24.7
The population of the Naxcivan Autonomous Republic [Azeri exclave] is
309,311 (over six years of age), of which 306,463 are Azerbaijanis. There
are also 133 Ukrainians, 492 Russians, 185 Turks, 47 Tatars, 11 Lezgins,
1,930 Kurds, 17 Armenians and others.
The total population of the country's capital, Baku, is 1,634,193 (over six
years of age), of which 1,430,320 are Azerbaijanis. The others are
represented as follows: 23,159 Ukrainians, 114, 804 Russians, 946 Turks,
25,859 Tatars, 845 Talysh, 24,391 Lezgins, 4,863 Jews, 706 Kurds, 378
Armenians, 492 Avars, 2,202 Georgians, 70 Udins, 117 Sakhurs, 770 Tats and
4,071 others nationalities.
These figures show that the number of the Azerbaijanis has grown over the
past 10 years.
The number of Russians has dropped: over the past 20 years over 330,000
Russians preferred to live in their historical homeland. In any case, the
fact that 141,700 Russians are living in our country is a good basis for
our relations with the Russian people.
The number of Turks has grown following the notorious Fergana events
[violence against Meskhetian Turks in Uzbekistan in 1989] at the expense of
the Meskhetian Turks already in Azerbaijan. There are many Azerbaijani
Turks who registered as Turks during the census. This is, of course, their
right.
There is a minor change in the number of Tatars. Many indestructible ties
link this population group with Azerbaijan. One could say the same about
Ukrainians. The number of those who registered as Talysh, has increased,
too. Their number is not 700,000, as some so-called "politicians" claim, it
is ten times lower than that, and many members of this nationality regard
the Azerbaijani Turkic language as their mother tongue.
The dynamics in the growth of numbers of our Lezgin brothers over the past
20 years must be considered as usual. These figures debunk the claims of
some "ideologists" who have published their books in Russia with Armenian
financial help. The number of Lezgins is not 400,000 or 700,000, but
178,000. Reports which say that they have emigrated to Dagestan, are an
invention, too. Nobody is planning to move from his motherland! The number
of other Caucasian-speaking nations like the Avars, Georgians and Sakhurs
has grown, too.
However, one can observe a dropping tendency in the number of our Christian
Udin brothers. The reasons for this will probably be clarified and measures
taken to overcome their problems. A drop in numbers is also observed among
the Jewish population. However, their leaders say that there has been a
drop in the number of emigrants to Israel over the past year. There are
fewer emigrants among "other nationalities" as well.
The number of Kurds has grown from 5,700 to 13,100 since 1979. This also
debunks an invention by the PKK centres in Moscow that "more than 500,000
Kurds are living in Azerbaijan". The number of Tats equals the figure
reported by the chairman of the Tat national society, Maqsud Haciyev, two
years ago.
On the basis of the aforementioned figures one can also say that "ethnic
cleansing" against Armenians has not been carried out in the Azerbaijani
Republic. People of Armenian origin are living in all our districts outside
the Nagornyy Karabakh territory. But the Armenians cannot show even one
single Azerbaijani living in Armenia as an example. The aforementioned
Azerbaijani citizens of Armenian origin (excluding Nagornyy Karabakh for
the time being) are living peacefully among the other nations of our
country.
[Passage omitted: report also contains other information on population]
Source: Ayna, Baku, in Azeri 16 Mar 01 p12
BBC Mon TCU 220301 bk/fa
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