Політика пам’яті Азербайджану в умовах пострадянської трансформації суспільства

Abstract

UA : Об’єктом дослідження є формування політики пам’яті на пострадянському просторі наприкінці ХХ – початку ХХІ ст. Предметом дослідження є політика пам’яті Азербайджану (1991-2021 рр.) в умовах пострадянської трансформації суспільства. Мета дослідження – визначити концептуальну модель політики пам’яті в Азербайджані, а також дослідити її методи втілення та реалізацію на практиці. Для досягнення поставленої мети були визначені основні дослідницькі завдання: – з’ясувати особливості процесів інституціоналізації політики пам’яті в Азербайджанській Республіці; – розкрити та проаналізувати роль освіти і науки у формуванні політики пам’яті азербайджанського суспільства; – дослідити політику пам’яті щодо радянської спадщини в Азербайджані; – висвітлити та охарактеризувати політику пам’яті в контексті інтерпретації проблем навколо Нагірного Карабаху; – окреслити роль маніпулювання темою «пам’яті» урядом Гейдара Алієва. Наукова новизна дослідження полягає у тому, що була зроблена спроба дослідження специфіки концептуальної моделі політики пам’яті сучасного Азербайджану в умовах пострадянської трансформації суспільства. Був також зроблений аналіз проблем становлення та перспектив подальшої еволюції інституційних основ та пріоритетних методів функціонування меморіальної політики держави. Висновки. В умовах кардинальних змін, що відбуваються в сучасному Азербайджані, нова соціокультурна ситуація та суспільні вимоги мають на меті утвердження пріоритетного значення державної політики пам’яті. Становлення меморіальної політики, формування національної свідомості у молоді створюють усі необхідні умови задля консолідації суспільства. У процесі дослідження та аналізу державної політики пам’яті сучасного Азербайджану було розглянуто та сформульовано декілька висновків. По-перше, інституціоналізація державної політики пам’яті в Азербайджані є довгим процесом, який охоплює період з моменту проголошення незалежності. Наразі чинний президент АР Ільхам Алієв продовжує політику свого батька, в центрі якої виступає є найтрагічніші, але в той же час героїчні сторінки азербайджанської. По-друге, азербайджанським урядом та Міністерством освіти запроваджуються різні механізми інформування учнів в закладах освіти та залучення їх безпосередньо до активної громадянської позиції. Шкільна система освіти відрізняється патріотизмом й повагою до загальнонаціональних цінностей. По-третє, новий уряд веде активну боротьбу з радянськими рудиментами, у тому числі в галузі освіти. к По-четверте, проблема навколо Нагірного Карабаху відіграла вирішальну роль у формуванні основних векторів сучасної державної політики пам’яті Азербайджану. Першочерговою задачею новоствореної влади стало відновлення територіальної цілісності держави. Саме тому проблематика історичної пам’яті стосувалася формування цілісного бачення національної історії в суспільстві, правильного трактування історії Нагірного Карабаху та усвідомленість в масштабності першої Карабахської війни, жертвах й наслідках.

EN : The 20th century marked a series of historic changes for Azerbaijan. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and elimination of all the ideology and values promoted by the communist authorities, the newly created state set out to build a democratically governed state with a preserved national identity. Since the declaration of independence, the interest in the national unity idea in Azerbaijan has intensified greatly, both due to the world processes requiring the society consolidation to resolve nationwide problems and the country's involvement in the ethno-political conflict that saw the occupation of around 20% of its territory. Upbringing of the patriotism sense, devotion to the strengthening of statehood, and active citizenship in the society has been recognized as the problem of a national scale. At the end of the 20th – beginning of the 21st century, the Azerbaijan government started to focus on the state provision of memory policy, as well as on the formation of effective tools to influence the national consciousness of Azerbaijani citizens. Among the priorities of the Azerbaijani authorities is the identification of the main methods for the implementation of collective memory. Relevance of the research topic. At the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st century much more attention was paid to the problem of memory policy due to the change in the political and economic development of the post-Soviet countries and, consequently, in the role of states in the collective memory formation. The manipulation of the past remembrance, history teaching, symbols creation and their embodiment have been and continue to be the battleground for political forces. These subjects occupy a special place in the nation building process, in which perceptions of the past play a key role. Accordingly, memory policy is now an urgent need for the state that needs to consolidate the society capable of ensuring its place in the international system for the nearest future and, in case its territorial integrity is threatened, of defending its independence and sovereignty. The problem of the formation of a unified field of memory policy plays a special role in the life of modern Azerbaijan. This is due to many factors, the major among them being the consequences of a sharp transition from one socio-political system to another and, accordingly, from one system of values to another. At the same time, the relevance of shaping the memory policy is due to the process of Azerbaijan's emergence as a single political nation. In the context of globalization, it is designed to promote the integrity and unity of the Azerbaijani society. Consequently, the issue of formation and functioning of memory policy is quite relevant at the present stage. This interest is quite natural, as underestimating the importance of memory policy in a transformed society can have extremely negative consequences. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop a unified field of collective memory that would define a strategy for a purposeful and effective process of the national identity formation. The research object is the formation of a memory policy in the post-Soviet space at the end of the 20th century – beginning of the 21st century. The subject of the study is the Azerbaijani memory policy (1991-2021) in the conditions of the post-Soviet transformation society. The aim of the study is to identify the conceptual model of the memory policy in Azerbaijan, as well as to explore its implementation and enforcement methods in practice. In order to achieve the aim set, the main research objectives were determined as follows:  to clarify the specifics of the memory policy institutionalization processes in the Azerbaijan Republic;  to reveal and analyze the role of education and science in the memory policy formation in the Azerbaijani society;  to research the memory policy with regard to the Soviet heritage in Azerbaijan;  to clarify and characterize the memory policy in the context of interpreting the problems of Nagorny Karabakh;  to identify the role of the Heydar Aliyev government’s manipulating the "memory" theme. The research chronological frames. The lower chronological boundary of this study is August 30, 1991, when the Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan was adopted. The upper chronological boundary is 2021, but in order to provide a complete picture, the author considers events that took place during Azerbaijan's membership in the Soviet Union. The geographical boundaries of the study cover the territory of the modern Republic of Azerbaijan. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that an attempt has been made to explore the conceptual model specifics of the modern Azerbaijan memory policy in the conditions of the post-Soviet transformation of the society. There was also an analysis made of the formation problems and further evolution prospects of the institutional framework and the priority methods of the memory policy operation. The research theoretical significance lies in the fact that, for the first time, a comprehensive analysis of the state memory policy in Azerbaijan has been made. The research applied significance lies in the possibility of using the findings in the work of Ukraine’s diplomatic institutions in Azerbaijan, within the process of deepening the bilateral relations between the countries, and while teaching social and political disciplines in higher educational institutions. Conclusions. The changing of the world’s political map marked the end of the 20th century; a number of countries, including Azerbaijan, proclaimed their independence. The state faced the problem of forming its own socio-cultural space and developing the society, which supports national values. With the cardinal changes taking place in modern Azerbaijan, the new socio-cultural situation and societal demands are aiming to affirm the state memory policy. The emergence of memory policy and shaping of national consciousness among young people create all the necessary conditions for the society consolidation. During the research and analysis of the state memory policy in modern Azerbaijan, the following conclusions were made. Firstly, the state memory policy institutionalization in Azerbaijan has been a long process, spanning the period since the proclamation of independence. The current president, Ilham Aliyev, is continuing his father's policy, which focuses on the most tragic but at the same time heroic pages of the Azerbaijani history: the 1918 March events, Nagorny Karabakh occupation by the Armenians, Heydar Aliyev’s presidency, and the Heroic Republic. The memory policy implementation is manifested in the construction of 'memorial sites', media propaganda, conferences and campaigns abroad. In the Azerbaijani society, state propaganda accompanies everyone throughout his/her life. By creating an image of the 'enemy', it is imposed on Azerbaijanis that Armenians have oppressed them all their lives, yet their heroic people have always fought and will always do so. These steps are realistic; young people have grown up ready for any attack and have been preparing themselves for revenge since they were children. The state has clearly made its plans for the near future, where the first point is always the return of Nagorny Karabakh. We can now conclude that state policy was effective; the result of the second Karabakh war is direct evidence of the Azerbaijanis national spirit and their ability to unite in the face of a common enemy. Secondly, since the national identity formation is a determinant national interest, the state memory policy plays a crucial role at the present stage. The awareness of citizens is primarily linked to the formation and implementation of an educational policy that will meet the contemporary challenges, especially in the social sciences (in history). The Azerbaijani government and the Ministry of Education are introducing various mechanisms for informing students in educational institutions and engaging them directly in active citizenship. The school system is characterized by patriotism and respect for national values. In the future, for a generation that has grown up in the atmosphere of intolerance towards the Armenian people and a constant thirst for revenge, achieving peaceful coexistence is impossible. School education is a major part of state propaganda. It aims to raise the generation for whom ethno-nationalism will be a natural outcome of their worldview – after students have been exposed to the long, suffering, yet glorious history of their homeland. Consequently, they will realize for themselves that their main task as citizens of Azerbaijan is to uphold the interests of their own state. Thirdly, the new government is actively combating the Soviet vestiges, including those in education. Soviet textbooks were characterized by mythologization and distortion of history, and the government changed the history and facts in favor of the Soviet principles. Their main goal was to build a new society dedicated to the idea of communism and unification of peoples under the aegis of the socialist principles. For this reason, the government introduced the mechanisms to remove the ethnic and religious features to the background. However, the end of the 20th century was marked by the collapse of the Soviet regime and once again the states were faced with the problem of preserving their own national identity. Since the independence declaration, the Azerbaijani authorities have declared the succession of the democratic republic that emerged in 1918, while ignoring the Soviet period. In the collective memory of the entire nation, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic stands as the first secular state in the Islamic world, and the first Muslim country to grant women the right to vote. This is a rather vivid example of decommunization, in which the idea is imposed on Azerbaijanis that the Soviet period was only stagnation in the development of the Azerbaijani statehood. Fourthly, the issue of Nagorny Karabakh played a crucial role in shaping the main vectors of the state’s modern memory policy in Azerbaijan. With the declaration of independence, the country faced a number of problems, among them the seizure of around 20% of its territory. The restoration of the territorial integrity of the state became the first priority of the new government. Therefore, the problem of historical memory concerned the formation of a coherent vision of national history in society, a correct interpretation of the Nagorny Karabakh history, and awareness of the scale, sacrifice and consequences of the first Karabakh war. Through the memories of the traumatic events at the peace talks, the representations of the Azerbaijani identity focused on a discourse of victimization, leading to mass mobilization and a strong sense of revenge during the four-day war. As continuous engagement with the issues of the past is important for rethinking the collective memory, the memory of the traumatic events and other violence of the Karabakh war during the peace talks served to re-create the past. The discourse of victim identity was reinforced by the recurrent recollection of the traumatic past during conversations. The counter-offensive that began on 27 September, 2020 in response to another Armenian provocation ended in victory in 44 days. Azerbaijan's army, one of the world's 50 strongest armies, wrote a new page in the world military history with its bravery in the Second Karabakh War. Azerbaijan achieved the fulfillment of the UN Security Council resolution, which had not been implemented since 1993. By restoring its territorial integrity, once again the Azerbaijani army demonstrated its heroism, invincibility and national pride to the world. These are the slogans promoted by the Azerbaijani government. During 44 days, 5 cities, about 300 settlements and a large number of strategic heights were liberated from the occupation. Fifth, Heydar Aliyev’s rise to power was marked by the maximum instability in both domestic and foreign policies. Moreover, Azerbaijan was embroiled in the ethno-political conflict, with the aggressor country occupying some 20% of its territory. The consolidation of the society under these conditions became a cornerstone in resolving a number of problems. One of the government’s policy priorities was formation of a state memory policy. Within this period, a large-scale process of the history restoration began, as the Soviet past had excluded any national particularities of each nation, and the leader took a decisive step in the transition to the legal succession of the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan – the cradle of the Azerbaijani statehood. Upon coming to power, Ilham Aliyev continued his father’s policy and laid the foundations for the modern collective memory in victimization as a tool to unite the people for combatting the common problem and enemy. In addition, the unprincipled strategy became uncompromising in resolving the Nagorny Karabakh conflict. When Heydar Aliyev returned to the leadership of Azerbaijan in 1993, he had a coherent state concept. The address gave the truly scientific and theoretical answers to such momentous questions as the social and political situation of this period, conditions of independent state building, events taking place in this region and international arena and nature of ongoing processes, internal situation in Azerbaijan, economic, political and national crisis that started and the ways of overcoming it, etc. The Azerbaijani leader developed and implemented the ideology of Azerbaijanism aimed at uniting citizens and consolidating the society with a common idea, beliefs, goals and objectives. Since the Azerbaijan's independence restoration, more decisive steps have been taken under the great leader's guidance to protect and develop our national and spiritual values and traditions. Within President Ilham Aliyev’s term of office, the foundations have been laid for faster and more sustainable development of the country, integration into the international community; the social and political stability has been strengthened, traditions have been widely promoted and the Republic has become a leading state in the region. Over these years, President Ilham Aliyev has signed various decrees ranging from publishing books on spiritual heritage to assessing the activities of creative people. This demonstrates the President’s commitment as a worthy follower of the great leader’s political course, as well as cultural and spiritual heritage and national values.