Abstract:

While establishing a national identity different from the past Soviet identity has been a principal task for all three countries in South Caucasus, Azerbaijan’s case is especially interesting as the only country among three countries that is classified as “consolidated authoritarian regime” by Freedom House. As significant aspects of politics and everyday life is currently controlled by the government, nation-building in Azerbaijan’s case emerges as an interesting topic to explore how it is vertically (top-to-down) conducted and how the national identity narratives are regulated within the frame of regime loyalty.

In the early independence years, during the reign of the president Abulfaz Elchibey in 1992 ethno-national ideology was dominant. In order to strengthen the Azerbaijani ethnic identity, new textbooks were written, and certain days devoted to the historical events were defined. The ideology was Turkism and returning to Turkic roots was the basis of this new identity. After Elchibey’s overthrow, Heydar Aliyev’s new government focused on strengthening Azerbaijani national identity based on civic ideas. Aliyev’s name is given credit for founding “Azerbaijanism”, a new doctrine and a national identity, different from Turkism.

This study explores the nationhood narratives that define « Azerbaijaniness » institutionalized and promoted through education system in Azerbaijan comparatively in two periods, namely in 1991-2009 and after 2009 when new state curricula were approved. The primary sources for this study are primary education and history textbooks used at schools. Current centralized education system and the use of uniform textbooks in all schools countrywide make the study feasible with easily accessible sources. By using critical discourse analysis, this study tracks the changing language and frequency of certain narratives promoting national identity in the school textbooks. The explored narratives are divided into three categories, namely, the narratives on the origins of the statehood and nation, narratives used for regime legitimization, and narratives to place Nagorno-Karabakh issue in the national identity. The study presents following assumptions:

- Narratives on the origins of the nation has taken a more ethno-nationalist turn after 2009 despite the earlier civic nation discourse.

- The national identity is closely tied to the name of the former president Heydar Aliyev with increased metaphors and expressions to bring the current regime and nation closer and inseparable.

- The narratives after 2009 carry stronger military character than those before.

Validity of these assumptions will be tested by analyzing the content of the selected textbooks and drawing relevant comparisons.