THE SOUTH CAUCASUS AND TURKEY: HISTORY LESSONS OF THE 20TH CENTURY 2012 The South Caucasus and Turkey: History Lessons of the 20th Century Publisher: Heinrich Böll Foundation South Caucasus Regional Office Editor in Chief: Sergey Rumyantsev © Heinrich Böll Foundation South Caucasus Regional Office, 2012a 38, Zovreti st., Tbilisi 0160, Georgia T +995 32 238 04 67/68, +995 32 291 37 39 | F +995 32 291 28 97 E [email protected] | W www.ge.boell.org | F www.facebook.com/hbf.caucasus ISBN 978-9941-0-4390-1 CONTENTS Nino Lejava, Khatuna Samnidze From the Publisher 7 Sergey Rumyantsev Introduction. “History Lessons” in the Year of “Anniversary” 9 PART 1. BEGINNING OF THE 20TH CENTURY: “RECENT” PAST 19 Ilham Abbasov The History of Azerbaijan: Deconstructing the “Age-Old Friendship” and the “Deadly Feud” Myths 20 Satenik Mkrtchyan The Republic of Armenia’s Neighbours in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries in Contemporary World History Textbooks 47 Nino Chikovani The Images of Self and Neighbours in Georgian History Textbooks: Representation of the Events of the Beginning of the 20th Century in the Post-Soviet Period 65 Çakır Ceyhan Suvari Religious Identity and the Construction of Otherness: The Perception of Armenian Identity in The Turkish Educational System 94 PART 2. THE END OF THE 20TH CENTURY: SEARCHING FOR NEW INTERPRETATIONS 119 Sevil Huseynova Azerbaijan in the Late 20th – Early 21st Centuries: Ethnic Boundaries in the Context of Relations with “Neighbours” 120 Mikayel Zolyan Writing the History of the Present: The Post-Soviet Period in Armenian History Textbooks 145 Ruslan Baramidze April 9, 1989 as a Site of Memory: The Policy of Commemoration and History Teaching in Georgia 170 Elif Kanca The “Single Nation, Two States” Idea: Turkey-Azerbaijan Relations in the Post-Soviet Period 194 List of Contributors 210 5 FROM THE PUBLISHER onsidering the idea of the regional cooperation among countries of South Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia) and possible rap- prochement in Turkish-Armenian relations, the future dialogue among the societies of these countries becomes more and more important. CThe publication – “The South Caucasus and Turkey: History Lessons of the 20th Century” introduced by the South Caucasus Regional Office of the Heinrich Boell Foundation, is the collection of scientific articles prepared by authors from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey presenting the research and analytical materials on the key issues regarding history lessons in the South Caucasus and Turkey. The analyses of the educational systems of these countries, in particular the textbooks on national and international histories in the context of collective memory, will contribute to the future discussions on the quality, aims and ideological content of the history courses in the South Caucasus and Turkey. Since 2006, the South Caucasus Regional Office of the Heinrich Boell Foundation promotes dialogue between the societies of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. As a result of the various activities of many actors in the civil society and scientific community in Turkey and South Caucasus, we can observe rising interest in mutual understanding and exchange. To further support the process, the South Caucasus Regional Office of the Heinrich Boell Foundation and the Heinrich Boell Foundation Turkey decided to establish Ani Dialogue – a forum for further exchange on areas of common interest between civil societies in Armenia and Turkey and thereby providing further possibilities. The aim of the Ani Dialogue is to foster rapprochement between the civil societies of Armenia and Turkey, thus also contributing to reconciliation and normalization of mutual ties on the state level. To achieve this, the Ani Dialogue, on the one hand, encourages endeavors of the societies of Armenia and Turkey to cope with the burden of historical legacies, and on the other hand, promotes efforts contributing to the sustainable democratic development of both countries. The Ani Dialogue aims for a synergy with other civil society initiatives in this field. In October 2009, supported by the US government, the foreign ministries of both countries have signed a historic accord normalizing relations after a 7 century of hostility. However, ratification of the bilateral Protocols, indicating the establishment of diplomatic relations and agreeing on the opening of borders, has stalled in 2010 and the improvement in relations between the Armenian and Turkish governments has come to a standstill. Meanwhile, the two societies are increasingly interested in knowing about each other, starting to open mental borders and establishing ties. In Turkey, we can observe an increasing activity of civil society actors to cope with the historical burden as well as to search for possibilities to build a common future with the society of Armenia. The contacts on civil society level have begun even prior to the official rapprochement and have continued after its suspension. This process has become a ground for the idea to establish the Ani Dialogue by the Heinrich Boell Foundation and thus further support the cooperation between the two societies. The Ani Dialogue is built on this interest in mutual understanding, exchange and co-operation of the societies. This publication presents one more contribution and effort of the South Caucasus Regional Office of the Heinrich Boell Foundation to continue supporting the process of understanding, experience-sharing and establishment of mutual ties in the South Caucasus and Turkey. Nino Lejava Khatuna Samnidze Director Programme Coordinator South Caucasus Regional Office of the Heinrich Boell Foundation 8 INTRODUCTION “HISTORY LESSONS” IN THE YEAR OF “ANNIVERSARY” Sergey Rumyantsev ur preparation of the present collection of articles coincided with the 20th anniversary of the collapse of the Soviet Union. During this anniversary year, numerous conferences, public discussions, and expert round tables were conducted around the post-Soviet Ospace. The majority of these events were marked by ambitious attempts to summarize various public and political processes that have taken place in these countries. This book does not have the same aim. The timing of the appear- ance of this publication during the 20th anniversary is a coincidence. However, this fortuitous concurrence still serves as an effort to summarize the results of the implementation of transnational projects and attempts to create a network of academic researchers in the countries of the South Caucasus. Nevertheless, we must note that we should be talking not about possible results, but rather about the current state of affairs, as the process of forming a transnational network of researchers continues to evolve. In a sense, the roots of the process lie in the collapse of the Soviet Union itself. The relatively holistic system of research institutes of the Soviet academies of science fell apart together with the USSR. This process resulted in the abandonment of the policy of supporting and expanding contacts among specialists of the different Soviet national republics. However, the contacts that existed during the Soviet period connected the “periphery” (the national republics) and the “center” (the Academy of Science of the USSR), rather than the specialists of the various neighbouring republics. As a result, paradoxically, the breakdown of the USSR itself contributed to the strengthening of contacts among specialists of the different republics of the South Caucasus. The interest towards the “center” has decreased significantly, while the focus on the realization of regional research projects has grown. While the state policy of supporting links and contacts has faded, it has been replaced by a more flexible system of support for transnational projects offered by various international funds and organizations. 9 It is relevant to consider the present state of affairs and broader perspectives. During the last 20 years, researchers from the post-Soviet space have had a chance to study, retrain, practice and even conduct their research abroad, in the countries of the “non-Soviet camp.” In addition to different foundations and universities supporting various educational and integration programmes1 and sending students and post-graduates abroad, the governments of all South Caucasus countries have also been involved. Although to a differing extent, state officials also support the idea of studying in the “West.” Regardless of these opportunities, the effect of such trips and studies abroad still remains insignificant and varies for each of the three South Caucasus republics. One of the main problems was that few of the former Soviet experts managed to adjust to the new rules of their organizations related to conducting research projects. As a result, only a few of them seem to have joined transnational research networks. Quite a narrow circle of such specialists was established by the mid-nineties, and it has changed and expanded only very slowly. Still, by the early 2000s, a post-Soviet generation of young experts emerged in the region and was ready to challenge the generation of the 1990s. The present collection of articles demonstrates current results and the potential of the programmes aimed at supporting this new generation2 of researchers and their integration into the transnational networks created by the specialists in the field of social sciences and humanities. Therefore, instead of this quite conventional anniversary, favoured solely because of its round number, for the purposes