Azeri paper publishes report on country's ethnic composition
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Subject: Azeri paper publishes report on country's ethnic composition
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Azeri paper publishes report on country's ethnic composition
Azeri paper publishes report on country's ethnic composition
Ayna, Baku,
16 March 2001
BAKU
Figures reported by the State Statistics Committee demonstrate this
The Azerbaijani State Statistics Committee has published a report on
the 1999 population census. This report, the second in the planned
complete works of six volumes, presents the ethnic composition of the
country's population...
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:
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...
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:
language of own nationality - 99.7
languages of other nationalities - 0.3
Ukrainians:
language of own nationality - 32.1
languages other nationalities - 67.9
Russians:
language of own nationality - 99.3
languages of other nationalities - 0.7
Turks:
language of own nationality - 94.6
languages of other nationalities - 5.4
Tatars:
language of own nationality - 86.7
languages of other nationalities - 13.3
Talysh:
language of own nationality - 89.6
languages of other nationalities - 10.4
Lezgins:
language of own nationality - 96.1
languages of other nationalities - 3.9
Jews:
language of own nationality - 87.1
languages of other nationalities - 12.9
Kurds:
language of own nationality - 48.9
languages of other nationalities - 51.1
Armenians:
language of own nationality - 99.9
languages of other nationalities - 0.1
Avars:
language of own nationality - 98.2
languages of other nationalities - 1.8
Georgians:
language of own nationality - 98.0
languages of other nationalities - 2.0
Udins:
language of own nationality - 98.8
languages of other nationalities - 1.2
Sakhurs:
language of own nationality - 99.3
languages of other nationalities - 0.7
Tats:
language of own nationality - 83.0
languages of other nationalities - 17.0
Other nationalities:
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 have opted 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 has been 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 10 times lower, 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 should be seen as normal. The 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 there
has been no "ethnic cleansing" of Armenians in the Azerbaijani
Republic. People of Armenian origin reside in all our districts
outside the territory of Nagornyy Karabakh. 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) live peacefully among the other
nations of our country...
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