POINT OF NO RETURN

The year of 2022 is the centenary anniversary of the formation of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The event also directly concerns Azerbaijan, which together with the other 14 republics spent seventy years as part of this state. Undoubtedly, these years have left an indelible mark on the historical development of Azerbaijan.

Armenian separatism as an exterminator of the Soviet Union

Eyewitnesses of the past events, as well as those born and raised in the post-Perestroika period and even in the post-Soviet period in Azerbaijan often draw attention to the fact that the destruction of the Soviet system began almost in parallel with the emergence of ethnic discord and separatism in the USSR, particularly in Azerbaijan, although speculations on national sentiments, as well as nationalist, racist and xenophobic statements were subject to the strictest penalties under the Soviet legislation. The criminal codes of the USSR and the Union republics qualified these acts as a direct violation of the basic tenets of socialist legitimacy equating them to particularly dangerous state crimes.

Unfortunately, under the cover of Perestroika and Glasnost, leadership of the Armenian SSR warmed up separatist sentiments among the Armenians of Azerbaijan, promoting the idea of annexing the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast of the Azerbaijan SSR to Armenia. There were statements about the alleged systematic oppression of ethnic Armenians in the Azerbaijan SSR, which reportedly implemented an implicit policy of discrediting the Soviet policy on nationalities. Obviously, Moscow failed to timely identify the alarming tendencies of ethnic hatred in this process, which eventually led to the development of a dangerous political trend that further contributed to strengthening nationalist and separatist sentiments—first in the Caucasus and then in other regions of the Soviet Union. Further events showed that the Soviet party and political leadership were short-sighted and in some cases were criminally inactive, which contributed to the criminalisation of the situation and the growth of incidents on an inter-ethnic basis. 

Over the years of Azerbaijan's independence, kilometres of documentary and feature films have been made about those events. Hundreds of interviews made by eyewitnesses on various commemorative occasions of that period are still studied with particular interest by contemporaries. It is not surprising, as the root of many of today's problems, especially the problem of over a million refugees, must be sought in the late Perestroika years.

Misled by the fact that in the first stage of this process the nationalist leaders hid their statements behind the Communist ideology and the Leninist principle of national self-determination, skilfully covering themselves with Glasnost, the Soviet political elite failed to see the devastating symptoms of events. They were even demonstrating these in and beyond the country as a victory of democratic processes ongoing in the Soviet Union.

From injustice to independence

The events in Daghlig Garabagh, Sumgayit, Baku, and even earlier in the Armenian SSR (the unspoken deportation of the Azerbaijani population in 1987) did not receive the proper political and legal assessment. The true circumstances that led to tragic consequences were not uncovered, real perpetrators of the crimes were not identified and punished, which was indicative of the start of erosion of the Soviet legal space followed by legal nihilism and permissiveness. In Daghlig Garabagh, extremist armed groups often affiliated with international terrorist organisations began acting almost openly, committing numerous offences, armed sabotage, and terrorist attacks and positioning themselves as 'fighters for national self-determination'.

Unfortunately, the victims of the total absence of authority were ordinary citizens who then could transmit to their descendants the truth about the terrible days of the late 1980s and early 1990s. In the works of Azerbaijani authors, the collapse of the USSR is presented as a theme of the revival of national consciousness and popular protest against the weakness and inaction of the Soviet authorities. For the first time, extremist appeals sometimes made by high-ranking officials in Armenia, Moscow or elsewhere were not duly prosecuted. Gorbachev's famous phrase "let the peoples sort it out for themselves" was nothing more than an attempt by the central leadership to withdraw itself from the solution of acute problems, which eventually made the situation virtually unmanageable.

Under these conditions, a number of organised groups emerged in Azerbaijan that later became the heralds of the interests of significant portions of the population. At the end of the 1980s they united under the Popular Front of Azerbaijan and openly opposed the policies of the Soviet leadership, which had finally lost touch with reality and continued to use unworkable ideological dogmas and slogans. Amid these events, calls to respect the norms of socialist morality, the principles of Marxism-Leninism, and socialist internationalism sounded nothing but a mockery. Prominent representatives of the intellectual elite that could not answer the pressing questions of the time tried to refer to the past, to the pre-Soviet period. This has eventually retranslated the historical processes into the current political reality by updating the views on the events of those days and adapting them to the conditions of a rapidly changing environment.

On November 17, 1988, an open-ended rally against the then Soviet state policy began in Baku's main Azadlyg (then Lenin) Square at the initiative of the leaders of the popular movement, which gathered hundreds of thousands of people. In Azerbaijan, these events are regarded as the beginning of the national liberation movement and a major factor on the path to state independence.

After gaining independence, since December 17, 1992, that date has been celebrated as the National Revival Day. What preceded this date is well covered in all the textbooks on modern Azerbaijani history.

Also, when the scale of popular protests got out of control, the Soviet system showed its teeth launching its repressive apparatus. This was a demonstration of its anti-popular nature and provoked the irreversible processes of disintegration of the Union state.

January 20 as a point of no return

For Azerbaijan, the events of January 1990 were a tentative point of no return to the Soviet past. Under the pretext of 'restoring public order', a limited contingent of the Soviet army entered Baku and killed over a hundred civilians. Thousands of Azerbaijanis then demonstratively burned their party tickets resigning from the CPSU. The central event then was the public resignation of Heydar Aliyev, former First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan and former member of the Political Bureau of the CPSU Central Committee. At a press conference at the Azerbaijan Permanent Representation in Moscow, Mr. Aliyev strongly condemned the entry of troops into Baku and joined the ranks of the protest movement.

Even decades later, the January events are a symbol of the Azerbaijani people's struggle for freedom and justice. They have been filmed and covered in fiction. History textbooks also contain a special section describing the events. Every major town or village in Azerbaijan has a street or square named after January 20th. This day is commemorated in Azerbaijan as the National Mourning Day. Tens of thousands of people visit the Alley of Martyrs in Baku every year on that day in the early morning to remember and pay tribute to the souls of the victims who sacrificed their lives for the freedom and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

Another milestone in the calendar of commemorative dates associated with the Soviet past is October 18, the Day of National Independence Restoration.  On this day in 1991, the Supreme Soviet adopted by a majority vote the Constitutional Act on the State Independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The document declared the USSR an invader and Azerbaijan as a legal successor of the republic established back in 1918.

Great contribution

There were not only tragic dates in Azerbaijan's Soviet past. One of such days is the Victory Day over fascism. Azerbaijan made an invaluable contribution to the victory over the common enemy.  Baku provided the main needs of the Soviet Army in fuel and lubricants. More than 640,000 Azerbaijanis went to the front, more than 350,000 of them did not return to their families. The names of heroes are still glorified in Baku and other cities, including in the works of fiction, and documentaries.

The Soviet era saw a development of Azerbaijani literature, art and science. We remember the prominent figures of science and culture of those years, as well as their colleagues from other republics, with whom they were linked not only by professional relations, but also by strong ties of friendship.

One cannot imagine the Soviet astronautics without Kerim Kerimov, or the Soviet popular art without Muslim Magomayev and Rashid Beibutov, or the Soviet art without Tahir Salahov, and the Soviet music without Gara Garayev, Fikret Amirov and many others.

It was during the Soviet period that Azerbaijan constructed the monumental Mingachevir Reservoir in the eponymous city, the country’s third largest city of Sumgayit, and the unique and world's first city on piles, the Oil Rocks.  Advanced industries of production and science emerged and developed.  Thus, the years of Azerbaijan's presence in the USSR were also years of tremendous achievements that greatly enriched the history of the Azerbaijani people.

At the same time, the negative effect of the last few years of the Soviet rule had a significant impact on the perception of Soviet society and system among a significant number of Azerbaijani citizens.

Particularly in socio-economic terms, the late period of the USSR was remembered in Azerbaijan for the prolonged strikes as a result of political instability around Garabagh and the introduction of mutual restrictions on the movement of passengers and cargo through the Armenian SSR to the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic of the Azerbaijan SSR. Accordingly, all these events affected the transport links between the two Soviet republics.

A history to study but not to change

The campaign against alcoholism initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev, the then Secretary General of the Central Committee of CPSU, had the most negative consequences for Azerbaijan's agriculture. In 1985, as a result of the anti-alcoholism campaign, Azerbaijan had to stop the cultivation of not only technical varieties of grapes, but also unique table grapes. In Soviet times, the total area of vineyards in Azerbaijan reached 284,100 hectares, while the grape production exceeded 2 million tons. After the so-called anti-alcoholic campaign, this area shrank many times. Many thousands of families, thousands of farms could not have a stable income, while the re-structuration of the agricultural sector to produce other types of food could not compensate for the losses. The situation got even worse after the food and socio-economic crisis, the growing militancy of aggressive separatism and rampant violence in Garabagh.

The collapse of the Soviet Union was accompanied by moral and material upheavals in Azerbaijan and seriously affected the habitual way of life of millions of people. At the same time, the erosion of values, most of which simply did not take root in Azerbaijan, made it necessary to address internal problems that did not meet the agenda of the Soviet state.

Today, looking back at the Soviet past, there is a growing belief in Azerbaijan that an independent path of development will probably be more difficult but still more effective in terms of social development. This belief becomes increasingly categorical and unquestioning, leaving less room for debate and objection. History knows no ‘ifs’. All the accomplishments and failures of the period, the essence, the history of the people can and should be studied, but nothing can be changed.