Language during the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan Era (2): 'The Language of Migrants'

During the one-year rule of the 'Democratic Party of Azerbaijan' (1324-25), the teaching and education of the mother tongue became a politically and propagandistically significant issue. The central propaganda of the Democratic Party in Tabriz and the Communist Party of Azerbaijan in Baku was: 'The two sides of Azerbaijan are two pieces of one body that have been forcibly separated and must unite. Our mother tongue is one. Iran has deprived you of your mother tongue. The Soviet Army and the Democratic Party have come to unite the two Azerbaijans and return your mother tongue to you.' However, aside from all that propaganda, what was the actual state of the language and literature, both Persian and Azerbaijani, from December 21, 1324 to December 21, 1325, during this one-year rule of the Democratic Party? What was the fundamental intention? How did slogans and realities compare? On the seventy-something anniversary of the establishment of the Democratic Party government, we will examine this issue. The first section of the discourse: 'The Official State Language' Education and Teaching in Schools. At the beginning of its work in Shahrivar 1324, the Democratic Party emphasized that 'Azerbaijani' should be used as the only language from the elementary level and later Persian should be taught alongside 'Azerbaijani' in high school. However, in practice, under the conditions of Soviet occupation, war, and the Democratic Party's affairs, the education and teaching in schools had become increasingly disordered and chaotic. Four years after the Soviet occupation and one month after the establishment of the Democratic Party government, the leadership of the party concluded that the time had come to emphasize the official status of 'Azerbaijani.' This was while there were still no teachers available who could teach Azerbaijani to children, and there were no textbooks prepared in Persian script for children in Azerbaijan, Iran. Almost all printed books from Baku were in Russian script, while the books printed in Baku with Persian script aimed at propaganda among the Azerbaijanis of Iran were mostly poetry and stories with folkloric, propagandistic, or political content. In the 'Order No. 1 of the Minister of Education of Azerbaijan' dated Dey 1324, Mohammad Biriya ordered that a commission of 'skilled and national teachers' should prepare the curriculum for Azerbaijani language textbooks. This was at a time when in Moscow and then Tehran, the two sides of Iran and the Soviet Union were negotiating an agreement later known as the 'Qavam-Sadchikov Agreement.' With the signing of this bilateral agreement in Farvardin 1325, Iran conditionally agreed to grant the right to extract oil in northern Iran to the Soviets, and in return, Moscow would withdraw the Red Army from Iran. One or two months after the signing of this agreement and the official dissolution of the Pishavari government, which had been agreed upon by Tehran and Moscow, the 'Vatan Dili' (Language of the Homeland) textbooks were prepared for teaching in elementary schools. These books were heavily influenced by the language of textbooks from Baku, and by Ordibehesht and Khordad, the school year was nearly over. However, the main problem of teaching 'Azerbaijani' in the first two or three years of elementary schools lay elsewhere. One clause of the Qavam-Sadchikov agreement stipulated that all ministries established by the Democratic Party in Azerbaijan would be dissolved and converted into the relevant Iranian ministries. The Soviets withdrew their forces from Iran that spring despite complaints and opposition from Pishavari, but due to the political maneuvering of the Iranian government, the parliament did not approve the oil extraction concession. Nevertheless, according to the bilateral agreement, after Farvardin 15 of that year, the 'Ministry of Education of the National Government of Azerbaijan' was again converted into the Cultural Office of Azerbaijan Province and became subordinate to the Ministry of Culture of Iran until December 21, 1325, a few months after the withdrawal of the Red Army from Iran and exactly one year after the establishment of the 'National Government' by Stalin and Baqirov, the Pishavari government also fell. Thus, there was not much opportunity for the Democratic Party and the executive managers from Baku to promote the standard Azerbaijani language in the schools of Azerbaijan, Iran. According to close associates of the author who attended elementary schools in Tabriz during the Democratic Party's rule, there were practically no books or written lessons available during that year; 'Teachers mostly read Turkish poetry, stories, and proverbs, and the students repeated and memorized them.' Nevertheless, their report cards from that year of Pishavari's rule were written in 'Azerbaijani.' Propaganda instead of Literature. From the beginning of the publication of the newspaper 'Azerbaijan,' Pishavari himself played the role of editor-in-chief and tried to write the editorial of the day himself. His Turkish language and writings were particularly fluent in terms of vocabulary, although overall they adhered to the grammatical and even lexical standards of Baku. However, most of the so-called 'serious' and political articles in the newspapers 'Vatan Yolunda' (On the Path of the Homeland) and 'Azerbaijan' were written or edited by 'Northern Brothers.' They tried to inject the so-called 'political line' of Moscow and Baku into the public opinion of Azerbaijan, Iran. Their language was heavily sloganized, propagandistic, thick, and infused with Russian vocabulary or specific expressions from the Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan and Soviet communist literature. The newspaper 'Vatan Yolunda' was published in Baku with colored photos, articles, and propaganda slogans about Lenin, Stalin, collective farmers, state farm workers, and 'hero' generals of the Red Army, although the place of publication was never announced. The writings of both newspapers and other Democratic Party press were usually accompanied by exaggerated slogans and language praising the nature, history, and language of Azerbaijan, as well as Lenin, Stalin, and the Red Army. Azerbaijani Iranian authors had no role in writing political analyses and interpretations. They mostly composed poetry or wrote about literature, the beauty of nature, and the Azerbaijani Turkish language or the greatness of figures like Babak and Setar Khan. For example, in a long poetic address written by the 'Society of Poets of Tabriz' to 'the Father of the Working Class' Stalin, it was stated: 'We are the Azerbaijani nation, we have a pure name and pure blood / We have a thousand lion-hearted men like Kouroghlu and Young Shir / Now the land that gave birth to Babak and Ilkhan has turned into a garden / And under your shadow (Stalin) this great land lives a peaceful life / May you live in this world, O beloved leader — with your justice you have illuminated the world.' This poem is printed at the beginning of the collection 'Shairlar Mejlisi' (The Assembly of Poets), which is a collection of Azerbaijani Turkish poetry from the Democratic Party era. As stated in this collection, the long poem mentioned was jointly composed by these poets who were members of the 'Society of Poets of Azerbaijan': Ali Fatrat, Mir Mahdi Etemad, Hossein Safaf, Mozaffar Darvesh, Mir Mahdi Chavoshi, Yahya Sheida, and Balash Azaroghlu. Whether in prose or verse, what was of primary importance was the political message that was essentially composed of slogans and exaggeration. Little importance was given to meter and rhyme, especially in classical style poetry. Naturally, writing and understanding this type of poetry was harder than syllabic poetry and required education in Persian and Arabic, which most of the writers and poets who came from the North lacked. In Baku, it was propagated that meter and rhyme belonged to the 'backward' society of the past and that 'the simple language of the people' and syllabic meter were 'signs of the literature of the working classes.' However, Northern poets, especially Suleiman Rustam, Samad Vurghun, Mohammad Rahim, and Jafar Khendan, who were present in Tabriz throughout the Democratic Party's rule, had to respect the inclination of their 'Southern Brothers' towards ghazals, qasidas, and other metrical forms. One literary analyst from Baku wrote: 'Suleiman Rustam began writing ghazals, as the ghazal form was still popular in Southern Azerbaijan, and it was easier to convey messages to the people through ghazals...' What they conveyed to their 'Southern Brothers' was that the 'enemy' and 'executioner' (who they did not explicitly name, but meant Iran and especially Tehran) had taken the mother tongue of the people of Azerbaijan, Iran out of their mouths and subjected them to the most tyrannical oppression possible, and now the 'Northern Brothers' had come to return the language of the 'Southern Brothers' to them. The same Suleiman Rustam wrote in a poem titled 'Tabrizim' (My Tabriz): 'In the garden, my eyes do not tire of seeing your beauty / My Tabriz, O my Tabriz, my beautiful Tabriz / I will not allow strangers to embrace you (!)/ Let me put my hand around your neck / Your brother of the same language and blood has come / To participate in your holiday and celebration / Your pain-sharer, your confidant has come, etc.' Or: 'I do not speak your language, even if you are the executioner, I do not touch my mother tongue / I said white to white, and black to black / And you wanted to hang me / The wound you inflicted on me is healing fresh / Do not touch this wounded spirit of mine, etc.' This means that these poets and writers from Baku, most of whom came and settled in Tabriz, guided the poets and writers of Azerbaijani Iran on how their written language should be and how they should think and what to write. For instance, Jafar Khendan, who also came from Baku and wrote literary analyses, wrote a preface to 'The Collected Works of Yahya Sheida,' a young Azerbaijani-Iranian poet of that time. In this preface, Khendan first reminded that Sheida initially wrote in the usual style in Southern Azerbaijan, but soon after observing the advancements that had occurred in his homeland of Azerbaijan and drawing inspiration from the struggle against Hitlerism, he wrote valuable poems against fascism. In these poems, Sheida also expressed his endless love for the Red Army, this savior of the world from the danger of fascism, and Comrade Stalin, this genius commander of the Red Army. For those interested in the details of the Azerbaijani Turkish language and literature of this period, studying the same collection 'Shairlar Mejlisi' is recommended. This collection, which is nearly 440 pages long and can be extremely tedious for uninterested individuals, consists entirely of examples from dozens of poets of this Democratic Party period. The vast majority of these works, aside from the slogans of loyalty to 'the freedom of united Azerbaijan' from the 'executioner enemy,' namely Iran, are filled with praise for the Democratic Party, the Soviet Union, the Red Army, and 'the genius commander Stalin.' This collection is a unique sign of the language and culture during the four-year Soviet occupation and the one-year rule of the Democratic Party, a vivid indication of literary poverty and also the manifestation of a propagandistic, superficial, nationalistic, and Stalinist language that was simultaneously dominant in Soviet Azerbaijan. This is the same language that constituted the model and standard of the language of poetry, literature, press, and publications in all the press and publications of the Democratic Party era, including the newspaper 'Azerbaijan.' From a purely linguistic perspective, this language is a copy of the vocabulary, expressions, and style particularly of Soviet Azerbaijan mixed with Russian vocabulary and communist propaganda, which was far removed from the language and culture of the ordinary and real people of Azerbaijan, Iran. Nevertheless, it should not be overlooked that some poets of this period, such as Mir Mahdi Etemad, Ali Fatrat, and Yahya Sheida, despite their obvious affiliations with the political-propagandistic current of the 'Democratic Party,' also had good poetry both in metrical and syllabic forms, although their role in those four or five years, especially during the one year of the party, did not go unnoticed in their later fame and popularity. Among the relatively well-known Turkish poets who remained in Azerbaijan during the Democratic Party era, only one or two, despite their apparent alignment with the ruling communist ideology over poetry and literature, considered the value of art and poetry to be higher than the prevailing politics. The most important of them was Habib Sahar. Most of this romantic and innovative Azerbaijani poet's works, which he wrote in both Persian and Turkish, were written or published after the war and the fall of the Democratic Party government. However, the most important Azerbaijani poet during this one-year period was naturally Mohammad Hossein Shahriar, who lived in Tehran during the Soviet occupation and the Democratic Party's rule. During this time, he had long reached his main fame throughout Iran. In the face of the occupation of Iran by the Red Army and then the Democratic Party government, Master Shahriar composed several poems, including one with the following opening: 'It is a day of sacrifice, O poor Azerbaijan / Your head is in the middle, wherever the foot of life comes...' After the Red Army evacuated Iran and subsequently the Democratic Party government fell, Shahriar composed another poem with the following opening: 'The uninvited guest who has taken the feast is leaving / That ungrateful one, the broken salt shaker is leaving.' The Democratic Party came with the Soviet Army and left with the Soviet Army. A few months after the Red Army's evacuation from Iran, the Democratic Party also collapsed. On December 21, 1325, exactly one year after the establishment of the Democratic Party government, the Soviets themselves loaded the leaders and activists of the party into cars and took them to Baku. The Iranian army had not yet arrived. When the central army entered Tabriz the next day, there was no news of the leaders and activists of the party.