ANCIENT CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY IN DECLINE IN AZERBAIJAN
By Farman Nabiev, Sadyq Fataliev and Fidan Mamedova in Nij
Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
June 28 2007
The Udi people, an ancient Caucasian community, are being hit by
emigration.
Despite its problems, the village of Nij brims with generosity to
the visitor. When IWPR correspondents asked the way to this large
settlement in northern Azerbaijan, the passer-by who stopped to help
was not content until he had led us to the door of the house we were
looking for.
It is not so hard to find locals, because the women spend much of the
day in the shops in the centre of Nij and the men in its tea-houses,
where a stranger will almost certainly invite you to take a glass
of tea.
If you are invited into a home, you cannot leave without being fed
at a table decorated with fruits, sweets and conserves.
Most of the people in Nij belong to a small ethnic group called the
Udis. They are remarkable for many reasons – they are Christians in
an overwhelmingly Muslim country; their language is unrelated to
those of the big nations of the Caucasus, Azerbaijan, Armenia and
Georgia; and they can trace their ancestry back to an ancient people,
the Caucasian Albanians (not related to the Albanians of the Balkans).
Sadly, the future of this unique people is now under threat from
emigration. The Udis also find themselves unwilling actors in a
historical dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Just over 4,000 of the 7,000 people in Nij are Udis. They live
in a rich agricultural region – as the head of the local library,
Sahib Muradov, noted, their village is the most prosperous of the 60
settlements in the Gabala district.
"Nij has the largest market in the region," said Muradov. "Products
from all over of Azerbaijan are brought here. There’s great demand
for hazelnuts, chestnuts, walnuts, apples and vegetables grown by
Nij residents. Ànd our muscat wine is unique.
"People in our village are quite well off… But it’s also true that
some people are leaving the village."
At the Sunday market, it was obvious that prices were low, suggesting
living standards in the village are not high. A poor walnut crop this
year and low prices have hit the locals hard.
Most of those who leave in search of work are young people, and the
majority head for Russia.
"Young people are looking for a comfortable life," said Gerasim
Chulayury. "They wouldn’t leave here if there were businesses and
factories working in the village."
The only factory in the village- a Soviet-era cannery – has long stood
idle, while the people who used to work there are still unemployed.
Of the five secondary schools, three teach in Russian and two in
Azeri. The Udi language is taught only in primary school, and most
Udi children go to the Russian schools.
Sergei Dallarin, headmaster of secondary school No 1, which dates
back 150 years, said many school-leavers look for a college education
abroad, generally in Russia.
"When they graduate from college, they don’t return to the village,
as there’s no work for them here," he said. "As a result, the number
of Udis living in Nij has been shrinking. The village had 6,000 Udis
ten years ago, whereas today there are just 4,500."
"Our representatives used to have government jobs," said Mikhail
Gangalov, who is head of the Udi Cultural Centre. "Now, because of
the migration problem, there are almost no educated Udis left in
the vicinity, which means there’s no one to represent us in state
structures. That explains why over the past few years, the Udis –
unlike other ethnic groups – have not even been consulted when
decisions regarding national minorities are taken."
The Udis all say there are no tensions with Azerbaijanis.
A local man named Ashot writes poems in the Azeri language under
the pseudonym Udioglu. "I write in Azeri because all Udis speak,
write and read the language," he said. "We have long become related
to the Azerbaijanis."
Ashot’s wife is Udi on her mother’s side and Azerbaijani on her
father’s. Ashot’s older brother and sister are also married to ethnic
Azerbaijanis.
A crisis hit Nij at the end of the Soviet period when the Udis,
whose surnames at that time ended with the Armenian-sounding suffix
"-ian", were often mistakenly identified as Armenian.
"There was trouble in the late Eighties, when the conflict with the
Armenians began," recalled local government official Vidadi Mahmudov,
who is half Azeri and half Udi. "When Armenians started leaving
Azerbaijan in great numbers, a rumour spread that Nij was harbouring
Armenians… But the local government and authorities got the better
of those forces that were trying to inflame passions, and prevented
them from insulting us."
As a result, only limited numbers of Udis went to Armenia.
In recent years, the Udis have shed the "-ian" suffix and young Udis
have begun to serve in the Azerbaijani army for the first time.
"Today we’re proud to say that 20 young men represent the Udis in
the army," said Mahmudov.
The Armenian association dogged the village two years ago when the
a project to restore an old church became controversial. Work on the
Albanian Christian church in Nij was completed last year, with support
from the Norwegian embassy in Azerbaijan. It had been previously used
as a warehouse.
"Udis can now come to church every week to light a candle, pray
and make an donation," said the church’s warden and gardener, Sevan
Magari. "I get my wages from these offerings. I am the only worker
at the church so far. Currently, three of our villagers are receiving
religious education, so we are going to have priests of our own soon.
There are two [Armenian] Gregorian churches in the village, though
no one ever goes there."
Norwegian ambassador Steinar Gil refused to attend the opening ceremony
at the church, after local people erased Armenian inscriptions there
during the restoration work.
Robert Mobili, head of the Udi community in Azerbaijan, defended the
action, saying, "We don’t consider it necessary to leave inscriptions
in a foreign language on one of the main Albanian shrines, all the
more so because these inscriptions were made after the Albanian church
was placed under the protection of the Armenian church,"
The church exemplifies a broader, deeply controversial issue.
Azerbaijani historians say the Udis or Albanians underwent forced
assimilation by Armenians only in the last few centuries, and that
most of the churches in Azerbaijan and in the disputed region of
Nagorny Karabakh are not Armenian but Albanian Christian.
"This church was built in 1723," said historian Farida Mamedova. "In
1836, the Albanian church was handed over to the Armenian Apostolic
Church. This was not just a physical handover; it meant that all the
literature, all the church plate and, most important, the church’s
libraries and books went to the Armenian church.
According to Mamedova, the Armenian church destroyed the Albanian’s
literature, which explains why none of it survives.
However many people leave their village, Nij remains the spiritual
centre for the Udis of Azerbaijan. Four of the six cemeteries in the
village are Udi, and cultural centre head Gangalov said wealthy people
living abroad have brought their dead to Nij to bury them there.
Farman Nabiev is the editor of the regional newspaper Mingechevir
Ishiqlari, and Fidan Mamedova is a correspondent for Khazri
newspaper. Both are members of IWPR’s EU-funded Cross-Caucasus
Journalism Network project. Sadiq Fataliev is a freelance Azerbaijani
journalist.
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