Azerbaijanis in Georgia - Language and Culture

Language and Culture

Most Azeris in Georgia speak Azeri as a first language. Azeris of Tbilisi are mainly bilingual or trilingual, speaking Georgian and Russian in addition to their native language. On the other hand, Azeris living in almost monoethnic villages in Kvemo Kartli, who constitute the core of Georgia's Azeri population, largely speak little to no Georgian. To Azeris in Georgia, secondary education is available in their native language, which is a remnant Soviet policy. As of 2010, Azeri serves as the language of instruction in 124 schools across the country, a number which went down from 183 as of 1989. Young Azeris in Georgia who choose to continue their education often apply to universities in Azerbaijan and thus limit their career prospects in their home country. According to the 2002 census, only 43,024 out of 284,761 Azeris in Georgia were able to speak Georgian. Russian was the most popular second language for Azeris, with 75,207 speakers. At the same time, 934 Azeris indicated Georgian and 385 indicated Russian as their first language.

Up until the early twentieth century, Azeri was the language of interethnic communication across most of the South Caucasus and the surrounding regions, including much of Georgia, with the exception of the Black Sea coastal regions. Later it significantly lost positions to Georgian and Russian. In 2002, 218 non-Azeris in Georgia indicated Azeri as their first language and 6,704 more claimed speaking it as a second language. The Soviet census recorded Turkish-speaking Urum Greeks of central Georgia as speaking Azeri as a first language, in part due to the fact that their original dialect underwent influence from Azeri over the centuries and shifted towards the latter.

There was not much incentive for Azeris to learn Georgian in the Soviet times. Those who chose to pursue post-secondary education in Georgia did so in universities with Russian as the language of instruction, where Georgian was not even offered as a second-language course. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, lack of knowledge of the official language makes it harder for Azeris and other ethnic minorities to be active in many social areas. Such isolation is furthered by the fact that many rural Azerbaijanis prefer to read newspapers published in Azerbaijani and set up satellite dishes in order to be able to watch channels of neighbouring Azerbaijan, or establish their own community television channels (such as Ellada TV, which functioned in Gardabani in 1995–1999). Television programs in the Azeri language are broadcasted by some regional channels.

Teachers and principals of schools where Azeri is the language of instruction report problems with the quality of the printed materials, their deficit and the physical condition of rural Azeri-language schools.

Azeri-language plays are staged at the Tbilisi State Azeri Drama Theatre, established in 1922. In addition, one Azeri Cultural Centre functions in Tbilisi and another one in Marneuli. The cultural centre in Marneuli works closely with the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the State Committee on Work with Diaspora of Azerbaijan, issues the magazines Garapapagh and Meydan and manages its own folk dance ensemble Sarvan. There are 15 public libraries with materials available mainly in the Azeri language across the country. Three Georgian state newspapers, one in Tbilisi and two in Marneuli, are printed in Azeri. Five-minute newscasts in Azeri are aired on Georgia's Public Radio on weekdays.