<研究ノート>『種蒔く人』と民族名としての「カフカースのムスリム」

Abstract

The formation of the national consciousness of Azerbaijanis dates back to the 1870s when people who lived in the southeast part of the Caucasus (present-day Republic of Azerbaijan) started to call themselves 'Caucasian Muslims'. It was the first uniting name which put them in a single group. 'Azerbaijanis', their current national name, was advocated in 1890 as a substitute for 'Caucasian Muslims', because including a religious name in the national name of the people was considered inappropriate. In this context, 'Caucasian Muslims' was thus the basis of the term 'Azerbaijanis'. The newspaper Ekinchi played an important role in popularizing the term 'Caucasian Muslims'. It was the first newspaper written in a Turkic language in the Russian Empire and was published in Baku from 1875-1878. Hasan bey Zerdabi (1837-1907), the founder and editor of Ekinchi, and the writers of the newspaper often used the term 'Caucasian Muslims' and considered it as the national name. They especially used the term to distinguish themselves from Christian nations in the Caucasus, i.e. Armenians, Georgians, and Russians. They thought of the Caucasus as their 'homeland', which is what the term 'Caucasian Muslims' was based on. For instance, Seyid Azim Shirvani (1835-1888), one of the most famous poets of that era and Zerdabi's friend, wrote many poems wherein he expressed his loyalty to the Caucasus. This became common sense in the mid-nineteenth century, although they also thought of Iran as their homeland. Another important reason why they used the word 'Muslims' in the national name is that they wanted to bridge the difference between the Sunni and Shiite sects. Although the majority of modern Azerbaijanis are Shiites, there were many Sunnis in Azerbaijan in the nineteenth century. Zerdabi and his friends repeatedly lamented the antagonism between the two sects. Therefore, they simply called their group as 'Muslims'.