Azerbaijani and Turkish Nationalism and Religion in Comparative Perspective

This paper asks and answers a critical multidimensional question regarding the nature of Azerbaijani and Turkish nationalism in relation to religious and sectarian identities from their intertwined origins in the early 20th century until the end of the first quarter of the 21st century. What explains the seeming puzzle between the close association of Azerbaijani and Turkish nationalism with Islamic identity on the one hand, and their ability to overcome the sectarian Sunni-Shiite divide and to justify and support a secular state on the other? I argue that the constitutive conflicts of nation-building that pitted Azerbaijani and Turkish nation-builders against common Christian enemies explain their identification with Islamic identity, whereas the secession of, or the threat from, polities with the same majority sectarian affiliation (Shiite Iran for Azerbaijan and the Arab Revolt for the Ottomans/Türkiye) explains in part the secular and ecumenical Muslim (including Sunnis and Shiites) conception of Azerbaijani and Turkish national identities. Azerbaijani and Turkish nationalisms have exceptionally intertwined origins such that it is possible to describe them as two branches of a common Turkish nationalist movement in the early 20th century. The founding of the short-lived Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in 1918 and the declaration of the Republic of Türkiye in 1923 provided the first two nation-states that resulted from these intertwined origins. The significant contributions of Azerbaijani intellectuals to the growth of Turkish nationalism first in the late Ottoman empire and later in the nascent Republic of Türkiye are well-known. Similarly, the arguably decisive contributions of the Ottoman-Turkish forces organized under Caucasian Army of Islam (Kafkas İslam Ordusu) for the establishment of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic are also well-known. The puzzles of nationalism, religion, and secularism are evaluated against this ethno-religious background along with common intellectual and political origins.

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