An interview given years ago by the renowned scholar and politician Zardusht Alizadeh has once again become a topic of discussion on social media.
In the interview, Zardusht Alizadeh stated that he had asked one of the anthropologist historians to conduct research on ethnic identity, and that this research was published in a newspaper. According to the research, it was claimed that 80% of Azerbaijanis have no connection with Turks and are a local Caucasian people. Zardusht Alizadeh added that the facial structure of Azerbaijanis is also not characteristic of Turks.
Modern.az obtained a statement from National Assembly deputy, People's Poet Sabir Rustamkhanli regarding the issue that has once again become topical. The People's Poet reacted sharply to Zardusht Alizadeh's words, stating that he should be interested in his own genetic identity.
“Who does Zardusht Alizadeh refer to when he says Caucasian peoples? Because the vast majority of Azerbaijani Turks are a local Caucasian people. From ancient times, many of the 26 ethnic groups or tribes living in the territory of the Albanian state and mentioned in ancient sources were Turks. There are books written with serious evidence on this matter. Zardusht Alizadeh cannot be unaware of this. I believe he would have also leafed through the “Shahnameh” translated into our language by his father, our esteemed scholar Mubariz Alizadeh. Although the author of that work, Ferdowsi, was a Persian nationalist, he wrote that 2600 years ago, Turks and Persians lived side by side in this region, engaged in incessant warfare. Even though it is a literary work, it did not deny the Turkish presence here. If Ferdowsi, who lived a thousand years ago, could not do this, how will Zardusht Alizadeh, who lives a thousand years after him, be able to? I don't think Zardusht Alizadeh is an unintelligent person. So, with what logic does he claim that 20% of immigrant Turks Turkified 80% of the non-Turkish population? When did he conduct this genetic research in our country? Armenian scholars also think and write like him. Now, how do we distinguish Zardusht from them? If a genetic test is conducted, I fear we might completely lose Mr. Zardusht. There were already few who slandered us, and now one more is among us…I believe Zardusht Alizadeh should be interested in his own identity. He should not concern himself with the people.”
Former Minister of Education Firudin Jalilov also stated that many Turkic states existed before the arrival of Arabs, and after Islam, Turkic empires existed in these territories for a thousand years:
" Mr. Zardusht is an educated, intellectual person. However, he is not an anthropologist and has not dealt with ethnogenesis. He is more of a political scientist, and he has many interesting ideas and writings related to political science. But what he says about ethnogenesis is completely wrong. Because what European scholars have imposed on us with the view that Turks originated from Altai continues to this day. However, five thousand years ago, three or four large Turkic states were established in the Urmia Lake basin. The states of Qurt and Turuq can be cited as examples. After that, many Turkic beyliks existed. The states of Mannaya and Saqa were established. Two centuries later, the Albanian state was founded. For 1000 years after Islam, Turkic empires existed in these territories. However, in the last 100 years, this empire fell into the hands of the Persians. Considering this context, what Mr. Zardusht says is, of course, incorrect".
F. Jalilov emphasized that the Turkic anthropological type is the Mediterranean type:
"Anthropologists have written this, not me. And Turks are the Caspian subtype of the Mediterranean type. That is, when looking at the skull structure of Turkmens and Azerbaijani Turks, it is the Caspian type. In Azerbaijan, this type has not changed for seven thousand years".
