ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the PFA’s policy on the nationalities question and related topics during its 15-month rule. There are many nationalities and ethnic minorities in Azerbaijan, but for several decades the problem of national minorities had not existed either for politicians or for researchers. The gradual rise of national consciousness among the smaller minorities coincided approximately with the growth of Azerbaijani nationalism and, in some respects, was a reaction to it. The national minority organizations mostly endorsed the nationalities policy of the government, and supported the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan also protested officially to Russia about the interference of Sadwal leaders in the republic’s internal affairs and their efforts to destabilize the situation in the republic. The PFA government manifested inconsistencies and discrepancies in its policy on the nationalities question as in most other spheres of its activity. Its decisions were greatly influenced by ideology and often contradicted existing realities.
