What did a high-level autonomy of #NK in #Azerbaijan entail in terms of its cultural aspects? Here are some facts and figures about #Armenian in the language&education policy of Azerbaijan (Soviet times). (Ref.: A.Aslanov 1989). A thread. #Karabakh +

Armenian was one of the languages of instruction in AZE. As of 1968, e.g., there were 208 Armenian elementary and secondary schools in Azerbaijan. The share of schoolers enrolled in these schools was 4.5% of the entire population of schoolchildren in AZE+

Not all Armenians however were speakers of Armenian as their first language. Some preferred speaking Russisn as their “mother tongue”, and some did not speak Armenian at all. At one of the Russian schools, e.g., out of 13000 students, 7000 were Armenians. +

Nevertheless, Armenian was a stable component in the language and education policy of Azerbaijan. There were several colleges and one University in #Karabakh with Armenian as a language of instruction. All textbooks and learning resources for schools came from Yerevan; +

so no content was imposed on by AZE central government. The Writers’ Union in Baku had a sector of Armenian writers. The sector was responsible for publishing literature, including works of Armenian writers, in the Armenian language. +

The sector also published a bimonthly journal titled “Grakan Azerbaijan.” There also were several newspapers in Armenian, Armenian theater, local radio as well as Armenian daily broadcasting through the national radio. All libraries had collections of books in Armenian.+

Almost all bookstores throughout Azerbaijan had separate sections for books in Armenian and for various kinds of literature publidhed in Armenia. For more details see: