Cultural Consequences of Domination of Soviet Union over Azerbaijan

Domination of every country or government over another land would have consequences in many aspects, such as political, economic, social, religious and more importantly cultural effects. Domination of Russia over independent countries had special effects on them though decades. Russian government believed in opposing religious matters, and they treated people strictly. In this paper after studying the cultural background of Azerbaijan, the political domination of Soviet Union over this country will be discussed. Then the cultural consequences will be evaluated in two positive and negative parts. The negative consequences appeared mainly in religious culture. Elimination of clergymen and religious intellectuals, elimination or change in utilization of religious centers, brutal religious suppression and opposition with religious teachings, change in script and language and promoting Marxism were the negative results. On the other hand, the positive consequences emerged in education, doing research, expansion of educational and research institutions and launching visual and auditory media.