Iran and the Caucasus 16 (2012) 247-256  Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2012 DOI: 10.1163/1573384X-20120011 Turkey and Azerbaijan: On the Myth of Sharing the same Origin and Culture Çakır Ceyhan Suvari, Elif Kanca University of Yüzüncü Yıl, Van Abstract This study looks at Turkish manuals and textbooks, approved by the Ministry of Education of Turkey and used at different levels of the education system, to compile clues regarding the potent identity questions assumed to exist in the relationship between Turkey and Azerbaijan. Textbooks serve as the main source for this study because the education system is the tool that strengthens the state’s influence over its citizens. A nation-state’s establishment of its own identity is a process that di- rectly builds citizens’ consciousness. Keywords Turkish Identity, Azerbaijani Identity, Armenian-Turkish Relations, Turkism, Turk- ishness INTRODUCTION In the establishment of the Turkish Republic’s national identity, “Turk- ishness”, along with Anatolia as the place where it was built and repro- duced, plays a crucial role. History serves as one of the foundational elements of this identity, starting in Central Asia and including migra- tions, religious transformations, and the states that rose and fell. It cul- minates into the “perfect” state of Turkish Islamic civilisation in today’s Anatolia. Various competing concepts have been developed in accordance with the varying policies to classify and define other societies that speak Turkic languages and practice Islam. The “Captive Turks” concept was first used by some Turkish politicians and academics to describe the peoples of the former Soviet republics, such as Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan, where Turkic languages are spoken (see Ayan 2011; Polat 2008). The “Soviet invasion” has been shown as the primary reason for the significant cultural, economic, and political distance between these states and Turkey, as well as the main