Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Mamed Iskenderov" in English language version.
Thus, for instance, Moscow encouraged the Uzbek leadership to register Uzbekistan's Tajik inhabitants as Uzbeks and the leaders of Azerbaijan to register indigenous Muslim minorities as Azerbaijanis.
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Following the establishment of Soviet power in Azerbaijan, the local authorities conducted a policy of 'absorbing' some of the national minorities, beginning with such indigenous groups as the Talysh, Lezgins, Tats and Kurds; most were officially labelled Azerbaijanis.
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Representatives of the indigenous minorities were not for the most part appointed to important governmental positions. But there were exceptions. For instance, in the 1960s, Mamed Iskenderov, a Kurd, officially registered as an Azerbaijani, occupied the post of chairman of the Presidium of the Azerbaijan Supreme Soviet.
While the Tats, a Persian-speaking people, were subjected to forced assimilation into the Azerbaijani nationality, Kurds experienced both compulsory assimilation and, in 1937, deportation to Kazakhstan.
Kurdish identity is most endangered in Azerbaijan. In recent decades the Azerbaijani authorities have been attempting to assimilate all ethnic minorities. In the absence of religious differences they have succeeded. The Kurdish language is not officially used and during censuses the Kurds have been recorded as Azerbaijanis.
