Autumn 1994 (2.3)
Centenarians
in Azerbaijan
Heredity
as Stored Environment
by Chingiz Gasimov, Ulduz Hashimova,
Arif Abbasov, and Attiga Ismayilova
Stamp issued in
1956 to commemorate the 148th birthday of the person believed
to be the oldest citizen of the Soviet Union, Mahmud Eyvazov,
from Azerbaijan. A collective farmer, he is shown here on the
postcard surrounded by a group of "Pioneers." All Courtesy:
Yakub Karimov.
Some of the oldest people on
the face of the earth live in the Caucasus. According to Soviet
authorities, the most famous of all was Shirali Muslimov of Azerbaijan,
who died on September 2, 1973, at the unbelievable age of 168.1 He allegedly was born on May 26, 1805.
But these days, gerontologists and physiologists at the Azerbaijan
Academy of Sciences say it simply can't be true-that 168 was
an exaggerated figure. But as they had never had a chance to
interview him, they don't know his actual age. Even without passports,
birth certificates and army records, scientists can general ascertain
age in relation to known historical events or natural phenomena
such as the strong earthquake2
which took place in the Shamakhi region in Azerbaijan in 1921
and also by genealogical analysis. Shirali "Baba" ("Grandpa"
as he was affectionately called) lived to see fifth generation
descendants.3
Longevity as a Populational
Phenomenon
In international gerontological
practice, longevity is the term applied to any individual who
is 90 years old and actively functional. The phenomenon can be
studied throughout the world on individual levels; however, there
are only a few regions of the world where longevity occurs on
a populational level. The Caucasus is one such area. Widespread
reports of longevity in this region have attracted scientific
attention in Russia since the turn of the last century4. Azerbaijanis, Abkhasians, Balkars,
Ingushis, Karachaeyve, and Chechens of this region have all been
identified as long-lived. Curiously, data from a 1970 census,
indicates that groups of rural Russian populations, wherever
they live, show low longevity indices equal to the life expectancy
in the rest of the USSR.
Also Armenians have a lower index regardless of whether they
are living in Armenia proper or the Nagorno-Karabakh region,
which is a prominent area of longevity in Azerbaijan.5 In the early 1980s, the longevity index
of Azerbaijanis living in the foothills of Karabakh was approximately
80 people per 1,000.6
Throughout Azerbaijan, there are numerous regions where longevity
is the norm including: Lerik, Lankaran, Masalli, Zagatala, Gusar,
Gazakh, Tovuz, Ismayilli, Jalilabad, Shamakhi, Lachin, Kalbajar,
and Aghdam (the last three regions are currently occupied by
Armenians-all Azerbaijanis have fled and researchers have lost
all contact, not knowing where they have dispersed or even whether
they are still alive. No doubt the war has had tragic consequences
due to stress, lack of normal living conditions including sanitation
and variety of nutritious food.)
Left: Mahmud Eyvazov commemorated with stamp
in 1956 at the age of 148.
American-USSR Joint
Research
Longevity in Azerbaijan has
been studied at the Laboratory of Physiology and Longevity and
at the Physiological Institute (Ethnographic Section) of the
Academy of Sciences. A great impetus for the initial studies
was an American-Soviet Program which began in1977 under the leadership
of Vera Rubin (Research of Institute of the Study of Man in New
York City) who initiated cross-cultural,
Right: Badge commemorates the "6th Celebration
of Centenarians
in Lerik, 1989."
multi-disciplinary studies with
particular focus on medical and socio-cultural factors. Americans
initially started studying the Abkhasians, only to realize later
that a higher incidence of longevity existed in Azerbaijan. These
days, it is generally believed that Azerbaijanis have the highest
level of longevity in the Caucasus. Plans for the joint program
to carry out studies of longevity in Azerbaijan vanished when
Rubin died in the 1980s. Unfortunately, nothing on such an international
scope has materialized since then.
Azerbaijani scientists will admit that it was difficult those
days to have any scientific exchange with foreign experts. "Especially
US scholars were hardly allowed in," according to Arif Abbasov,
Director of the Ethnography Section of the Azerbaijan Academy
of Sciences. "We were only able to hold brief seminars,
as it was difficult to have them here for more than 2 or 3 days.
The KGB hardly would allow us to take Americans to the field
for interviewing."
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, despite Azerbaijan's
eagerness for international scientific interaction, the ensuing
critical economic crisis has hindered opportunities. For example,
no money is available for field surveys and no papers have been
published in the past four years. It's very rare for scholars
to get the chance to travel abroad even when their papers are
accepted at conferences. The best most can do these days is be
content that their abstracts can occasionally get printed in
international conference proceedings.
Left:
Majid Aghayev, aged 138,
at time of photo, borrowing photographer's camera to, take a
picture of his wife.
Right:Passport at right identifies date of
birth as 1835.
Heredity - A Big Factor
Azerbaijanis credit their longevity
to a combination of factors best described as the combination
of heredity, environment, and psycho-socio-cultural patterns.
They believe longevity basically is inherited; many people they
studied confirmed that their parents, too, had lived long lives.
Many of the longest lived people are those who have intermarried
their own kinsmen-their cousins.
Environment plays a big role, too: the careful choice of diet
from food grown on good soil in a good climate with particular
attention to human beings' ability to adapt to the environment.
The traditional social organization, including extended kinship
inter-generational bonds contributes as it makes the transition
of aging less stressful. Older people are highly esteemed in
Azerbaijan and are given high positions in the family, community
and greater society. The elderly are never left to feel useless
or unneeded.
Not Just in Mountains
Contrary to wide-spread belief,
the majority of long-lived people were not found to be living
in the mountains but rather in the foothill regions where the
average elevations was between 500-800 meters.7 Population longevity is possible in
different climatic regions. More determinate was the people's
adaptation to concrete environmental conditions which seemingly
was related to the duration of that people in the area. Specifically,
a non-aboriginal Russian group which had settled in Azerbaijan
approximately 100-150 years ago had comparatively low longevity
despite the fact that they were living next to Azerbaijanis where
old age was the norm.
Plenty of Yogurt
Left: Great, great grandpa. Old people are deeply esteemed
in Azerbaijan. Some believe a contributing factor to longevity
is the important role the elderly play in the life of family,
community, and nation.
Diet included yogurt and garlic
on a daily basis. Meat was eaten only in the winter while green
vegetables were primarily eaten in summer. It seems pickled foods,
sweet baked products and sweet tea were rare. "Bahmaz"
(concentrate made from white mulberries) was widely used which
is known to contain more than 30 vitamins, minerals and amino
acids and to lower the level of cholesterol in blood thus diminishing
the possibility of heart diseases. Herbal medicine was believed
to play a significant role, too.
People in Baku idealize the country life and suggest that lack
of stress plays an important role. But many centenarians have
not lived under optimal conditions. What tends to be generally
true is that most of them are optimists and most were still married
in their old age or were trying to remarry after their spouse
had died. Longevity is an important field for the health and
benefit of all mankind and Azerbaijan has an important contribution
to make to this field.
Left: Not all centenarians have enjoyed optimal
living circumstances. Not all have lived unstressful lives. Musa
Zeynalov, who celebrated his 100th birthday this year was born
April 7, 1894. He was imprisoned by Stalin for 22 years in 1933
and spent time in the dreaded Solovki Prison in Siberia; twice
he experienced the horror of death row waiting for nearly a month
only to have his sentence commuted. After Stalin's death, he
was released in 1955. He started his family in his mid-60s. Pictured
here with his wife, Kimya Yunusova, 74, in Amirjanli village
near Baku. June1994. They have 3 girls, 1 boy and 9 grandchildren.
Photos: Oleg Litvin.
Presently, the average life expectancy at birth in the developed
countries is about 75 years. Despite the continuous development
of medicine and public health, the possibility of higher longevity
appears to have slowed and the expected conquest of cardiovascular
and oncological disease has not been realized.
Azerbaijan scientists look forward to continuing their studies
and in doing joint research with international groups in the
future as the study of longevity is a field ripe for contributions
from many disciplines-biologists, anthropologists, psychologists,
physiologists, demographers, ethnographers, and folklorists.
All contributors to this article are associated with the Azerbaijan
Academy of Sciences. Chingiz Gasimov is Director of the Laboratory
of Physiology and Longevity at the Physiological Institute. Ulduz
Hashimov is with the Institute of Physiology. Arif Abbasov is
Director of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnology as is Attiga
Ismayilova.
Translation assistance was provided by Aliya Abassova, Jala Garibova,
and Parvana Orujova
Footnotes
1 Even the 1986 of Guinness Book of World Records
(32nd edition) mentions Muslimov but adds a disclaimer that "No
interview of this man was ever permitted to any Western journalist
or scientist." The current 1994 edition of Guinness, however,
no longer includes Muslimov but identifies a 119-year-old Frenchman
as the longest living person alive.
2 Kozlov, V.I. and O.D. Komarova. 1982.
Geography of Longevity in the USSR (Ethnic Aspects) in Vera Rubin,
ed., Proceedings of the First Joint US-USSR Symposium on Aging
and Longevity: The First Two Years of Collaborative Effort in
Abkhasia and Kentucky. Vol 1 of 2. p. 57. New York: IREX (International
Research & Exchanges Board, 655 Third Avenue, New York, NY
10017).
3 Kozlov.
p. 57. Western researchers studying this region have found that
there is a greater tendency for men to exaggerate their ages
than for women, and that sometimes they do so by as much as 15-20
years.
4 The seminal work of Mechnikov on the
physiology of aging, the "Schools" headed by Pavlov
(1913-1958) and the work of a well-known Abkhasian educator and
folklorist S.P. Basaria (1928-1930) were all concerned with the
Caucasian centenarians.
5 Kozlov. p. 56.
6 Ibid.
7 Kozlov. p. 58.
Obituaries
Shirali Muslimov, 168
Soviet authorities often
used the phenomenon of longevity to proclaim the superiority
of the communist system over capitalism. Below is the obituary
of Shirali Muslimov who, allegedly, lived to be 168 years old-the
oldest person in the Soviet Union-as printed in newspaper, Soviet
Kandi, on September 4, 1973. No. 103 (4504).
"The Centenarian
of our Planet, and inhabitant of the Lerik Region, a veteran
of the Kolkhoz, died at the village of Barzavu at the age of
168 on September 2 (1973).
"Shirali Muslimov was born in 1805 of a poor family of shepherds.
Since childhood, he tended the sheep of the rich people for 100
years. "Grandpa" Shirali has witnessed every kind of
injustice during his life. He suffered very much. He was exploited
by rich people but he protested against the "exploitation
of man by man" throughout all his life. He lived with the
desire of a better life only after the victory of the Soviet
power in Azerbaijan when he was able to fulfill his desires and
begin to live well.
"He was one of the first to join the Kolkhoz in his village.
He tried to teach young people the secrets of his profession.
All his life, he did everything to strengthen the Kolkhoz and
secure the welfare of the people. The Party and the Government
have valued this labor. In 1966, Shirali Muslimov was awarded
the Red Labor Flag Medal and in 1970 he received the Lenin Medal.
He was a member of Bilaband Soviet. He always shared his experiences
with young people. His 330 descendants include to the fifth generation.
"The Centenarian of our Planet and the 'aghsaggal' (white-bearded
wise counselor) of the Kolkhoz enjoyed great respect from the
people. He will live long in the memories of those who knew him.
Signed-Agricultural Ministry of Azerbaijan SSR, Sovkhoz Ministry
of Azerbaijan SSR, and Azerbaijan Labor Union. Obituary written
by the Editor of Kommunist (newspaper), September 4, 1973. No.
105, (4504)."
Translation from Azerbaijani (Cyrillic) by Azar Mammadov.
Special thanks to Mrs. Leyla Gafurova, Director of the Akhundov
Library in Baku, and her staff for culling this and other related
material about centenarians from their newspaper archives.
Shirali Baba is still remembered in Baku these days. Many
anecdotes still circulate quite different in tone and substance
than his obituary. For example, they say he was married six times
and that his second wife became pregnant when she was in her
70s. At his 150th birthday celebration, a Russian colonel with
his pretty wife were at the party. When the people started to
give him presents, he reportedly told them, "I don't want
anything. Just give me that pretty woman." Late in life
he was invited from his town to go to Moscow as an official guest.
He later complained that the flight and the metro were so frightening
that it took years off his life.
From Azerbaijan International (2.3) Autumn 1994.
© Azerbaijan International 1994. All rights reserved.
Home
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Left:
Majid Aghayev, aged 138,
at time of photo, borrowing photographer's camera to, take a
picture of his wife. Right:Passport at right identifies date of birth as 1835. |
|
Heredity - A Big Factor
Azerbaijanis credit their longevity
to a combination of factors best described as the combination
of heredity, environment, and psycho-socio-cultural patterns.
They believe longevity basically is inherited; many people they
studied confirmed that their parents, too, had lived long lives.
Many of the longest lived people are those who have intermarried
their own kinsmen-their cousins.
Environment plays a big role, too: the careful choice of diet
from food grown on good soil in a good climate with particular
attention to human beings' ability to adapt to the environment.
The traditional social organization, including extended kinship
inter-generational bonds contributes as it makes the transition
of aging less stressful. Older people are highly esteemed in
Azerbaijan and are given high positions in the family, community
and greater society. The elderly are never left to feel useless
or unneeded.
Not Just in Mountains
Contrary to wide-spread belief,
the majority of long-lived people were not found to be living
in the mountains but rather in the foothill regions where the
average elevations was between 500-800 meters.7 Population longevity is possible in
different climatic regions. More determinate was the people's
adaptation to concrete environmental conditions which seemingly
was related to the duration of that people in the area. Specifically,
a non-aboriginal Russian group which had settled in Azerbaijan
approximately 100-150 years ago had comparatively low longevity
despite the fact that they were living next to Azerbaijanis where
old age was the norm.
Plenty of Yogurt
Left: Great, great grandpa. Old people are deeply esteemed
in Azerbaijan. Some believe a contributing factor to longevity
is the important role the elderly play in the life of family,
community, and nation.
Diet included yogurt and garlic
on a daily basis. Meat was eaten only in the winter while green
vegetables were primarily eaten in summer. It seems pickled foods,
sweet baked products and sweet tea were rare. "Bahmaz"
(concentrate made from white mulberries) was widely used which
is known to contain more than 30 vitamins, minerals and amino
acids and to lower the level of cholesterol in blood thus diminishing
the possibility of heart diseases. Herbal medicine was believed
to play a significant role, too.
People in Baku idealize the country life and suggest that lack
of stress plays an important role. But many centenarians have
not lived under optimal conditions. What tends to be generally
true is that most of them are optimists and most were still married
in their old age or were trying to remarry after their spouse
had died. Longevity is an important field for the health and
benefit of all mankind and Azerbaijan has an important contribution
to make to this field.
Left: Not all centenarians have enjoyed optimal
living circumstances. Not all have lived unstressful lives. Musa
Zeynalov, who celebrated his 100th birthday this year was born
April 7, 1894. He was imprisoned by Stalin for 22 years in 1933
and spent time in the dreaded Solovki Prison in Siberia; twice
he experienced the horror of death row waiting for nearly a month
only to have his sentence commuted. After Stalin's death, he
was released in 1955. He started his family in his mid-60s. Pictured
here with his wife, Kimya Yunusova, 74, in Amirjanli village
near Baku. June1994. They have 3 girls, 1 boy and 9 grandchildren.
Photos: Oleg Litvin.
Presently, the average life expectancy at birth in the developed
countries is about 75 years. Despite the continuous development
of medicine and public health, the possibility of higher longevity
appears to have slowed and the expected conquest of cardiovascular
and oncological disease has not been realized.
Azerbaijan scientists look forward to continuing their studies
and in doing joint research with international groups in the
future as the study of longevity is a field ripe for contributions
from many disciplines-biologists, anthropologists, psychologists,
physiologists, demographers, ethnographers, and folklorists.
All contributors to this article are associated with the Azerbaijan
Academy of Sciences. Chingiz Gasimov is Director of the Laboratory
of Physiology and Longevity at the Physiological Institute. Ulduz
Hashimov is with the Institute of Physiology. Arif Abbasov is
Director of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnology as is Attiga
Ismayilova.
Translation assistance was provided by Aliya Abassova, Jala Garibova,
and Parvana Orujova
Footnotes
1 Even the 1986 of Guinness Book of World Records
(32nd edition) mentions Muslimov but adds a disclaimer that "No
interview of this man was ever permitted to any Western journalist
or scientist." The current 1994 edition of Guinness, however,
no longer includes Muslimov but identifies a 119-year-old Frenchman
as the longest living person alive.
2 Kozlov, V.I. and O.D. Komarova. 1982.
Geography of Longevity in the USSR (Ethnic Aspects) in Vera Rubin,
ed., Proceedings of the First Joint US-USSR Symposium on Aging
and Longevity: The First Two Years of Collaborative Effort in
Abkhasia and Kentucky. Vol 1 of 2. p. 57. New York: IREX (International
Research & Exchanges Board, 655 Third Avenue, New York, NY
10017).
3 Kozlov.
p. 57. Western researchers studying this region have found that
there is a greater tendency for men to exaggerate their ages
than for women, and that sometimes they do so by as much as 15-20
years.
4 The seminal work of Mechnikov on the
physiology of aging, the "Schools" headed by Pavlov
(1913-1958) and the work of a well-known Abkhasian educator and
folklorist S.P. Basaria (1928-1930) were all concerned with the
Caucasian centenarians.
5 Kozlov. p. 56.
6 Ibid.
7 Kozlov. p. 58.
Obituaries
Shirali Muslimov, 168
Soviet authorities often
used the phenomenon of longevity to proclaim the superiority
of the communist system over capitalism. Below is the obituary
of Shirali Muslimov who, allegedly, lived to be 168 years old-the
oldest person in the Soviet Union-as printed in newspaper, Soviet
Kandi, on September 4, 1973. No. 103 (4504).
"The Centenarian
of our Planet, and inhabitant of the Lerik Region, a veteran
of the Kolkhoz, died at the village of Barzavu at the age of
168 on September 2 (1973).
"Shirali Muslimov was born in 1805 of a poor family of shepherds.
Since childhood, he tended the sheep of the rich people for 100
years. "Grandpa" Shirali has witnessed every kind of
injustice during his life. He suffered very much. He was exploited
by rich people but he protested against the "exploitation
of man by man" throughout all his life. He lived with the
desire of a better life only after the victory of the Soviet
power in Azerbaijan when he was able to fulfill his desires and
begin to live well.
"He was one of the first to join the Kolkhoz in his village.
He tried to teach young people the secrets of his profession.
All his life, he did everything to strengthen the Kolkhoz and
secure the welfare of the people. The Party and the Government
have valued this labor. In 1966, Shirali Muslimov was awarded
the Red Labor Flag Medal and in 1970 he received the Lenin Medal.
He was a member of Bilaband Soviet. He always shared his experiences
with young people. His 330 descendants include to the fifth generation.
"The Centenarian of our Planet and the 'aghsaggal' (white-bearded
wise counselor) of the Kolkhoz enjoyed great respect from the
people. He will live long in the memories of those who knew him.
Signed-Agricultural Ministry of Azerbaijan SSR, Sovkhoz Ministry
of Azerbaijan SSR, and Azerbaijan Labor Union. Obituary written
by the Editor of Kommunist (newspaper), September 4, 1973. No.
105, (4504)."
Translation from Azerbaijani (Cyrillic) by Azar Mammadov.
Special thanks to Mrs. Leyla Gafurova, Director of the Akhundov
Library in Baku, and her staff for culling this and other related
material about centenarians from their newspaper archives.
Shirali Baba is still remembered in Baku these days. Many
anecdotes still circulate quite different in tone and substance
than his obituary. For example, they say he was married six times
and that his second wife became pregnant when she was in her
70s. At his 150th birthday celebration, a Russian colonel with
his pretty wife were at the party. When the people started to
give him presents, he reportedly told them, "I don't want
anything. Just give me that pretty woman." Late in life
he was invited from his town to go to Moscow as an official guest.
He later complained that the flight and the metro were so frightening
that it took years off his life.
From Azerbaijan International (2.3) Autumn 1994.
© Azerbaijan International 1994. All rights reserved.
Home
| About
Azeri | Learn
Azeri | Arabic
Script | Store | Contact
us
Articles from Azerbaijan
International
© Azerbaijan International. Copyright 2002. All rights reserved.