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The Azerbaijani Version of History of National Literature: 

A Critical Review

Hrachik Mirzoyan, Natalia Gonchar
Yerevan State University

W
e recently happened to get acquainted with a collection of quite an impressive
volume  named “The Astral Cluster. Folklore and Monuments of Azerbaijan’s

Literature.” This collection was published in 2009 in Moscow by the publishing house
Fiction (Khudozhestvennaya literatura) with the support of the Interstate Fund of
Humanitarian Co-operation of the States – CIS members  in the series of “Classics  of
CIS Literature”. The compiler of the collection is A.M. Bagirov, the introductory article
is written by the director of NASA 1, the Institute of Literature after Nizami, academician
of NASA B. Nabiev, and the deputy director of the same institute, corresponding
member of NASA T. Kerimli, that is, by two authoritative scholars, presenting
modern literary criticism, historical-literary science of Azerbaijan; commentaries
belong to T. Kerimli and the compiler A. Bagirov. At the very beginning the word of
Polad Byulbyul Ogli under the title “Motherland Begins with the Native Language” is
placed where the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Azerbaijan to
Russian Federation, People’s Artist of Azerbaijan and professor appeals to “the dearest
friends, respectable lovers of books”. 

While getting properly acquainted with the book published by the efforts of all the
above mentioned participants, we observed in it, as expected, a lot of scandalous inaccu-
racies, illogical and anti-scientific statements, conscious and unconscious falsifications of
historical facts, a more than obvious intention to appropriate the literary-cultural values of
other peoples and many other phenomena which have nothing to do with such concepts
as “science”, “culture”. Frankly speaking, the fact that the Azerbaijani scholars who have
created this book (the compiler, the authors of the introductory article, commentaries,
partially the translators) could allow themselves to do this does not surprise us at all,
because this practice is not new, but has long been established since Soviet times. We are
surprised at the utter indifference of the Interstate Fund of the Humanitarian Co-opera-
tion of the CIS member-states to the contents of the book, published with its support. We
are even more surprised at the completely careless attitude towards the publication with
the support of the above mentioned fund on behalf of an authoritative publishing house
such as “Fiction”, highly cultured, in our traditional understanding. First of all we sure-
ly mean the staff of the publishing house and those listed on the last page, directly
responsible for the quality of the “product”. Here are some of them: academician of the
Academy of Russian folklore G.V. Pryakhin – head of the publishing group, A.A.
Grishanov, N.A. Mukhametishina – deputies of the head, B. Ryabukhin – head of the edi-
torial office, A. Kapustiuk – editor. At what level of humanitarian arts – either intellec-
tual or verbal – did such a, one would think, authoritative publishing group work on this
book can be particularly judged by the coherency of thoughts and coherency (or to be

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more exact, incoherency) of the language use by the two academicians of the introducto-
ry article. 

It goes without saying that in one article it is impossible to consider in detail every-
thing that puzzles and causes objection in this book, that is why we will try to invite the
reader’s attention to what we think to be most important. 

Every reader starts reading a book in his/her own way. As far as we are concerned,
we first of all prefer to get acquainted with the annotation, which is usually given by the
authors, or by the compilers if it is a collection. We begin with this as we believe the
annotation reflects the book in the best way. And if within a few minutes one can get a
preliminary idea of what the book is about, why should one miss such a chance?
Accordingly, while reading the annotation in the book “The Astral Cluster,” we had a
great desire to read the book itself. Because of the importance of the annotation for our
conversation about the book, we think it important to give it full, bringing out certain
parts in it. 

“The collection ‘The Astral Cluster’ reflects folklore and ancient monuments of liter-
ature of the Azerbaijan people in the best way. Its pieces of verbal folk art and written lit-
erature have always stood out with rich and deep humanistic ideas. Folklore, having
been created by the people for centuries, is its spiritual national wealth. The first folklore
samples the baiatis, which are mythical embellishments, are supposed to have been cre-
ated as far back as BC. The heroic epic ‘The book of our Father Gorgud’ which
appeared in written form in the VII century A.D. is presented in the publication. 

The poetry of the Azerbaijan people has its rich thousand-year-old history. Mekhseti
Gyanjevi, Khagani Shirvani, Nizami Gyanjevi, Imadeddin Nasimi, Mukhammed Fizuli
and Alekper Sabir are names among the world famous masters of the word. 

The best samples of folk arts and masters of the poetic word comprising the top of
Azerbaijan literature are included in the book. 

The collection is intended for a wide circle of readers.” 2

As can be seen from the words marked out by us, the characteristic feature of the
Azerbaijan verbal folk arts and written literature is the richness and depth of humanistic
ideas. As it is further mentioned, the book presents “the best samples of the folk arts and
masters of poetic word, comprising the top of Azerbaijan literature”. Thus, we can con-
clude, that the one who has written the annotation considers richness of humanistic ideas
typical of all the works included in the collection. There is and there cannot be any doubt,
that many works included in the collection – either folk or written creations, either in
verse or in prose – are deeply penetrated with humanistic ideas. However,   there are
undoubtedly quite a few pages in the book full of antihumanistic ideas and moods. We
mean, in particular, the “Book of our Father Gorgud” defined as a heroic epic which, just
like the Azerbaijanians, the Turks consider to be their own national epic. Moreover,
according to the research of many scholars, in terms of its folklore origin, it goes back to
the epic stories formed during centuries by the Oguz – the Turkish speaking peoples of
Central Asia – which the scholars, presenting the structure of the book, did not think
important to mention about either in the article or in the commentaries, perhaps suppos-
ing that there is no need to burden “the general reader” with superfluous information con-

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cerning the text intended to assert the antiquity of the Azerbaijan literature and by the
number of the pages in the book (200p.) exceeding even Nizami Gyanjevi (140p.) about
whom there is at least, some information, though evasive.

It is not a secret, that every folk epic exaggerates and praises the physical force and
beauty of its hero, his mental and emotional qualities, ascribes to him supernatural force,
unusual beauty, intellect, quick wit, whereas the enemy or enemies are, on the contrary,
physically weak, deformed, mentally and emotionally helpless, and miserable, which is
quite understandable, for it is an epic which aims at evoking heroism, courage, pride and
similar qualities in the compatriots. In this respect the Oguz epic is not an exception and
this is quite natural. It is not a secret either, that in all epics various military actions and
battles take place, where people are killed and blood is shed, but all this happens in the
battlefield in direct conflict with the enemies. Numerous similar episodes can also be
found in the Oguz epic, which is also quite natural. However, unlike other epics, here “to
cut heads, to shed blood” is something usual not only in the battlefield but also in every-
day life and these are considered to be the highest virtue and valour. Therefore, the basic
and, perhaps, the only condition of cognizing the maturity of a boy, a son, as well as the
courage, honour and dignity of a mature man is the ability of beheading and shedding
blood. This must be the reason why boys are not given names before they are sixteen, i.e.
before they display and prove their capability in this respect. Likewise, the social status
of a mature man, the honour and high regard for him are determined by the number of
heads he has cut and the amount of blood he has shed. Difficult to believe? Here are
examples to verify the fact. 

In the third dastan (chapter) 3 of the epic, entitled “Canto about Bamsi-Beirek, son of
Kan-Bur”, it is told, that Bai-Bura-bek had no offsprings, which upset him very much,
and here he comes to a feast to Bayundur-khan and begins to wail and sob that he has no
son, nobody to inherit his crown, and after his death his position and lodging will be
inherited by nobody. Heeding his sobbings, the beks pray the Most High God asking for
a son for Bai-Bura-bek. “In that age the beks’ blessings were believed to be real, their
curses could call down upon the cursed, their prayers were heard indeed” (p. 32). The
Most High God naturally gave a son to Bai-Bura-bek, and the latter was extremely glad.
He called his merchants, told them to go to the country of the Greeks and bring good gifts
for his son before the boy grew up. Sixteen years passed before the merchants’ returned,
but the bek’s son had no name yet, because “in that age the young man was not given a
name before he cut heads, shed blood” (p. 33). It so happened that the djigit still with-
out a name went hunting and on his way he met the merchants returning from Istanbul 4.
They had been attacked by the unfaithful from the fortress Onik 5. The young man with-
out a name, conquered the giavurs, who had stopped somewhere and were busy dividing
the money (“whoever of the giavurs raised his head, he killed him, accomplishing a feat
for their faith and took back the merchants’ goods”, p. 33). Returning home the son tells
his father about the merchants’ return, but he does not say anything about his feat. The
merchants arrive, welcome the bek, but seeing that their rescuer is sitting next to him –
“the djigit, who cut the heads, shed blood” (p. 34), come up to him and kiss his hand.
The bek is filled with indignation: “you worthless, born from worthless! Why do you kiss

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the son’s hand, when his father is before you?” The merchants apologize, explain that
their goods would have been lost in Georgia, and they would have been in captivity but
for this djigit. This is what the bek-father says: “Tell me, did my son cut heads, shed
blood? The merchants replied: “Yes, he cut heads, shed blood, threw people down on
to the ground (ibid). Thinking that it was time to give his son a name, Bai-Bura-bek
invites the Oguz beks to a feast, and, according to the tradition, Grandfather Korkut
gives a name to the young man and says: “Listen to my word Bai-Bura-bek! The Most
High God gave you a son, let Him keep your son! Let your  son be a support for the
Muslims carrying a heavy banner! Let the Most High God ease his ascent when he climbs
up the black, snowy mountains lying before us! Let the God ease his crossing when he
crosss the rivers stained with blood! Let the Most High God give your son success
when he invades the dense crowd of giavurs!” (ibid). 

In the fourth dastan of the epic (“Canto about how Kazan-bek’s son Uruz-bek was
taken captive”) Kazan-bek orders to put up tents, to place silk carpets and call “ninety
detachments of young Oguzes to him for a talk.” The beks are given golden glasses with
red wine, in the centre of all this, is Kazan-bek, distributing rich presents. His brother is
sitting on his right, the governor on his left, and his son Uruz is standing in front of him,
leaning on a bow. Kazan looks to the right and laughs loudly, looks to the left and is filled
with great joy, looks at his son and is extremely upset. His son does not like it, he won-
ders why his father began to cry looking at him. He wants to know the reason, otherwise
he says, “I will get up from my seat, take my black-eyed djigits with me and go to the
blood-thirsty people of Abkhaz, I will press my hand to the gold cross and kiss the hand
of the man dressed in chasuble, I will marry the black-eyed daughter of the giavur  and
never appear before your eyes any longer”. His father has to explain what the matter is:
“When I looked to the right I saw my brother Kara-Gyune, he cut heads, shed blood,
received an award, attained fame. When I looked to the left I saw governor Aruz who
had brought me up: he had cut heads, shed blood, received an award, attained fame.
When I looked in front of me, I saw you, you have lived sixteen years; there will come
a day when I die, and you remain; you haven’t drawn the bow, haven’t shot an arrow, you
haven’t shed blood, neither have you received an award among the brave Oguzes.
Tomorrow will come the time when I die, and you  remain, alas, you won’t be given my
crown or my throne; thinking about this, I thought of my end and began to cry” (p. 49-
50). The son’s answer is not less attractive: he first wonders who learns from whom – the
son from his father or the father from his son, and then he adds: “When you used to take
me with you, took me to the giavurs’ borders, did you strike with your sword, did

you cut heads? What did I see from you, what was I to learn?” Feeling happy with
this answer, the father decides to start off at once and show him the place “where I shot
arrows, where I struck with my sword and cut heads; I will take him with me, go to the
borders of the giavurs… this is what the young man needs, beks” (p. 50). Kazan-bek, of
course, goes to the giavurs’ borders, but it so happens that his son Uruz is taken captive,
and what happens next has nothing to do with the question we are dwelling on. 

Dastan ten (“Canto about Sekrek, son of Ushun-Kodja”) deserves special attention
from the perspective of our interest. It is told here that in the age of Oguzes there was a

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man called Ushun-Kodja, and he had two sons; Ekrek – the elder, and Sekrek – the
younger. Ekrek is said “to go to Kazan’s divan (palace) – the bek of beks, without any
obstacle; attacking the beks, he sat in front of Kazan without paying any attention to any-
body”. Once, when he, having attacked the beks was sitting, a djigit named Ters-Uzamish
says to him: “Listen, son of Ushun-Kodja! Each of the beks sitting here has won the seat
where he is now sitting at by the strikes of his sword, by distributing bread: and did you
cut heads, and did you shed blood, did you feed a hungry man, did you dress a bare-
foot?” (p. 89) Ekrek asks; “Tell me Ters-Uzamish, is cutting heads, shedding blood a
valour?” He answers without beating about the bush; “yes, it is a valour”. Under the
influence of such speeches Ekrek gets up and asks Kazan-bek to give warriors for a foray.
Kazan gives him warriors for the foray and tells them to set off. The army of raiders gath-
ers round Ekrek, they drink and eat for five days in a public house, then they “struck” the
people from Sherigyuz to Gekche-deniz 6, collected a lot of plunder” and went on “strik-
ing”, but they came across an unapproachable fortress, the raiders were beaten by the
giavurs, Ekrek was captured and put to prison. Years passed, and his younger brother
Sekrek accidentally heared where his elder brother was imprisoned, and made up his
mind to liberate his brother at any cost. Three days and three nights he rode his horse,
“passed across the plain Sham” (“an area between Nakhichevan and Djulfa” according
to the note on p. 277). The way Sekrek liberated his brother is not so important in this
particular case. What is of interest to us in this story is that for the first and the only time
in the whole epic, Ekrek questions the Oguz moral, according to which “cutting heads,
shedding blood” is a valour, but hearing the determined reply of Ters-Uzamish, he gives
way at once, asks for warriors and starts a robber’s raid with them, that is to say, in order
to secure a high position for himself, he goes to cut heads and shed blood. 

The Oguz epic asserts this as a type of “valour”, whereas the fact that the compilers
of the book - the academic authors of its introductory article and the distinguished work-
er of culture and diplomacy together with them - consider “The Book of Korkut” to be a
work full of humanistic ideas is a matter of their conscience. One thing is doubtless:
People’s Artist of Azerbaijan Byulbyul Ogli is quite right saying that “The Astral Cluster”
in which, along with other “literary masterpieces”, the epic occupies such an important
and an impressive place, will help “to cognize the world of Azerbaijan at least partly, to
feel the peculiarities of our national character” (p. 5). In fact, while reading this epic,
you understand the specificity of not only the Azerbaijani, but also the Turkish nation-
al character, you get convinced, that neither the Genocide of the Armenians in 1915, nor
the massacre of the Armenians in Shushi in 1920 were accidential, nor were the quite
recent mass beatings of the Armenians in Sumgait, Baku and in Maragh, nor the brutal
murder (with an axe!) of the sleeping Armenian officer, committed by an Azerbaijani
military man, nor the barbarous destruction of the Armenian khachkars in Djugha, and at
last the Turkish-Azerbaijan practice of raising thugs and murderers to the rang of heroes
in recognition of their “valours”. We should hasten to add, that it is partly the fault of the
specialists in epic studies for however valuable their work in studying the origin and life
of the epic may be, they have hardly paid any attention to the sermon and praise of the
brutal aggression and blood-thirst in it. We say “hardly”, because in the literature quite

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known to us, it is only Academician V.V. Bartold who scratches the surface of the ques-
tion. In his work “The Turkish Epic and the Caucasus” he writes: “The Book about
Korkud” gives quite an obvious idea in what spirit the cantos were created by the epic-
tellers. The cult of war for the sake of war is vividly manifested. The right to be
respected is given to those only who have cut heads, shed blood” (p. 114).

A reasonable question arises: when was the Turkish-Azerbaijani, that is, the Oguz
epic created? As we have already seen in the annotation adduced above, it is clearly stat-
ed: “The heroic epic “The Book of Our Father Gorgud” introduced in the publication
appeared in written form in the VII century A.D.” The same in a slightly different way is
repeated by Professor Byulbyul Ogli: “So, if I am personally asked what Azerbaijan
begins with, I will promptly answer: with the mother tongue, in which our ancestors
spoke, with this cherished and essential Word which was at the base of our first written
literary monument (marked out by us: G.M., N.G.) – the heroic epic “Kitabi-
Grandfather-Gorgud”, which in word for word translation means “The Book of Our
Father Gorgud”. This anonymous literary masterpiece was first rewritten on papyrus
more than 1300 years ago” (p. 4). Displaying diplomatic caution, the professor does not
mention the exact century, but what does “more than 1300 years ago” mean – it means
the same VII century A.D. In fact, quite a different point of view is expressed in the intro-
ductory article, called “A thousand-year-old school of humanism and beauty,” the authors
of which head the academic institute of literature and, as a matter of fact, know the his-
tory of the epic better than others. This is what they write: “Having been created on the
territory of Azerbaijan, connected with the toponyms and oiconyms of Azerbaijan 7, the
heroic epic “The Book of Our Father Gorgud” is the oldest verbal monument of our
people. The life and activity of Father Gorgud, accepted by science as the creator of the
epic, coincides with the time of Muslim prophet Muhammed (570-632), and this is testi-
fied by the original and by the information given in the introductory part of the literary
monument. Consequently, the appearance of the verbal version of “The Book of Our
Father Gorgud” refers to the VII century A.D., which coincides with the epoch of creat-
ing Orchono-Enisei monuments. It is not accidental, as specialists confess, that there is
some similarity in the language and style of both monuments (pp. 15-16). 

As we see, the Azerbaijani scholars consider the Oguz epic “the oldest verbal monu-
ment” of their people. Hence, the information included in the annotation that “the first
folklore samples – baiatis, mythical embellishments – are supposed to have been

created still before Christ” is not right, to put it mildly. Neither is the respectable
ambassador and professor Polad Byubyul Ogli’s statement in the annotation, that the epic
received a written form in the VII century. It is wrong, because, judging by a number of
real historical events, facts (conquest of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453, the king-
dom of Trapezund in 1461, and others) mentioned in the epic, academician V.V. Bartold
having spent a lot of years on the minute study of the Turkish epic and its translation into
Russian, has long and irrefutably proved, that the composition of the “Book about
Korkud” should be referred to the XV century. As far as “the appearance of the verbal
version of the “Book of Our Father Gorgud” in the VII century A.D.” and “certain simi-
larities” in its language and style with Orchono-Enisei monuments are concerned, here

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everything is more than natural and clear. Any folk epic, even if it is cursory and unsys-
tematic, directly or indirectly, contains valuable information about the historical past of
the people who have created it, about the way they have passed, about their manners and
customs, their character and psychology. In this respect the Oguz-Turkic folk epic is not
an exception. As shown by the authoritative researchers of the epic (V.V. Bartold, V.M.
Jirmunski, A.Y. Yakubovski, K.A. Inostrantsev, A.N. Kononov and others), it really
began to form in the VII century A.D., when the Oguz-Turks still lived on the territory
of Central Asia, hence “there is certain similarity in the language and style of both monu-
ments.” But as under the pressure of the Uigurs, the Oguz-Turks gradually left their his-
torical motherland 8 and reached historical Persia and Asia Minor moving on throughout
the following centuries, it is quite natural for their advances and stoppages, in addition to
their achievements and losses, as well as the hardships they caused to others on their way,
to be reflected in the Oguz epic. Here is what V.M. Jirmunski – an outstanding scholar
and a connoisseur of the Oguz epic – writes, proceeding from the results of V.V. Bartold’s
investigations.

“After the fall of the Mongol dominion in Asia Forward since the beginning of the
XIV century, the nomandic tribes of Oguzes who were among the settled population of
Trancaucasus and Asia Minor, form huge tribal unions of the Turkmens of “the Black
sheep” (кара койунлу) and “the White sheep” (ак койунлу). At the head of the latter was
the Oguz tribe Bayindir (V.V. Bartold has the version Bayundur), from which the ruling
dynasty originated. The main centre of this group of the Oguz tribes in the XIV century
was the town of Amid (now Diarbekir) in the upper waters of the Tigris. The Byzantine
sources of this time call the Turkmens of the White sheep Amitiotams. The centre of the
other group – the Turkmens of the Black sheep was initially on the Armenian Plateau
to the north of Lake Van. The struggle between these two groups was completed with
the victory of the first one by the end of the XIV century (1389), and for the second time
in the middle of the XV century (1467). “The tribe Bayindir”, academician V.A.
Gordlevski – a historian of the state of Oguzes writes, – occupied a dominant position in
Asia Minor in the XIV-XV centuries”. The peak of its might the power of ak-koyunlu
reached in the middle of the XV century under Uzun-Khasan from the dynasty of
Bayundurs (1457-1478), when it comprised in its borders “southern Azerbaijan,
Karabakh, Armenia, Kurdistan, Diarbekir, Iraq Arabic (Mesopotamia), Iraq
Persian(North-West Iran), Fars and Kirman,” and the capital of Padishah was moved to
Tebriz (from 1468 to 1501). Towards the beginning of the XVI century it was ruined
under the blows of more steady state unions of the Ottoman Turks and Persian Sevefids
(“kizilbashes”). 

From another Oguz tribe – Kai – the clan of Osman originated uniting the Oguz tribes
in the Western part of Asia Minor, on the border of the Byzantine estates. From the mid-
dle of the XIV century, the Ottomans lead the Turkish military expansion to the West,
against Byzantine and the Balkan Slaves, occupied Constantinopole (1453) and
Trapezund (1461), by the end of the XV century overrode the remnants of other state
unions of the Oguzes in Asia Minor and Azerbaijan, and later the Arab countries of the
Forward East, creating on this basis the Ottoman Empire, the greatest multinational

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Muslim state with the centre in Istanbul (Constantinople)” (pp.136-137). 
Since the historical process of the formation of the Oguz-Osman state lasted cen-

turies, as rightfully remarked by the scholar, “while dating the origin of epic stories with
the help of the historical and geographic facts in them the duration of the process of mak-
ing the epic should also be taken into account” (p.142). Keeping to his methodological
principle the scholar writes: “In their last form  fixed in “The Book of Korkut”, the Oguz
epic stories, as V.V. Bartold has shown, are closely connected with the historical and geo-
graphic situation of the Transcaucasus and, we should add, the eastern part of Asia Minor,
where the Oguzes have found their new motherland since the XI century.” “The action”,
says V.V. Bartold, “takes place on the Armenian Highland; the giavurs, who the giants
have to deal with, are Greeks from Trapezund, Georgians, Abkhazians.” The Oguz
knights make marches as far as Amid (in the upper waters of the Tigris) and Mardina in
the South, up to Derbent and Traspezund in the North; the fortresses Baiburt and Dizmert
(near the Black Sea) are in the giavurs’ hands; Bard and Ganja (in the Trancaucasus) are
on the border of the Oguzes’ region”. Fairy tale giants live on this very locality – in the
Armenian Highlands – a nomadic or seminomadic way of life, like the contemporaries
of the singers, with herds of horses, camels and sheep, with summers in the mountains,
as well as gardens and vineyards” (above and here the reference is made to V.V. Bartold:
G.M., N.G.). Perhaps, it would be better to say more exactly: in the stories of the cycle
of Korkut, the militant tribes are depicted who settled down as owners among the settled
population of another tribe or on the borders of the region of ancient settlement, towns
and fortresses of “giavurs”, which are the target of their continuous raids” (pp. 142-143). 

Against the background of these raids on the towns and fortresses of the giavurs, con-
tinually made by the militant tribes let us remember about the “humanistic ideas” and
return to the dating of the epic, fixed by the scholar: 

“Thus, we have every reason to suppose it is in the tribal atmosphere of ak-koyunlu,
in the period of the political hegemony and the military expansion of the Bayundurs, that
is approximately from the middle of the XIV century till the first half of the XV century,
that the originally ancient stories of the Oguz people, received the last verbal-poetic
form, which lay at the base of “The Book of Korkut”. This process was durable and pro-
ceeded in various chronological frameworks for different stories (Baiburt as a fortress of
the giavurs in the story III makes us think about the very beginning of the mentioned
period). Anyway, it had been completed by the time when “The Book of Korkut”
received literary treatment (supposedly in the second quarter of the XV century). 

However, this latest, Middle-Eastern period of the creative history of the Oguz epic,
for a number of epic stories is, undoubtfully, preceded by an earlier, Central Asian peri-
od. As rightfully mentioned by V.V. Bartold, “the legends about Oguzes, Korkud and
Kazanbek are undoubtedly moved to the West in the epoch of Seldjuk Empire (XI-XII
cc.) to which also refers Turkization of Azerbaijan, the Transcaucasus and Asia Minor.”
This statement is asserted by studying the contemporary folklore of Turkic speaking peo-
ples of Central Asia, first of all the Turkmens, the nearest descendants of Central Asian
Oguzes, and then of their neighbours – Kazakhs, Karakalpaks, nomadic and semi-
nomadic Uzbeks. Vast material of historical and folklore legends is also contained in the

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“Genealogy of the Turkmens” by Khivin Khan Abulgazi (1660)… It is partly based on
the written sources, first of all on the wonderful work by Rashid-ad-din (1247-1318),
compiled in the Persian language: “Djami’ at-tavarikh” (“collection of chronicles”, the
beginning of the XIV century), which is the basic source on the early history of the
Turkic and Mongol peoples. On the other hand, Abulgazi repeatedly refers to the verbal
legends of the Turkmen people, to the “bakhshi (folk tale narrators) of the past years  and
notable people from the Turkmens, who had spent their life in battles, to “wise old peo-
ple among the Turkmens, who know the history,” to the “notable people and bakhshi
among the Turkmens, knowledgeable about history”. Referring to the historical and folk-
lore sources of Central Asia, in a number of cases, enables us to assert with quite a high
degree of authenticity, which particular stories of the Korkut cycle were created by the
Oguzes in more ancient times in the low waters of the Sir-Daria, where we find them in
the IX-X centuries, and which appeared later in the XII-XIV centuries, already on the ter-
ritory of the Transcaucasus and Asia Minor. Since the move of the Oguzes to the West
under the leadership of the Seljuks took place in the first half of the XI century, we can
conclude that the legends about Korkut, Salor-Kazan, Alpamishe-Bamsi and some others,
testified in  “The Book of Korkut” and at the same time in the Central Asian sources,
appeared in Central Asia not later than at the beginning of the XI century.

It goes without saying, that in the verbal tradition of a later time these more ancient
epic stories also underwent quite a considerable creative treatment, before they got the
ultimate form in which they have reached us in  “The Book of Korkut” (pp. 144-145).

At the end of his great, classically scientific historical-philological investigation,
V.M. Jirmunski summarises: “The Book of Korkut” is a recording and a written treatment
of epic stories and cantos of the Oguz folk tale narrators - epic tellers. These stories, or
“bilins” in terms of Bartold (“Oguz-name”) were created in different times and by vari-
ous folk tale narrators, partly on the territory of Central Asia, in the low waters of the Sir-
Daria (IX-X cc.), partly in the new motherland of Oguzes, in the Transcaucasus
(Azerbaijan) and in the neighbouring regions of Asia Minor (XI-XVcc.). The characters
of Korkut and Salor-Kazan, his wife – the stalwart Burla-Khatun, and his son Uzur-bek
refer to the Centralasian period of the Oguz epic; Kara-Gyne could perhaps join them, as
well as Kazan’s brother, cantos  about whom haven’t reached us, and, possibly, his son
Kara-Budagh, too. The legendary “age of Korkut” and Salor-Kazan, as Abulgazi knew
from the Turkmen tradition, were the IX-X centuries, a time “three hundred years later
after our prophet”, connected with the names of the Oguz khans from the tribe Kai in the
semihistorical legends of the Turkmen people” (p. 256). 

We think that the adduced results, gained in the process of the long thorough scien-
tific research of the Oguz-Turkic epic by authoritative specialists, undeniably testify that:
this epic, could not by any means have appeared “in written form in the VII century
A.D”,  as asserted in the annotation.  It is only by misunderstanding (probably because
of disinformation, doubtful sources, or perhaps some other reason), that professor
Byulbyul Ogli’s  statement saying that  “this literary masterpiece (that is, the “Book of
our Father Gorgud”, G.M., N.G.) was rewritten on papyrus for the first time more than
1300 years ago” penetrated into the introduction; secondly, neither could the verbal ver-

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sion of “the Book…” have appeared in the VII century (as was asserted in the introduc-
tory article by the academicians) because only the beginning of the formation of the epic
refers to this time, it acquired its final form only  hundreds of years later – in the XV cen-
tury, after which it was recorded and passed to the following generations in written form.
And as it began to shape, when the Oguz-Turks (Turkmens) still lived in Central Asia,
and was finally shaped in the new territories occupied by them, in particular, in the
Armenian Plateau and in Asia Minor, hence the similarity“ in the language and style” of
the monument, specified in the introduction by the authors, with the Orchono-Enisei
monuments and the existence of the toponyms of the occupied territories in it, including
those of Azerbaijan. 

Let us see now, in what way another folklore genre – the baiatis are presented in the
collection. In the annotation it is said: “The first folklore samples – the baiatis, the myth-
ical sayings, are supposed to have been created still Before Christ.” First of all, as already
mentioned, the academic scholars consider the Oguz epic, created, in their own opinion,
in the VII century A.D. to be “the most ancient verbal monument” of their people. Thus,
in fact, they themselves deny the existence of samples of the Azerbaijan folklore before
the VII century A.D. It follows that the biatis, included into this collection or not, could
have been created neither B.C., nor even before the VII century. This purely logical con-
clusion is also entirely confirmed by the contents of the baiatis presented in the collec-
tion. While reading the thirty nine samples of this genre, it strangely turns out that
though, still before our era, the Azerbaijan people had the notions “motherland” (see
baiati 1, numeration is ours-G.M.N.G.) “dear parts” (3), “ruined fatherland” (7) and “dear
land” (9), however with the impressive size of Azerbaijan’s territory, the unknown
authors of the baiati did not choose a single “native” toponym. The only dear to their
hearts and worthy of glory were not at all the Azerbaijan “Araks” (11) and “Karabakh”
(10, 15, 16). It is obvious how the samples in the collection of nearly the ancient folklore
genre are loaded with a current geopolitical subtext. And since in the adduced annotation
it is said that the collection “includes the best samples of folk arts and the masters of
poetic word comprising the height of Azerbaijan literature”, we will adduce the follow-
ing  baiati(16)  in order to give the reader some idea of what they are.

Both on foot and in a bullock cart

By Kaiaks and ships

Walked around, travelled all over the world

Nothing is better than Karabakh.

By the sequence of the baiatis in the collection, one can suppose that this sequence is
based on a chronological principle, and it means, that baiati 16 was created earlier than
the next twenty three. Opportunely, it can be well seen in the enumeration of the means
of transport in it. Such means of transport of the XIX-XX centuries as train, automobile,
plane, helicopter and others are unknown to the nameless author. However one thing  is
clear: still many, many centuries before us (“presumably B.C.”) one of the courageous
sons of Azerbaijan, who created these baiatis travelled in bullock carts, by ships and by

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boats all over the world and got convinced that there was no better place on the earth,
than Karabakh. We are rather well informed about the Azerbaijan means of transport, so
the travel of the creator of the baiati “on foot” and in “bullock carts” and “by ships” is
also quite understandable. But what could it mean “by kaiaks?” As far as this means of
transport mentioned by the Azerbaijan creator of the baiati is concerned, we looked it up
in the encyclopedia and read: “Kaiak is a small trading boat, in the past it was widely
spread among the peoples of the Arctic Region (it is still preserved by part of Canadian
and Greenland Eskimos). The latticed carcass of the Kaiak is made of wood or bone and
is upholstered from above with the skin of sea animals. In the upper part a hole is left,
which is stretched by a belt around the girdle of the rower. It is operated by two small
oars or by one twobladed oar. K. is almost unsinkable and is well adapted to the move-
ments in the sea 9.” Thus, we not only found out the meaning of the word, but also learned
that in ancient times the unknown creator of the baiati, in order to feel the beauty of
Karabakh, had to get even to the Arctic Region and cross its seas by Kaiak. Though it is
more than clear why this and similar baiatis are included in the collection, nevertheless
a number of questions arise. Let’s ask the compilers and the publishers (who did not think
about the literary adequacy but they should have thought about at least the sense quality
of the baiatis included in the collection) some of these questions: 1. We wonder if the
Azerbaijani polar explorer built the Kaiaks himself or he took ready made ones from the
Canadian and Greenland Eskimos? 2. Did Azerbaijan not submit an application to include
into the Guinness Book of Records the unknown creator of the baiatis, who travelled in the
seas of the Arctic Region in his kaiak? Because this fact will some time serve him as solid
grounds to try to establish his rights on the Arctic Region, as he tries today to spread his
rights on the territories and cultural values of the neighbouring countries (Iran, Armenia).
3. How can one explain, that many centuries ago, for the unknown Azerbaijanian who
travelled in the Arctic Region in a kaiak, out of all regions of Azerbaijan with its natural
diversity and richness, with the Caspian Ñea and its picturesque shores, with other won-
derful sights, none of these places turned out to be so dear as Karabakh? 4. Was there any
sense to place the origin of the genre itself into such a long distance of time (B.C.), and
send the poor nameless author to such a vast space as far as the Arctic Region for the sake
of this unsuccessful baiati hastily concocted in Baku?

It has long been known, that the Azerbaijan people who,  without any doubt, have
their unique national culture, and literature in particular, which developed during the last
few centuries, but have no, or few cultural, literary values in particular, coming from the
depths of centuries, try hard to ascribe the cultural values of other peoples, first of all
Persians and Armenians to themselves. To gain their goal, they are ready to make use of
any means – obvious falsification and lie, passing over in silence or distortion of histor-
ical facts, statements having nothing to do with reality or logic and so on. It is especial-
ly notable that under this disguise, they try to lay scientific, so to say, foundation and on
the pseudoscientific basis thought of by themselves, to justify their actions. Being guid-
ed by this very principle, the academic authors of the introductory article “A thousand-
year-old school of humanism and beauty” consciously forget the qualitative difference
existing between the natural resources and the spiritual values, and firstly, they put a sign

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of equation between them, and secondly, forgetting the specificity of use of natural
resources, suggest spreading it over the spiritual values as well. Hence they proclaim the
following: “…like all the natural resources of the planet Earth - the cradle of human
civilization - refer to the whole mankind no matter whether this or that people or con-
crete ethnic group lives on this territory or not, by the same reason the treasures of the
cultural values belong to the whole mankind, but not to separate peoples, who have
created just part of the masterpieces of the world civilization” (p.60). Do these authors
themselves believe in what they proclaim? If they really do, let them inform us what nat-
ural resources mined from which depth and exactly from which territory belong to “the
whole mankind, no matter…” Maybe they mean oil and gas mined on the territory of
Azerbaijan, which are sold to other peoples of the planet Earth at high prices, and the
sums gained are spent on military and political purposes of “a separate people”. If “all
the natural resources” really belong to “the whole mankind”, why do then for already
decades without coming to an agreement, not only Azerbaijan but also all nearcaspian
states argue about the oil and gas in the depths of the Caspian sea, or let’s ask again why
the borders of Azerbaijan, also those of Turkey are closed for Armenia (to please
Azerbaijan) for already more than twenty years? The authors of the article would be
right, if they formulated a different thesis, that is, “the natural resources of the cradle of
human civilization of the planet Earth” belong only to the people living on the given ter-
ritory or to the ethnic group, to be more exact, to the political and employer’s top settled
down there, whereas the harmful consequences of barbarous exploitation of these
resources (pollution of the air, climatic changes, ecological harm in its numerous
varieties and so on) which are equally threatening, belong to “the whole mankind, no
matter ...’’. If the assertion that the natural resources of the planet Earth belong to “the
whole mankind” is an obvious nonsense, the inconsistency of the other assertion is even
more obvious, for it means that these values belong to any people of the planet Earth,
“and not to separate peoples, who have definitely created” these “cultural values.”
However strange it may be, the academic scholars surely mix the concepts of “belong-
ing” and “using”. Of course, unlike “natural resources”, cultural, literary values are open
to everyone who wants to make use of them frankly and in a concerned way, but of
course, they are not birthless and “ownerless”, they belong to the peoples who have cre-
ated them, to the national cultures, and no artificial theories will change anything. The
authors of such a theory forget that if the natural resources exhaust themselves depend-
ing on their use, the literary-artistic and other written-verbal values not only do not
exhaust themselves depending on their use, but, on the contrary, to a certain extent they
enrich and get enriched. Another thing is that it is much easier to make use of the miner-
al resources given by nature, than by spiritual values, because their pure physical, formal
possession does not presuppose at all their mastering or understanding. The latter are
acquired in the process of spiritual, intellectual and moral maturing – a process which is
difficult and long and, unfortunately, not quite available to everybody, let alone  instant-
ly and at one stroke. 

Continuing to develop their geological theory, the authors of the introductory article
enrich the methodology of the composition of the story of national literature by introduc-

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ing into it two, in modern terms, innovative approaches – geographic and ethnic. They
write in black and white: “Azerbaijani folklore and written literature are inseparably con-
nected with the historical development of Azerbaijan, it is because of this that while
investigating the Azerbaijan literature, the necessity for applying two principles

taking into account two factors, i.e. territorial and ethnic, arise” (p. 14). A natural
question is bound to arise: is there a literature of any country in the world, not connect-
ed inseparably with the development of the given country? We think, we can hardly find
a historian of literature in the world, who would say, that Russian, English, French,
German, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Persian literatures are not “inseparably” connected
with the historical development of their countries. It appears, that it is not at all “because
of this” that the authors introduce the two principles(!) taking into account again two (!)
factors: “territorial and ethnic”, but just because they want to ascribe to Azerbaijan cul-
tural values not connected with it either in terms of content, or spiritually or artistically.
Can you not believe it? Let us read at least the following: “By the territorial principle, the
literature created by the ancient authors on the territory of Azerbaijan, is considered to be
the wealth of the literary treasure of Azerbaijan 10. According to this principle, Zoroastr
born on the territory of South Azerbaijan in the valley of the river Araks in the VII-VI
centuries B.C. and his creation “Avesta” “may be” (!) investigated not only as a common
literary monument of the neighbouring peoples, but also as a monument of the
Azerbaijan people. Such samples of Albanian literature – people of ancient Albania,
which is part of the ethnogenesis of the Azerbaijan people and created an independent
state in the IV-VI centuries A. D., the works “Albanian History,” by Musa Kalankatla,
“Weeping Over the Death of the Albania’s Ruler Djevanshir” by the Albanian poet
Davdak are also monuments representing the ancient period of the development of
Azerbaijan literature 11 (p. 14).

Let’s give here a short commentary concerning the two “samples” mentioned. At first
about the first one. The authors deliberately Azerbaijanize the name of Movses
Kaghankatvatsi (Kalankatuatsi), in order to conceal his being an Armenian. We have
before us an example of how the Azerbaijani scholars behave in the postsoviet period.
Some 50 years ago the picture was quite different. In the first volume of the multi-vol-
ume “Soviet Historical Encyclopedia” published at that time, in the 

article “Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic” written by the well-known in those
years Azerbaijani historian A.N. Guliev, we read: “At the beginning of the fifth century
an alphabet of 52 letters already existed in Albania. Schools were opened here, which
were in the hands of the clergy, books basically of religious character were translated into
the language of Albans. Literature and science developed in Albania, beginning from the
7 th century, the formation of the history of Albania started (“History of Aghvans”), the
author of the first part of which was chronologist Moisei Kalankaitukski (Movses
Kaghankatvatsi)” (ibid, p. 230) 12 We think it is not difficult to see from the clarifications
in brackets that the chronologist who composed “the History of Aghvans” was Armenian
(it is written just in Armenian and has been preserved). Moreover, in the bibliography
“Sources and literature for the article” it is given: “Kagankatvatsi M., History of
Aghvans (translated by K. Patkanov) SPb1861 (p. 262).”  

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In today’s atmosphere it is worth paying attention to the fact, that in the section
“Chronology” of the same article compiled by L. Alieva and Z. A. Dulyaeva, it is stated:
“1724 - a treaty between the Azerbaijanians of Gandja and the Armenians of Karabakh
(marked out by us G.M. N.G.) on joint struggle against the Turkish invaders” (p.254).
Hence it is clear, that at that time only Armenians lived in Karabakh, and the
Azerbaijanians concluded a treaty with them about the joint struggle against the invaders
– the Turks, but today they are already in union with the same Turks and try to seize
Armenian Karabakh. History is full of paradoxes, isn’t it? 

Now let’s come back to the second “sample”. Its author’s name is not given in full
with an intentional cut off. It is usually given “Davtak Kertogh”, which means “Davtak
the Poet.” The Armenian word “kertogh”, which gives out the nationality of the author
of the “Weeping”, the scholars have taken away, however forgetting that the word
“Davtak” (Դավթակ) is the diminutive form from “David” in Armenian. It should be
noted that the reader may get acquainted with this “sample” in the following publication:
Davtak Kertogh. Weeping on the Death of the Grand Duke Djevanshir. The original in
Old Armenian (grabar) and the translations into modern Armenian, Russian, English,
French, German, Spanish, Polish. Forward, composition and commentaries by Levon
Mkrtchyan (Yerevan, 1986). 

From the fragment from the introductory article adduced above we can see that its
scholarly authors apply quite different approaches to the Persian and the Armenian liter-
ary monuments which have nothing to do with Azerbaijan literature: in the case of
“Avesta”, they say, that it “can be investigated not only as a common literary monument
of the neighbouring peoples, but also as a monument of the people of Azerbaijan”,
whereas in the case of the Armenian authors Movses Kaghankatvatsi and Davtak Kertogh
- that their works “are also monuments, representing the ancient period of the develop-
ment of Azerbaijan literature.” We think that though the scholars write it, they themselves
do not believe that “Avesta” may be investigated not only as a common literary monu-
ment of the neighbouring peoples, but also as a monument of the Azerbaijan people” and
that the works by Movses Kaghankatvatsi and Davtak Kertogh “are monuments repre-
senting the ancient period of the development of the literature of Azerbaijan”. How can
they believe, that “Avesta”  created in the VII-VI centuries B.C. and the works by the
Armenian authors created in the VII century A.D. can be “theirs” and included  into the
history of Azerbaijan literature, if they know perfectly well, that during the creation of
these works or even later the ancestors of the current Azerbaijanians - the Oguz-Turks
were still in Central Asia  and came to the Caucasus only in the XI century A.D. as tes-
tified by their epic and  the investigations of such authoritative specialists as V.V. Bartold,
V.M. Jirmunski, A.Y. Yakubovski and others. This is not denied by the academic schol-
ars either, who write on the next page (15): “The study of our literature by the ethnic prin-
ciple shows that monuments created by the Turkic ethnos before the XIII century had
already received citizenship in it and contributed a lot to the formation of the ethnogen-
esis of the Azerbijan people who had their own contribution to their literature (responsi-
bility for the word order and the use of the capital A in the Russian sentence lies on the
editors of the Moscow publishing house – G.M., N.G.). These monuments of the VI-VIII

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centuries are basically presented by Orchono-Enisei carvings on cliffs, by Turkic trans-
lations and original monuments of the VIII-X centuries, by the work of XI century
“Divanu lu-gat-i-Turk (“Combined Dictionary of Turkic Languages”) by Makhmud
Kashgari and by the poem of his contemporary Yusif Khaza Khadjib - “Kutadgu bilik” –
“Knowledge of happiness”, considered to be the Turkic “Shakhname.” “We quite agree
with the respectable authors that belonging to the Oguz-Turkic group of tribes and hav-
ing lived until the XI century in the language areal of Orchono-Enisei characters on cliffs,
the Azerbaijani ancestors naturally had to be nourished and were nourished by “the mon-
uments originally created on this territory and those translated into Turkic languages.”
But they could not in the same period, i.e. before the XI century, have in any way been
nourished by the above mentioned written sources, created in Persia and the
Transcaucasus - thousands of kilometres away from Central Asia. Nothing like this could
have or has happened in the history of not only the Azerbaijan people but any people in
general. 

What has been said above can be proved by the composition of the collection itself
with its more than six hundred pages. Here in the section “Folklore” are presented
“Myths and legends,” “Baiatis,” “Lullabies,” “Proverbs and sayings,” “Tales” (pp. 21-
61), “Book of our Father Gorgud” (pp. 62-162), “Ashugh poetry” (three ashughs are pre-
sented: Gurbani, Ali, Alesker, (pp. 263-294). In the second section - “Poetry” (pp. 295-
552) - the works of 17 poets, including Nizami Gianjevi, to whom 140 pages out of 257
are devoted, 16 others have a little bit each, though each of them is presented as “an out-
standing founder of the Azerbaijan poetic renaissance”, “a great Azerbaijani poet-
thinker,” “a brilliant figure of Azerbaijan poetry,” “a sensitive lyric poet, a brilliant rep-
resentative,” “one of the brightest figures,” and so on. Even “the magician of the word,
singer of love, luminary of the poetry of the East, highly gifted poet-thinker

Mukhammed Suleiman ogli Fizuli” who, according to the reference, was born in 1494
in the city of Kerbel near Baghdad, who died and was buried “in the Iraqi land,” “the
unsurpassed master of lyric poetry,” who wrote in three languages – Turkic, Arabic,
and Persian (p.476) covers only 12 pages in the collection. Finally, the section “Prose”
(pp.555-593) with one story by Mirza Fatali Akhundov and one by Mirza Jalil
Mamedkulizade. 

As we see, neither “Avesta”, nor Movses Kaghankatvatsi, the more so Davtak
Kertogh are presented even by a single line, let alone by a page which is quite natural and
understandable, because how can they appear among the pages of Azerbaijan literature if
they do not belong to it and so far have not been read by the Azerbaijan people, as, there
is no doubt, they have not so far been translated into Azerbaijani. 

It is even more than logically harmful, rather funny to consider this or that writer to
be Azerbaijani on the basis of “ethnic factor”, without taking into account other factors
– namely, in what language, hence within the scope of what particular poetics the given
writer created his works, to what extent they were perceived and understood by the peo-
ple, and in what way this writer contributed to the historical development of the given
people’s literature, which he belongs to by birth. As being guided by these purely-logi-
cal, natural principles it is in fact impossible to find at least one writer who created in

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Persian, Arabic, even in Turkish and consider him to be an Azerbaijani writer, the schol-
ars are trying to ground their thesis in the following way: “After being included in the
territory of Arab Khalifat in the VII-VIII centuries up to nearly the XI century, the
Azerbaijani poets had to create their works in Arabic (why only the Azerbaijani, unlike
the Persian or Armenian? – G.M.N.G.). Their poetry found its reflection in various
anthologies under the name of “al-Azerbaijani” (Azerbaijani poets). In the works of these
poets, the greater majority of whom came from famous Azerbaijani families, who had
been taken to Aravia as amanats – hostages, the theme of Motherland, homesickness
towards native places, nature, sadness and pain of separation, love to their Motherland
prevails“ (pp. 14-15). It is at least strange, that the scholars, without taking into account
either the historical facts or the most important condition of the trustfulness of a scientif-
ic theory, i.e. absence of contradictions in it, assert something contradicting both the facts
and the logic. In fact, the territory of present-day Azerbaijan was occupied by the Arab
Khalifat “in the VII-VIII centuries until the XI century”, but the Azerbaijan people had
nothing to do here, for at this very time, as has long been fixed by the historical science
and as we  saw above, the ancestors of the Azerbaijan people were still in Central Asia,
and the territory of present-day Azerbaijan was inhabited by  non-Turkic peoples. The
authors themselves do not deny this, because they see close links “in the language and
style” of the Azerbaijani-Turkish, to be more exact, the Oguz epic and the Orchono-
Enisei monuments. More than that, the authors do not notice the apparent contradiction
between the two principles-factors (territorial and ethnic) offered by themselves for the
investigation of the Azerbaijan literature.” If it is true to say that “those who came from
Azerbaijan families” and wrote their works in Arabic, can be considered representatives
of Azerbaijan literature only because “the theme of Motherland, homesickness towards
their native land, native places, nature, sadness and pain of separation, love for native
land prevail in their works”, it is also justified to mention that we can see the same feel-
ings in the works by Persian Nizami Gianjevi, moreover that he wrote in his native
Persian language 13 and on Persian subjects (for example, “The Seven Beauties”), naming
many toponyms of historical Iran. Is it congruous with the principles put forward in the
introduction of the book in question, is it convincing, is it scientific to present Fizuli
(1494-1556) as an Azerbaijani poet when, born in Iraq, he had never seen and could
never know  Azerbaijan (because this name appeared only in the XX century, you know)
and wrote in Arabic, Persian and Turkic? The same question can be asked about Nizami
(1141-1209) - a Persian who lived on the territory of present-day Azerbaijan and wrote
in Persian. As a matter of fact neither of them is a representative of Azerbaijan literature,
as they did not write in the language of this literature. At least, either one or the other, but
not both, because one is in contradiction with the other.

What has been considered above does not, of course, exhaust every question deserv-
ing attention in the book “The Astral Cluster”. However, we will confine ourselves to this
in the present article, reminding the Azerbaijani academic scholars, that literatures of all
peoples and nations, besides their own peculiarities and uniqueness, also possess univer-
sal regularities avoiding which is not permissible in science. 

To complete this critical review of the Azerbaijani version of the history of national

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literature we would prefer to refer to a very important warning or a lesson contained in
the article “On the Public Responsibility of Literary Criticism” by D.S. Likhachev
(whose name does not need any commentaries and speaks for itself): “Mixing the tasks
of investigation with the tasks of popularization creates hybrids, the basic defect of which
is its pseudo-scientific nature. Pseudo-science is able to squeeze out science or lower the
academic level of science. This phenomenon is very dangerous on a world scale, because
it opens the gates to various kinds of chauvinistic or extremist tendencies in literary crit-
icism… It is only the high science (a detailed philological study of literary works, texts
and their language, demonstrable and unprejudiced nature of arguments, methodical and
methodological exactness) that is able to soothe the extremist forces in the struggle for
Cultural heritage.” 14

Notes and References:

1. NASA (National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan).
2. Later to refer to this publication we mention the page in the text. Everything marked in the cita-

tions here and further is done by the authors of the present article (G. M., N. G.).
3. It consists of an introduction and twelve dastans (chapters). See, scientific publication in

Russian: “The Book of My Grandfather Korkut”. Oguz heroic epic. Translation by academi-
cian V.V. Bartold. Prepared for publication by V.M. Zirmunski, A.N. Kanonov. M.- L., 1962.
Since this  is the best of all the Russian publications, all our references are made  to this pub-
lication. In case we refer to both the translation of the epic, and the works by V. V. Bartold
(“The Turkish Epic and the Caucasus”, p. 109-120), by  A.Y. Yakubovski (“Kitab-and Korkud
and Its Meaning for the Study of the Turkmen Society in the Epoch of Early Middle Ages”, p.
121-130), and by V.M. Zirmunski (“The Oguz Heroic Epic and “The Book of Korkut”, p. 109-
259) placed in the section “Appendices”, the page is mentioned in brackets in the text. 

4. Evidently, all this takes place after 1453, that is after Constantinople was changed into Istanbul.
Meanwhile, it is stated in the book “Astral Cluster”, as we shall see later, the epic was created
orally in the VII century A.D. According to another assertion, it is in this century that it was
rewritten on papyrus (!)   

5. In the appendices of the translation by V.V. Bartold “Onik” is given as “fortress in the district
Basin, in the region of Erzrum, to the South-East (SE) of it” (p. 266).

6. In V.V. Bartold’s notes: “Lake Giokcha”, and the compilers have added “Now lake Sevan”
(p. 277).

7. According to a number of investigations of the Turkic epic, it was originally created on the ter-
ritory of Central Asia, and then together with the Oguzes nomadized and penetrated into new
occupied territories, that’s why it is connected with the toponyms and oikonyms of not only
Azerbaijan but also with many others. See the articles in “the appendix and on pp. 281-283 in
the publication of 1962 mentioned by us: “Literature about “The Book of My Grandfather
Korkut.” 

8. It is noteworthy that at the beginning of the XIX century, the Turks displayed a wish to return
to their motherland, because as the source says: “Asia Minor in their eyes is an alien land occu-
pied by force - a place for residence, from where sooner or later they had to leave; they con-
sider their motherland to be the countries of South-East which they can’t comprehend fully, it
is a motherland but not a fatherland; there is no word “fatherland” in the Turkish language, and
the concept connected with it is not only unknown to a Turk from Anatolia but also quite unin-

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telligible.” S.V. Lurye, Historical Ethnology. Manual for HEI (Higher Educational
Institutions), Aspect Press, 1997, p. 243).

9. “Extended Soviet Encyclopedia,”.V. 11 M., 1973. pp. 561-562
10. Could it be possible to imagine that in France or in Italy, in Germany or in Check Republic, the

historians of national literature announced by the territorial factor that the wealth of the liter-
ary  treasure of their countries are the works created on the territory of these countries by
Russian writers and poets, such as Gorkey, Bunin, Tsvetaeva and many others? Of course, this
is unimaginable.

11. We would like to remark that such and even more incompatible phrases in the article introduc-
ing the book to the Russian reader are abundant. If not in terms of ideas and facts, at least in
terms of the normative use of the Russian language the head of the Moscow publishing house
“Fiction” B. Riabukhin and the editor A. Kapustiuk could have felt more responsibility for the
text, so important for the book, not to spoil it even more with the defects of the language use.

12. It should be mentioned in this connection, that in the same volume in the article “Albania
Caucasian”, the outstanding scholar Z.I. Yampolski writes: “Beginning from the 5th century
the written language of A.C., accustomed to one of the local languages (the Gargarian) began
to develop. The alphabet of the Albanian language consisting of 52 letters had common fea-
tures with Georgian and Armenian alphabets” (p. 354). What the scholar has said is true,
because all the three alphabets were created by Mesrop Mashtots personally or under his direct
leadership. 

13. It is worth mentioning here, how prof. Biulbiul Ogli entitled his introductory word:
“Motherland begins with one’s mother tongue”. Further in the text itself: “…if you ask me
from what Azerbaijan begins for me personally, without thinking, I will answer: with mother
tongue, in which our ancestors spoke” (p. 4). One had better stop and think if he/she perceives
motherland and mother tongue in this way, before ascribing to Azerbaijan literature the works
by Nizami created in the Persian (mother) language.

14. D.S. Likhachev, Literature - Reality - Literature. L., 1984, pp. 244-245.

²½ ·³ ÛÇÝ ·ñ³ ϳ Ýáõ ÃÛ³Ý å³ï ÙáõÃ Û³Ý ³¹ñ μ» ç³ Ý³ Ï³Ý ï³ñ μ» ñ³ ÏÁ 
ùÝݳ Ï³Ý ¹Ç ï³ñÏ Ù³Ùμ

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áñ Ýñ³ ÝáõÙ ï»Õ »Ý ·ï»É μ³½ Ù³ ÃÇí áõ μ³½ Ù³ åÇ ëÇ ³ÏÝ Ñ³Ûï ëË³É Ý»ñ, ³Ýï ñ³ -
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ó ÛÇÝ ³ñ Å»ù Ý» ñÁ ë» ÷³ ϳ Ý» Éáõ ³Ý ó ùáõÛó ÝÏñïáõ ÙÝ»ñ ¨ Ñá·¨áñ Ùß³ ÏáõÛ ÃÇ
å³ï ÙáõÃ Û³Ý ·Ç ï³ Ï³Ý áõ ëáõ٠ݳ ëÇ ñáõà ۳ÝÝ ³Ý ѳ ñÇñ ѳ Ù³Ý Ù³Ý ß³ï ³ÛÉ
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ÏáõÉ ïáõ ñ³ Ûáí: л ÕÇ Ý³Ï Ý» ñÇ Ëá ñÇÝ Ñ³ Ùá½ Ù³Ùμ ³¹ñμ» ç³ Ý³ Ï³Ý ·Çï ݳ Ï³Ý Ý» -
ñÁ ÝÙ³Ý Ùá ï» óáõ ÙÝ»ñ ¹ñë ̈ á ñ»É »Ý ݳ¨ ËáñÑñ ¹³ ÛÇÝ ï³ ñÇ Ý» ñÇÝ, áõë ïÇ, » û ³Û¹

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ï» ë³ Ï» ïÇó ³Ýëå³ ë» ÉÇ áõ ½³ñ Ù³ ݳ ÉÇ á ãÇÝã ãϳ, ³ å³ ÙÇ³Ý ·³ Ù³ÛÝ ½³ñ Ù³ ݳ -
ÉÇ áõ ó³ í³ ÉÇ ¿ ³ÛÝ, áñ ³Û¹ ³ Ù» ÝÁ ÃáõÛÉ ¿ ïñí³Í ²äÐ Ù³ë ݳ ÏÇó å» ïáõà Ûá õÝÝ» ñÇ
Ñáõ Ù³ ÝÇ ï³ñ ³ ç³Ï óáõ ÃÛ³Ý ÙÇç å» ï³ Ï³Ý ýáÝ ¹Ç Ñá í³ Ý³ íá ñáõà ۳Ùμ §¶» Õ³ñ -
í»ë ï³ Ï³Ý ·ñ³ ϳ Ýáõ ÃÛá õݦ Ñ» ÕÇ Ý³ ϳ íáñ Ññ³ ï³ ñ³Ï ãáõÃ Û³Ý ïå³ ·ñ³Í
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