Studies on Azerbaijan and Turk's History Azərbaycan və Türk tarixi araşdırmaları

Abstract The article reviews the history of the Turkish language and literature in Azerbaijan from the Khanates period to the end of Pahlavi rule. During the Safavid and Qajar eras, Turkish served as the language of the court, the army, and the general public. After World War I, Persian-centric nationalist movements gained ground. Key milestones include Rashidiyya's Turkish-medium schools, the Constitutional Revolution, and the autonomous government in South Azerbaijan in 1945. Under Reza Shah, forced Persianization led to the official ban on Turkish. Despite continued restrictions under Mohammad Reza Shah, literary efforts by poets like Shahriar and Sehend, and publications such as the Dede Qorqud epic, helped preserve the language. Following the 1979 revolution, relative cultural freedom emerged, yet Turkish still lacks official status in Iran's educational system.

Abstract This article examines the etymology and naming origins of two significant toponyms in West Azerbaijan: Sulduz and Naqadeh. Employing an interdisciplinary approach—drawing upon mythology, historical linguistics, ancient astronomy, and ethnography—the author critiques the popular and folkloric interpretations of these names and traces their older roots to the mythological and cosmological layers of Proto-Turkic peoples. In the first section, the name "Sulduz" is analyzed not as meaning "watery plain" (Sulu Düz), but rather as a mythological compound of the components "Su/Şu" (light, radiance, water-deity) and "Ulduz/Duz" (star, cosmic origin). The author associates it with the concept of the "Shepherd's Star" or "Water Star" (Mercury) and emphasizes its connection to sun-worship and star-cults among the Saka and Oghuz Turks. In the second section, the name "Naqadeh" is introduced as an evolved form of the ancient Turko-Sumerian goddess "Anahita/Inanna" (goddess of water, fertility, and the planet Venus). Citing phonetic evidence, the author regards Naqadeh as a survival of forms like "Nahida" or "Naqida" and compares it with the ancient city of Naqada in Egypt and the Hasanlu Tepe in Sulduz to illustrate the cultural-mythological links between ancient civilizations. Ultimately, the article emphasizes the key role of mythological and cosmological thought among the ancient Turks in shaping the toponymic system of Azerbaijan, and deems purely historical or political interpretations of these names as insufficient and misleading.

Abstract This writing is a bitter and documented narrative of a survivor of the historical catastrophe known as "Jiloluq" (the massacre of Azerbaijani Turks by immigrant Assyrians and Armenians) in the Salmas and Urmia region during the final years of World War I (1918 AD / 1297 SH). The narrator, relying on the oral memoirs of his father—who was an eyewitness to these events—recounts how the Jilo groups, who had previously taken refuge in Azerbaijan from the Ottoman Empire, carried out mass killings, looting, and displacement of the unarmed Turkic and Muslim population of the region, instigated by Western missionaries and Russian forces. The narrative depicts, moment by moment, the genocide in the villages of "Ayan" and "Kohneh Shahr," the terrified flight of families, the hunger, thirst, and wandering of children and women, local betrayals, and the life-saving role of "Ehsan Nouri Pasha" and the "Army of Islam" in containing this tragedy and restoring relative security. In the background of these memories lies a bitter critique of the colonial policies of the West and Russia, as well as the negligence of the then-government (Qajar) regarding border security and the lives of its people. Emphasizing the value of "remembrance" and "recording local history," the narrator considers these memoirs not merely a personal account, but the voice of an oppressed nation and a living document of betrayal, suffering, and the plight of people who were sacrificed in the vortex of the great powers' interests.

Abstract Tehran, as the two-hundred-year-old capital of Iran, represents different things to different people: for some, a place of work and income; for others, a hub of opportunities including education and medical services; for some, traffic and pollution; and for a number of social activists, a site of wealth accumulation and the core of center-periphery thought.

Abstract Following the Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917, Russia withdrew from the war. This situation gave German and Turkish forces the upper hand in World War I on Iranian territory, which had been a scene of conflict between Russia, Britain, the Ottoman Empire, and Germany. During this period, Ottoman forces were attempting to reach the Caucasus region through Iran. Britain, meanwhile, was trying to take control of areas in Iran that Russia had vacated. Although Britain wanted to occupy northern Iran before the Ottoman forces, it did not have sufficient military forces for this purpose. Therefore, Britain made it a priority to support the Armenians and Nestorians who were gradually gathering in Urmia and its surroundings. The Armenians and Nestorians, in turn, attacked both the Ottoman forces and the unarmed Muslim civilian population of the region, killing many of them.

Abstract This text examines the principle of justice in the works of Nizami Ganjavi, the great 12th-century Persian poet. Living amidst the religious and political tensions of his era, Nizami transcended bigotry to promote justice. Despite criticism for his love for a Kipchak slave girl named Afaq and for writing in Persian, he overcame these controversies through his enduring literary masterpieces. In Nizami's thought, the principle of justice manifests as both a general philosophical and legal principle and in its specific dimensions (such as criminal and constitutional law). During the reigns of the Shirvanshahs and Atabegs (Eldenizids), Islamic law (Sharia) coexisted with Christian legal codes like Mkhitar Gosh's "Law Code." Nizami rejected all legal discrimination, portraying justice across three domains: sovereignty, love, and other social contexts. The most extensive embodiment of this principle is found in his two major works, "The Treasury of Mysteries" and "Khosrow and Shirin." In "The Treasury of Mysteries," through chapters like "The King's Care for the People and Justice," he advises rulers towards justice and compassion, warning that justice brings prosperity while oppression leads to ruin. In the romantic epic "Khosrow and Shirin," he utilizes the love story to articulate his ideals of justice. By praising King Hormuz for punishing his own son for violating the law, Nizami asserts the principle of equality before the law, criticizing the injustices of his time. He demonstrates how justice brings happiness to the people, frees the innocent, and fosters loyalty towards the ruler. Justice, for Nizami, is the only virtue that endures beyond death. The influence of Nizami's justice-seeking principle is clearly discernible in the works of later philosophers and writers, including Spinoza, Kant, Voltaire, and notably William Shakespeare, who explored themes of justice in plays like "Othello" and "King Lear."