Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences

On November 20, Institute of Oriental Studies has organized a scientific conference on topic "Ahmad bey Aghaoghlu – a prominent Azerbaijani thinker of the XX century” at the Main Building of ANAS.

Opening the conference, academic Govhar Bakhshaliyeva, director of the Institute of Oriental Studies, highlighted the importance of a scientific conference dedicated to one of the great representatives of public opinion, prominent publicist and critic, lawyer and orientalist Ahmad bey Aghaoghlu. She noted that the decree of President Ilham Aliyev “On the celebration of the 150th anniversary of Ahmad bey Aghaoghlu” is the highest expression of value, respect that is given to the great thinker at the state level.

Speaking about the bright life path of Ahmad bey Aghaoghlu, scientist brought to the attention that a prominent public and political figure was active in all aspects of the national struggle and was always distinguished by his initiative and activity as a scientist and lawyer. He has always been at the forefront of the national awakening movement and has been a consistent supporter of modernization policies in the Muslim East.

Then ANAS vice president acad. Isa Habibbeyli spoke about place and role of Ahmad bey Aghaoghlu in the history of social - political thought in Azerbaijan and Turkic world as a whole. The scientist said that Ahmad bey Aghaoghlu, who fought for the independence of Azerbaijan and Turkey, was one of the leading intellectuals in the struggle for state independence of the two countries, that the great thinker was elected to the parliament of both countries and played an important role in the national independence of both nations.

Noted that, Ahmad bey put forward the idea of creating a Western-oriented republican state in the Azerbaijani press, especially in the newspaper "Hayat" and "Irshad", as well as in the Turkish press. His work in the newspapers “Hayat” and “Irshad” gave a powerful impetus to the national awakening in Azerbaijan at the beginning of the XX century and preparation for the struggle for independent statehood. Articles by Ahmad bey published in the “Hayat” newspaper are at the level of a manifesto of national revival. The appeals of this newspaper led to the creation of the Azerbaijan People Republic.

According to the vice-president of ANAS, Ahmad bey Aghaoghlu was one of the founders of the law faculty of Ankara University in Turkey, and created the organization "Difai" to fight against the tsarist government and Dashnak Armenians in our country.

Academic I. Habibbeyli touched upon the need to develop a generalized monograph on Ahmad bey Aghaoghlu.

Then, academic-secretary of the Division of Social Sciences academic Nargiz Akhundova added that in the course of the multifaceted and intensive work of Ahmad bey Agaoglu, a brilliant literary and journalistic and rich scientific and theoretical heritage was created, Azerbaijani treasury of literary and cultural ideas was enriched with new ideas.

At the event, a lecture was delivered by Professor Solmaz Rustamova-Tohidi "Ahmad bey Aghaoghlu and national identity." The speaker examined the life path and activities of the political figure as an orientalist-Iranian scholar and his articles published in France, England, the Caucasus and Turkey.

Later on, PhD in Philosophy, Assoc. Prof. Esmeralda Hasanova delivered a lecture on topic “Ahmad bey Aghaoghlu and his role in the development of socio-political thought of Turkey”, PhD in Theology, Assoc. Prof. Mammadali Babashli on “The essence and importance of the struggle of Ahmad bey Aghaoghlu for sake of national dignity”, PhD in Philology Assoc. Prof. Sariyya Gundoghdu on “Enlightment activity of Ahmad bey Aghaoghlu in the journal “Sirati-Mustagim”, and Mirze Ansarli “Ahmad bey Aghaoghlu and Malta exile”, in the conference.

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