Ali bey Huseynzade

Ali bey Huseynzade
Azerbaijani: Əli bəy Hüseynzadə
Huseynzade in 1933
Presiding member of the Committee of Union and Progress
In office
1910–?
Personal details
Born(1864-03-07)March 7, 1864
Salyan, Shemakha uezd, Baku Governorate, Russian Empire
DiedMarch 17, 1940(1940-03-17) (aged 76)
Istanbul, Turkey
NationalityAzerbaijani
OccupationWriter, philosopher, publicist, artist and doctor

Ali bey Huseyn oghlu Huseynzade (Azerbaijani: Əli bəy Hüseyn oğlu Hüseynzadə; Turkish: Hüseyinzade Ali Turan; Salyan, March 7, 1864 – Istanbul, March 17, 1940) was an Azerbaijani writer, thinker, philosopher, artist, doctor, and the creator of the modern Flag of Azerbaijan.[1]

Early years

Ali bey Huseynzade was born in 1864 to a family of Muslim religious clerics in Salyan, in the present-day Azerbaijan. His grandfather Mahammadali Huseinzadeh was the Sheikh ul-Islam (Supreme religious leader) of the Caucasus for 32 years. Ali bey received his primary education at the Tiflis Muslim school followed by the Tiflis Classical Gymnasium. In 1885, he entered the Physics and Math Department at Saint Petersburg University. Upon graduation from there in 1889, Huseynzade moved to Istanbul, where he entered the Medical faculty of Istanbul University (IU). After graduation from IU, he served as a military doctor in the Ottoman Army, and subsequently as an assistant professor at IU. Huseynzade was one of the founders of the Committee of Union and Progress.[2] Ziya Gökalp, was influenced by his Pan-Turkist ideology,[3] and referred to Huseynzade as one of his most important teachers.

Public activity

In 1903, Ali bey returned home and spent the next seven years in Baku. During this period of time, he engaged in scholarly and publishing activities, edited the "Hayat" newspaper, and served as a chief editor of the "Kaspiy" newspaper. In 1905, he joined Alimardan bey Topchubashov, Reşit Ibragimov, Farrukh bey Vezirov and Ahmet Ağaoğlu as a part of the Azerbaijani delegation to an all-Russian convention of Muslims, where an agreement was reached on establishing of the Ittifaq al Muslimin a single Muslim party in Russian Empire.[4] In 1906, Huseynzade started publishing the magazine Füyuzat [az] ("Fusion"), financed by the famous philanthropist Haji Zeynalabdin Taghiyev, and harshly criticized the Tsarist government in his writings.

In 1910, Huseynzade moved to the Ottoman Empire. And in 1911 he was elected a presiding member of the Committee of Union and Progress.[5] From 1915 to 1916 he travelled to several European capitals to reach out for support for the Pan-Turkish movement.[6] In 1918, he returned to Azerbaijan to participate in the formation of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR), and participated in negotiations for the Ottoman support of the ADR against the Baku Commune. After the fall of ADR in April 1920, Huseynzade permanently settled in Turkey and became a citizen, receiving the surname Turan.[7]

Memory

One of the streets in the Yasamal district of Baku is named after Ali bey Huseynzade and there's a statue of him in the center of his hometown.

References

  1. ^ Smith, Whitney (2001). Flag Lore Of All Nations. Millbrook Press. p. 13. ISBN 0-7613-1753-8.
  2. ^ Seyidzade, D. B. (1978). Из истории азербайджанской буржуазии в начале XX века (in Russian). Baku. p. 43.
  3. ^ Tarih Aynasında Ziya Gökalp, p. 67, at Google Books
  4. ^ Shissler, Ada Holland (2003). Between Two Empires: Ahmet Agaoglu and the New Turkey. I.B.Tauris. pp. 124–126. ISBN 978-1-86064-855-7.
  5. ^ Landau, Jacob M. (1981). Pan-Turkism in Turkey. London: C. Hurst & Company. p. 48. ISBN 0905838572.
  6. ^ Landau, Jacob M. (1981). Pan-Turkism in Turkey. London: C. Hurst & Company. p. 53. ISBN 0905838572.
  7. ^ YAVUZ AKPINAR (21 June 2013). "Tam sayfa faks yazdırma" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 2015-04-10.