Elchin Ilyas oglu Afandiyev ( az, Elçin İlyas oğlu Əfəndiyev) is an

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...

i writer, professor and politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan from 1993 to 2018.

Early years

Afandiyev was born to the family of famous Azerbaijani writer

Ilyas Afandiyev Ilyas Mahammad oglu Afandiyev ( az, Əfəndiyev İlyas Məhəmməd oğlu) was an Azerbaijani and Soviet writer, member of Azerbaijan Union of Writers (1940), Honored Art Worker of Azerbaijan (1960), laureate of the State Prize of Azerbaijan (1972) ...

on May 13, 1943 in Baku. Since his early childhood, Elchin Afandiyev was surrounded by literature and an academic environment. Azerbaijani folklore and world literature played a significant role in Afandiyev's future career. He wrote his first novel when he was 16 years old, which was published in ''Azərbaycan gəncləri'' (''Azerbaijani Youth'') magazine in 1959. He completed his secondary education in 1960 and studied at

Baku State University Baku State University (BSU) ( az, Bakı Dövlət Universiteti (BDU)) is a public university located in Baku, Azerbaijan. Established in 1919 by the Parliament of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the university started with faculties of history and ...

, graduating in 1965 with a degree in philology. In 1968, he completed his post-graduate studies at the Nizami Institute of the

Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS) ( az, Azərbaycan Milli Elmlər Akademiyası (AMEA)), located in Baku, is the main state research organization and the primary body that conducts research and coordinates activities in the fields of ...

, writing a 500-page dissertation. In 1965, he published a collection of novels called ''Min gecədən biri'' (''One of thousand nights''). In the following years, nearly 100 books of Afandiyev were translated and published in English, French, German, Spanish, Turkish, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Arabic,

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

, Mandarin, Czech, Slovak, Polish, Croatian, Georgian, Lithuanian, Moldovan, Turkmen, Uzbek, Kazakh, Tajik, Serbian and other languages. There have been about five million copies sold worldwide.

Political career

During Soviet rule, Afandiyev was a deputy in the Supreme Soviet of the Azerbaijan SSR. Since 1993, he has served as Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan. As a Deputy Prime Minister, he supervises various sectors of government activity such as sports and cultural relations. He has also chaired the ''Vətən'' cultural organization, which focuses on cultural ties with other countries. He is also a member of several government committees and is a member of Education Committee under the

President of Azerbaijan The president of the Republic of Azerbaijan is the head of state of Azerbaijan. The Constitution states that the president is the embodiment of executive power, commander-in-chief, "representative of Azerbaijan in home and foreign policies", ...

Awards

Efendiyev was awarded with

Istiglal Order Istiglal Order ( az, Istiqlal ordeni), is the highest supreme order of the Republic of Azerbaijan, along with Heydar Aliyev Order. presented by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Istiglal means ''Sovereignty'' in Azerbaijani. History ...

for his contributions to the development of Azerbaijani literature by

Heydar Aliyev Heydar Alirza oghlu Aliyev ( az, Һејдәр Әлирза оғлу Әлијев, italic=no, Heydər Əlirza oğlu Əliyev, ; , ; 10 May 1923 – 12 December 2003) was a Soviet and Azerbaijani politician who served as the third president of Az ...

on May 29, 2003.

References

Writers from Baku Azerbaijani professors 1943 births Living people Azerbaijan Communist Party (1920) politicians Azerbaijani politicians Azerbaijani writers Azerbaijani screenwriters Political office-holders in Azerbaijan Baku State University alumni Recipients of the Istiglal Order {{Azerbaijan-writer-stub

Early years

Political career

Awards

See also

References