Firidun bey Ahmad bey oglu Kocharli or Kocharlinski ( az, Firidun bəy Köçərli; russian: Фиридун-бек Кочарлинский or ) (26 January 1863, in Shusha – 1920, in

Ganja Ganja (, ; ) is one of the oldest and most commonly used synonyms for marijuana. Its usage in English dates to before 1689. Etymology ''Ganja'' is borrowed from Hindi/Urdu ( hi, गांजा, links=no, ur, , links=no, IPA: �aːɲd� ...

) was a prominent

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 th ...

i writer,

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

, and literary critic.

Life

Kocharli was born in 1863 in Shusha being the only child of Ahmad bey Kocharli. Firidun graduated from the local Russian-Muslim school and was admitted to the

Transcaucasian Teachers Seminary The Transcaucasian Teachers Seminary (russian: Закавказская учительская семинария) in Gori (present-day Georgia) was a 4-year specialized secondary school in the Russian Empire in 1876–1917 aimed at professional t ...

in Gori. Upon receiving his diploma in 1885, he started teaching Azerbaijani and religion at a Russian-Muslim school in

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Y ...

.Literaty Criticism
by Shams Rufullayeva In 1895 he was invited back to Gori to teach at his '' alma mater''.Firidun bey Kocharli: National Teacher and Outstanding Philologist
by Galina Mikeladze. ''Azerbaijanskie Izvestia'' He was one of the first Azerbaijani

literati Literati may refer to: *Intellectuals or those who love, read, and comment on literature *The scholar-official or ''literati'' of imperial/medieval China **Literati painting, also known as the southern school of painting, developed by Chinese liter ...

to raise questions about standards for the written

Azerbaijani language Azerbaijani () or Azeri (), also referred to as Azeri Turkic or Azeri Turkish, is a Turkic language from the Oghuz sub-branch spoken primarily by the Azerbaijani people, who live mainly in the Republic of Azerbaijan where the North Azerbaija ...

. In 1895 he wrote his first article ''Tatar Comedies'' ("Tatar" was a common Russian name for Azerbaijanis before 1920), followed by ''Essays on Our Literature'' (1904). In 1903 he published his first academic work entitled ''Literature of the Azerbaijani Tatars'', a critical piece that contains information on 130 Azerbaijani writers and poets. In the following years he published some smaller works like ''Mirza Fatali Akhundov'' (1911) and ''Gift to Children'' (1912). Kocharli also translated works of European, mostly Russian authors into Azerbaijani. His major academic work is ''Topics on the History of Azerbaijani Literature'', which was published only in 1925, five years following his death. It was one of the first successful attempts to compile scientific data on the history and development of

Azerbaijani literature Azerbaijani literature ( az, Azərbaycan ədəbiyyatı) is written in Azerbaijani, a Turkic language, which is the official state language of the Republic of Azerbaijan, where the North Azerbaijani variety is spoken. It is also natively spoken ...

. Yusif Vazir Chamanzaminli, who greatly admired Kocharli, had published Yusif Bey Vazirov (Chamanzaminli), A Glimpse of Azerbaijan Literature (Istanbul: Istanbul Publishing House 1337 (1921), 103 pages. Azerbaijani language in Arabic script. in Istanbul in 1921. A copy of this book is in the Azerbaijan Republic State History Archives in Baku. In 1917–1918 he was member of the Azerbaijani National Council. In 1918–1920 Kocharli was elected to the parliament of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. He was killed in

in the spring of 1920. He was married to Badisabah Kocharli, née Vakilova, a Gazakh-native teacher who later worked in

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

, Zagatala, and Shaki.

Heritage

In the Soviet era, Kocharli's works remained largely unknown due to his political affiliation with the anti-Communist

Musavat Party The Müsavat Party ( az, Müsavat Partiyası, from ar, مساواة ''musāwāt'', ) is the oldest existing political party in Azerbaijan. Its history can be divided into three periods: Early Musavat, Musavat-in-exile and New Musavat. Early Musa ...

. It was not until 1957 when Bakir Nabiyev, a graduate student in the

Azerbaijan 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 ...

, started researching the heritage of Kocharli accessing archives and interviewing some of his surviving colleagues and students. In 1960 Nabiyev published the first monograph dedicated to the contributions of Kocharli into scientific literature.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kocharli, Firidun 1863 births 1920 deaths Azerbaijani philologists Azerbaijani literary critics Azerbaijani educators Azerbaijan Democratic Republic politicians Azerbaijani nobility Writers from Shusha 19th-century Azerbaijani people 20th-century Azerbaijani people Scientists from Shusha Transcaucasian Teachers Seminary alumni