, March 17, 1940) was an Azerbaijani writer, thinker, philosopher, artist, doctor, and the creator of the modern
Flag of Azerbaijan
The national flag of Azerbaijan ( az, Azərbaycan bayrağı), often referred to in Azerbaijani language, Azerbaijani as ( en, Tricolour flag), is a horizontal tricolour (flag), tricolour that features three equally sized bars of bright blue, ...
.
Early years
Ali bey Huseynzade was born in 1864 to a family of Muslim religious clerics in Salyan, in the present-day
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 ...
. 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
Saint Petersburg State University (SPBU; russian: Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the G ...
. 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
The military of the Ottoman Empire ( tr, Osmanlı İmparatorluğu'nun silahlı kuvvetleri) was the armed forces of the Ottoman Empire.
Army
The military of the Ottoman Empire can be divided in five main periods. The foundation era covers the ...
, and subsequently as an assistant professor at IU. Huseynzade was one of the founders of the
Committee of Union and Progress
The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) ( ota, اتحاد و ترقى جمعيتی, translit=İttihad ve Terakki Cemiyeti, script=Arab), later the Union and Progress Party ( ota, اتحاد و ترقى فرقهسی, translit=İttihad ve Tera ...
.
Ziya Gökalp
Mehmet Ziya Gökalp (23 March 1876 – 25 October 1924) was a Turkish sociologist, writer, poet, and politician. After the 1908 Young Turk Revolution that reinstated constitutionalism in the Ottoman Empire, he adopted the pen name Gökalp ("ce ...
, was influenced by his
Pan-Turkist
Pan-Turkism is a political movement that emerged during the 1880s among Turkic intellectuals who lived in the Russian region of Kazan (Tatarstan), Caucasus (modern-day Azerbaijan) and the Ottoman Empire (modern-day Turkey), with its aim bei ...
ideology, 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 "Heyat" newspaper, and served as a chief editor of the "Kaspiy" newspaper. In 1905, he joined Alimardan Topchubashev, Reşit Ibragimov, Ferruh 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. In 1906, Huseynzade started publishing the magazine ' ("''Fusion''"), financed by the famous philanthropist
Haji Zeynalabdin Taghiyev
, image = Haji Zeynalabdin Taghiyev.jpg
, image_size = 250px
, caption =
, birth_date = 25 January 1823Tsarist 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
The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) ( ota, اتحاد و ترقى جمعيتی, translit=İttihad ve Terakki Cemiyeti, script=Arab), later the Union and Progress Party ( ota, اتحاد و ترقى فرقهسی, translit=İttihad ve Tera ...
. From 1915 to 1916 he travelled to several European capitals to reach out for support for the Pan-Turkish movement. In 1918, he returned to Azerbaijan to participate in the formation of
Azerbaijan Democratic Republic
The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic), or simply as Azerbaijan in Paris Peace Conference, 1919–1920,''Bulletin d'Information de l'Azerbaidjan'', No. I, September 1, 1919, pp. 6–7''125 H.C.Debs.'', 58., February 24, 1920, p. 1467. Caucasian A ...
(ADR), and participated in negotiations for the Ottoman support of the ADR against the
Baku Commune
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 ...
. After the fall of ADR in April 1920, Huseynzade permanently settled in
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
and became a citizen, receiving the surname Turan.
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.