Yusif Vazir Chamanzaminli
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Yusif Vazir Chamanzaminli, sometimes spelled Chemenzeminli (Azeri: Yusif Vəzir Çəmənzəminli), born Yusif Mirbaba oglu Vazirov (12 September 1887, Shusha – 3 January 1943, near Gorky) was an Azerbaijani writer and political figure.
[edit] Life and career
Chamanzaminli was born into a well-to-do family of Mirbaba and Aziza Vazirov in the city of Shusha (then part of the Russian Empire, now in Azerbaijan). His father was a mugham teacher and a connoisseur of Islamic literature, who spoke Persian and Turkish fluently and had travelled a lot throughout the region.
After graduating from the primary school of Kor Khalifa in 1895, Chamanzaminli pursued his studies at the Realschule of Shusha and later at that of Baku. He published his first work in the local Azeri-language periodicals Sada and Molla Nasraddin. In 1909 Chamanzaminli left for Saint Petersburg to get into a program at the Institute for Civil Engineers but having realized that he would not pass the placement test in mathematics, with which he had always had difficulties with, Chamanzaminli cancelled his application. While in Saint Petersburg, Chamanzaminli wrote his novel Jannatin gabzi ("A Pass to Heaven").[1]
In 1910 Chamanzaminli was admitted to the Saint Vladimir University in Kiev to study law. When World War I broke out, the students and staff of the university were transferred to Saratov (Volga region of Russia), where Chamanzaminli graduated in 1915. For a while he worked at the judiciary chamber of Saratov and later travelled to Galicia (Central Europe). There, reflecting on the February Revolution in Russia, he wrote Talabalar ("The Students") and 1917-ji ilda ("In the year 1917"). In late 1917 he returned to Kiev to establish an Azeri cultural association. In 1918 he was chosen to represent the newly-established Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in the Ukrainian People's Republic. As a result of the Civil War, he moved to Simferopol, Crimea where he worked as a judiciary advisor. There he published his research work Lithuanian Tatars dedicated to the history and culture of Lipka Tatars. Alongside he popularized Azeri culture by publishing related articles in the local newspapers. Then until the fall of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in 1920 he served as an Azerbaijani ambassador to Turkey and continued to write and publish books and articles on the history, georgraphy, economy and culture of Azerbaijan. After Sovietization, Chamanzaminli left for France where his younger brother Mir Abdulla was studying at the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris.
Unable to find a job in his field, Chamanzaminli worked at automobile and locomotive plants in Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine. He also wrote for a local magazine, in a corner entitled Les lettres orientales ("Eastern Letters"). After Mir Abdulla's sudden death, Chamanzaminli applied for a permission to return to Azerbaijan SSR, and was granted it in 1926. Upon his return, he taught languages at Azerbaijani colleges and translated works of Russian writers into Azeri. He took part in the compiling of the 1934 edition of the Russian-Azeri Dictionary. In 1937 he was laid off for unclear reasons and arrested in 1940. Condemned on fabricated charges, he was exiled to the prisoners camp in the Sukhobezvodnaya station, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia, where he died three years later[2].
[edit] References
- ^ Yusif Vazir Chamanzaminli by Hasan Guliyev. Azerigallery.com
- ^ Yusif Vazir Chamanzaminli: Biography
