Remembering Agaoglu, co-founder of political Turkism

By Aydin Balayev

Doctor of history

May 19 marks the 75th anniversary of the death of Ahmad bay Agaoglu, one of the phenomenal and brightest persons Azerbaijan has seen in its modern history, an outstanding thinker and scholar who co-founded the ideology of Turkism.

The late 19th and early 20th centuries were the “Golden Age” of Azerbaijan’s history. It was a period of national revival with a whole host of outstanding personalities in various fields. Suffice it to remember Hasan bay Zardabi, Ali bay Huseynzada, Uzeyir bay Hacibayov, Calil Mammadquluzada, Mirza Alakbar Sabir, Huseyin Arablinksi and founders of the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan.

With his erudition and intelligence, Ahmad bay Agaoglu stood out even among these outstanding representatives of the political and intellectual elite of the early twentieth century. With all due respect to Mammad Amin Rasulzada, Alimardan bay Topcubasov, Fatli xan Xoyski and Nasib bay Yusifbayov – the people whom were owe the birth of the Azerbaijani state – we must acknowledge that all of their efforts were aimed at addressing a "local" problem , i.e. reconstruction and renewal of Azerbaijani society.

Ahmad bay Agaoglu, who had received his education in France, had the ability to think more globally and systematically. He was aware of the fact that Azerbaijan is part of the Islamic world, which is why, it was almost impossible to successfully reform Azerbaijani society without breaking its long-standing traditions and ties with eastern societies.

Therefore, Ahmad bay was destined to become one of the first major modernizers of not only Azerbaijani society but also the entire Muslim Turkic world.

Ahmad bay was a staunch supporter of the idea of changing centuries-old values and lifestyle of the traditional Muslim society by reforming it in line with modern requirements. All his life, he sought a way out out of the deep and systematic crisis Muslim Turks had been facing, and to create favorable conditions for them to quickly catch up with the Western world in terms of development and ultimately take their due place in the world civilization. 

At the same time, Ahmad bay had no doubt that Turkic peoples will be the driving force of modernization of the Islamic world. In his opinion, Turks were the most civilized people in Asia after the Japanese.

In this context, it is not surprising that Ahmad bay is seen as one of the co-founders of political Turkism along with Yusif Akcura and Ali bay Huseynzada. The deeply secularist ideology of political Turkism irrevocably turned Turkic peoples away from Mecca and to Altay.

It must be remembered that Ahmad bay Agaoglu held a more consistent and principled stance on the Europeanization of the Muslim Turkic peoples. It is not by chance that Mammadamin Rasulzada called him the “most serious ideologist” of the movement of Europeanization in the Middle East. 

In his works, Agaoglu says it is sometimes difficult to determine whether he belongs to the East, with which he was connected with their roots, or the West, which he knew and favored. 

Agaoglu described his status as "inner drama and tragedy" because he could not make a definitive choice between East and West.

So, he saw the organic synthesis of the socio-political, philosophical and aesthetic thought of the West with the best traditions of the East as a way out of this situation for himself and for the entire Turkic world. Agaoglu practically dedicated all his life to achieving this target.

Bakudaily.az