Poet Vahabzadeh reiterates love for Turkey before death

The late Azerbaijani poet Bakhtiyar Vahabzadeh, who died on Friday at the age of 84, highlighted his love for Turkey and the Turkish people one last time during a recent meeting with Professor Ahmet Saniç, the Turkish rector of Baku-based Qafqaz (Caucasus) University, who visited the late poet at his home just days before his death.
“I love Turkey and the Turkish people very much,” Vahabzadeh told Saniç during the visit, which was one of Vahabzadeh’s last meetings before his death, the Cihan news agency has reported.
Vahabzadeh, a prominent poet revered not just in his homeland but throughout the Turkic-speaking part of the world, died on Friday at his home in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku. He had been in poor health for the last few months, news agencies said.
A farewell ceremony for Vahabzadeh, who received the honorary title of Azerbaijani People’s Poet in 1985, was held Saturday at Baku State University and was followed by his burial in the Alley of Honor, the Azeri Press Agency (APA) reported. Azerbaijani President İlham Aliyev, government and state officials, prominent figures from cultural circles and intellectuals were among the mourners who attended the ceremony, APA said.
Top-level Turkish politicians expressed their condolences over Vahabzadeh’s death over the weekend. President Abdullah Gül, in a message to President Aliyev, said the death of Vahabzadeh was a great loss for not only the Turkic world but for the entire world of literature. “He served as a bridge between the countries and communities of the Turkic world. Vahabzadeh will always be remembered with respect as one of the most outstanding names in literature and will live on through his work,” Gül said. Renowned poet, scholar and essayist Vahabzadeh was born in Shaki in northwestern Azerbaijan in 1925. He moved to Baku in 1934 and studied philology at Baku State University. He became an assistant at the same department and completed his doctorate, writing his thesis on famous Azerbaijani poet Samed Vurgun. He served for many years at the same university as a professor of contemporary Azerbaijani literature, and he also served as a deputy in the Azerbaijani parliament from 1995 to 2000.
Vahabzadeh published over 70 books of poetry, 11 scholarly books, more than 20 long poems and hundreds of articles on literature. He was mainly popular in Turkey for his article “Yel Kaya’dan Ne Aparır?” (What Does the Wind Steal from the Stone?), which was published in the Varlık literary journal in reply to critics of the divan poet Fuzuli.
Vahabzadeh’s articles and poems also appeared in the Turkish review magazine Türk Edebiyatı for years. Besides poetry, Vahabzadeh also penned stories in verse and plays and made literary translations. He wrote numerous lyrics, many of which were set to music, and wrote plays such as “İkinci Ses” (The Second Voice), “Yağışdan Sonra” (After the Rain), “Artığ Adam” (Waste Man) and “Vicdan” (Conscience).
His works have been translated into Russian, English, French, German, Persian and Spanish as well as into Turkic languages and the languages of the former Soviet republics. He received the Commodore Medal of the Romanian Ministry of Culture in 2002 for his poetry book “Benim Garibim” (My Poor).
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