FIRUDIN BEY KOCHARLI AND THE ARMENIAN PLAGIARISM

Abstract

In the article it is shown that the SMOMPK collection of the Caucasus Department of Education published in Tbilisi since from 1881 in the 41st edition of the journal in 1910 the article by prominent educational figure, literary critic and folklorist Firudin Bey Kocharli entitled “Valeh’s song” was published. As it is seen from the title of this article that it is dedicated to Ashig Valeh, one of the outstanding artists of the 18th century.

After talking about the religious and philosophical nature of ashiq art, F.Kocharli writes that it was appropriated by an ashuq with Armenian origin named Khoylu Vartan. He said that this song was not composed by an Armenian poet, but was done by any tatar (Azerbaijani) poet. In his study F.Kocharli men­tio­ned that the former teacher of Yerevan Gymnasium S.Zelinsky had translated this poem into Russian and published it in the 2nd edition of the SMOMPK collection in 1882.

F.Kocharli returned to the issue of the Armenian citation after a pause and appealed again. Thus, in 1922 his book “Gift to the children” was published. In the short preface written by the author to this book it is said about the problems such as protection of the language, folklore of Azerbaijani culture and so on. Here, as if addressing the people of Azerbaijan, the intelligentsia, representatives of the younger generation, he calls on them to pay attention and care to our national culture and folklore. F.Kocharli does not forget to say the following words about Khoylu Vartan. “The verse spoken by Khoylu Vartan by heart was composed in the dialect of Azerbaijani Turks”. With this speech F.Kocharli once again exposed the Armenian citation confirming that the author of the work was not Khoylu Vartan, but most likely Ashiq Valeh.