First All-Union Turkological Congress

After Azerbaijan was annexed by Russia, the issue of alphabet reform in the Near East was initially raised by the prominent Azerbaijani intellectual and educator Mirza Fatali Akhundov. However, his efforts in this direction did not yield results. In subsequent periods, Ismail Gasprinsky, Uzeyir Hajibeyov, Jalil Mammadguluzadeh, Mammad agha Shahtakhtinski, Firidun bey Kocharli, Veli Khuluflu, and Huseyn Javid also engaged in fruitful activities in this direction. The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic also considered alphabet reform, but its 23-month "life" did not allow for addressing this crucial issue. After Azerbaijan was Sovietized, this issue became even more relevant. As early as 1922, under the chairmanship of Nariman Narimanov, a "Transition to the Latin Alphabet" committee was established in Baku. This process received special attention not only from Baku scholars but also from Turkologists working in other scientific centers of the Soviet Union at that time. Already in 1922, under the leadership of Jalil Mammadguluzadeh, the newspaper "Yeni Yol" was published using the Latin alphabet. In the same year, the "New Turkic Alphabet" committee was created, with Samed Agamalioglu, the chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Azerbaijan SSR, leading it. Even on 20 October 1923, the Azerbaijani government issued a decision to adopt the New Turkic Alphabet as the state alphabet. However, both the Latin script and the Arabic script were still in use. Preparation for the congress In August 1925, the All-Union Turkology Congress was convened by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union. The issue of convening the congress had been submitted to the Soviet leadership by the Azerbaijan SSR government a year earlier. The necessity of resolving issues related to the transition to the Latin alphabet had been raised six months before the Soviet government's decision to convene the Turkology Congress, during the 1st Azerbaijani Local Oriental Studies Congress and at the sessions of the Soviet Academy of Sciences and the Union of Orientalists of the Soviet Union. The preparation for the convening of the Congress was organized by the organizing commission, established by the decision of the Soviet People's Commissars of the USSR. The commission included Samad Aghamalioglu (chairman), M. Pavlovich, Habib Jabiyev, Vasily Bartold, Aleksandr Martynov, Djelal ed-Din Korkmasov, G. Broydo, Tyuryakulov, Zifeld, Fitred, Bekir Çoban-zade, Ashmarin, Odabash, Novshirvano, Ahmet Baitursynuly, and Yusufzade. The organizing commission published the "" (News) to illuminate all the work done in preparation for the All-Union Turkology Congress. == Proceedings of the congress ==

, Ali bey Huseynzade and Salman Mümtaz among the participants of the First Turkological Congress in Baku. In February 1926, the First Turkology Congress commenced its activities at the Ismailiyya Palace in Baku. The Congress saw the participation of 131 delegates, including 20 representatives from the international scientific community, with a total of 17 sessions held. Thirty-eight presentations were delivered on the language, history, ethnogenesis, ethnography, literature, and culture of Turks and the broader Turkic world. Samad aga Agamalioglu, the Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Azerbaijan SSR, presided over the Congress, and the following individuals were elected to the Congress's Presidium: Agamalioglu, Ruhulla Akhundov, Habib Jabiyev, the renowned orientalist-historian academician Vasily Bartold, academician Sergey Oldenburg, the representative of European scholars Professor F. F. Mensel, Naqovitsin from the People's Commissariat of Education of the Russian SFSR, Professor Çoban-zade, Professor Aleksandr Martynov, Baitursynuly from Kazakhstan, Isidor Barahov from Yakutia, Borozdin and Pavloviç from the Oriental Studies Association, Ğälimcan İbrahimov from Tatarstan, İdelquzin from Bashkortostan, Mehmet Fuat Koprulu from Turkey, Korkmasov, Shakircan Rahim from Uzbekistan, Tunstanov from Karakalpakstan, Berdiyev from Turkmenistan, Osman Nuri Akchokraklı from Crimea, and Aliyev Umar from the North Caucasus. Additionally, representatives from Azerbaijan and other republics such as Ali bey Huseynzade, Banq, Mustafa Guliyev, Academician Nikolai Marr, Anatoly Lunacharsky, and Tomsen were chosen as honorary members of the Congress's Presidium. Decisions made at the congress At the First Baku Turkology Congress, the following seven major issues related to Turkic languages were discussed and respective decisions were made, presented by the co-chairman of the organizing committee, Djelal ed-Din Korkmasov: At the First Turkology Congress, the norms and stylistic features of Turkic literary languages, as well as the issue of the ancestral homeland of Turkic peoples, were also discussed. Representatives of the Congress also participated in the 500th anniversary celebration of the prominent Uzbek poet Ali-Shir Nava'i. Although the Congress decided that the Second Turkology Congress would take place in 1927 in the city of Samarkand, this decision did not materialize due to known reasons. Among the decisions made by the Congress, issues such as a common alphabet, a common literary language, and common terminology held a particularly significant place. == Result ==

In 1923, despite the adoption of the New Turkish alphabet as the state alphabet in Azerbaijan, it was only after this congress that the official transition to a unified Latin-script alphabet took place. Before that, the Arabic script was widely used throughout the republic's territory. Based on the decisions of the Congress, on 1 January 1929, the Soviet government officially banned the use of the Arabic alphabet. A large-scale book burning campaign was also conducted with the aim of eradicating this script from memory. By the decision of the Congress, in other Turkic republics that joined the Soviet Union, the Arabic alphabet was replaced by the Latin script. In some Turkic republics, this transition occurred earlier. For instance, on 3 July 1927, the party organization of the Tatarstan Republic officially announced the transition to the "New Alphabet" (Tatar: Jaŋalif). Five years after Azerbaijan SSR switched to the Latin script, the Republic of Turkey also adopted this alphabet. So, as a result of the Congress's decision, all Turkic republics' territories used the Latin script from 1929 to 1939. However, in the late 1930s, the leadership of the Soviet Union initiated efforts to replace the Latin script. The fate of the congress participants In the late 1930s, many participants of the Congress were accused of pan-Turkism, nationalism, counter-revolutionary activities, subjected to repression, and some were killed. Among them were figures like Ruhulla Akhundov, Martynov, Korkmasov, Çoban-zade, Aqçoqraqlı, Baitursynuly, Salman Mumtaz, Isidor Barahov, Hanafi Zeynalli, Hikmet Jevdet-zade, and others. In general, over 100 participants of the Congress faced various forms of repression. == Memory ==

Immediately after the congress, a documentary film about the historic event was produced in Azerbaijan. The film titled "First Turkology Congress" was released in 1926. It discusses the first Turkology Congress held in Azerbaijan for the first time worldwide. The film features the participation of Samad Agamalioglu, Gafar Musabekov, Ali bey Huseynzade, and Huseyn Javid. The movie highlights the proceedings of the Turkology Congress, the adoption of the new Latin alphabet by Turkic peoples, and the unanimous decisions made by the congress on issues related to the literature and language of Turkic peoples. The legal status of the First Turkology Congress in Baku gained national significance in Azerbaijan for the second time in the 20th century after the restoration of its state independence. On 5 November 2005, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on the celebration of the 80th anniversary of this significant historical event, which occurred after the re-establishment of Azerbaijan's independence from the Soviet Union. In accordance with that decree, an international conference dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the First Turkology Congress was held in Baku in 2006. In accordance with the tasks arising from the decree, a plan of events for the commemoration of the jubilee at the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences has been prepared. On 3 March 2016, a joint meeting of the Humanities and Social Sciences Divisions was held under the chairmanship of the First Vice President of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, Academician Isa Habibbayli. During the meeting, instructions were given to the relevant institutes and organizations regarding the proper celebration of the 90th anniversary of the Turkology Congress, and discussions were held on the planned activities in this direction. On 14 and 15 November 2016, an international conference dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the First Turkology Congress was organized in Baku. Prior to this, various events commemorating the 90th anniversary of this significant historical event were held in the institutes and organizations of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, Baku State University, the Azerbaijan Independence Museum, and in Turkey. == See also ==