Greetings, my dear reader! This time, the hero of our conversation is the writer of the word and national identity that stretches from history to the future, the historian and scholar Yunus Oguz! As one of the writers who brought a new breath to the historical novel genre in modern Azerbaijani literature and combined historiography with artistic thought on the same plane, Yunus Oguz is not only an author of novels but also a thinker who maintains an analytical attitude toward history and explores the scientific and artistic foundations of national identity. In his works, history is presented not as a simple description of past events, but as a moral school that determines the ideological directions of the future. In this respect, Yunus Oguz’s work has formed a special direction in Azerbaijani prose. Although he enriches historical facts with the possibilities of artistic imagination, he never moves away from the truth. In the writer’s works, the political, cultural, and moral reasons behind events are revealed with an analytical view. Precisely for this reason, his novels are of interest both as literary and historical sources.
I have mentioned this many times in all my conversations with very different audiences and in most of my writings. Yunus Oguz, besides being one of the prominent representatives of modern Azerbaijani literature, is one of the masters of the word who stands out with his own signature and style. His place among the world’s general writers is among master artists such as Tabari, Mahmud Kashgari, Leo Tolstoy, Yevgeny Tarle, Vasily Yan, and Mammad Said Ordubadi. This opinion is not accidental. Because Yunus Oguz does not just narrate history; he thinks about history, researches it, and presents it to new generations as national memory.
When looking at Yunus Oguz’s work, it is clear that for him, history is not just the past. History is the beginning of self-discovery. The writer’s characters are also personalities who fight for national identity.
In his historical novels, the author presents events not only through the political panorama of the era but also through the prism of national-moral values. This feature distinguishes him from classical chroniclers.
The main feature that distinguishes him as a writer from his predecessors and successors is that he does not approach either history or the events we witness solely from the position of a dry artistic chronicler. In all the text samples he has written, the position of an analytical approach to the subject emerges prominently, confirming the past and organizing the future. This very sentence is one of the most accurate scientific characteristics of Yunus Oguz’s work.
As a master of history and political science, Yunus Oguz has also managed to convey useful information about the art of war in his chronicles, which cover a very wide spectrum from “The Turk Ethnonym and Customs” to “Cığır” (The Path), spanning from ancient times to the present day.
Yunus Oguz is not just an author of novels. His research on Turkic history is among the noteworthy examples of Turkology.
The book “The Turk Ethnonym and Customs,” published in 2025, emerged as the result of the author’s many years of research. In the book, the author extensively explores the etymology of the word “Turk,” its forms of usage in ancient sources, the essence of Turkic customs, ancient statehood traditions, and the national legal system.
Academician Nizami Jafarov writes in the foreword:
“Yunus Oguz is an author who tries to shed light on the dark, controversial aspects of Turkic history not only with his famous novels but also with his academic research and scientific-journalistic writings.”
In his work, the author explores the meaning that the “Turk” ethnonym carries not only in terms of language but also in terms of statehood and culture: “When a nation does not know its history or does not want to learn it, it makes numerous mistakes…”
This idea is actually the key to the book’s concept. The author believes that the most basic way to preserve national identity is a correct view of history.
One of the most interesting chapters of the book is dedicated to ancient Turkic customs:
“…the meaning of ‘töre’ (custom) means the one who stands above you, the one who sits at the head of the hearth… the unwritten legal rules that determine political, social, religious, economic, and other issues in society are called ‘töre’.” This approach shows that the author connects ancient Turkic statehood not only with military power but also with a legal-moral system.
The other advantage of the book is that it allocates a separate place to the role of the Turkic woman in society. The activities of historical figures such as Tomris, Turkan Khatun, and Momine Khatun are presented as an integral part of Turkic statehood traditions.
Nurtured and fed by the ancient Turkic ‘töre’, the writer’s spirit, having cooked and matured in the blending of historical and political knowledge, has gained the opportunity to realize his ideas and thoughts about the art of war, and his messages for future generations, in “Cığır” – the artistic chronicle of Victory. His sentence, which he said with great pride and responsibility in front of the Victorious Supreme Commander-in-Chief Mr. Ilham Aliyev during his first visits to Shusha – “…I am writing in Shusha…” – has taken its magnificent and honorable place among the historical sayings written in golden letters in our literary history from that moment on.
One of the works that occupies a special place in Yunus Oguz’s work is the historical novel “Cığır”.
This novel has already become not just a work of fiction, but a spiritual chronicle of modern Azerbaijani history.
Yunus Oguz had to write about the victory, our glorious Victory, and Shusha… This example became “Cığır”. Personally, I heard the announcement of the novel in Shusha in the presence of the architect of our glorious Victory, the Victorious Supreme Commander-in-Chief, from the author’s own mouth… Yunus Oguz appeared before my eyes as one of the chronicler scribes who were with the conquerors.
Yes, this comparison is not accidental. Throughout history, there have been chroniclers beside great victories who conveyed them to future generations. One of those chroniclers of modern Azerbaijan is Yunus Oguz. Yunus Oguz is one of the writers who writes history with his pen, confirmed by history. “Cığır” is a high peak among his series of historical novels, pure as the air of Shusha, winding as its roads, and steep as its rocks. In the novel “Cığır”, the author does not just describe the events that took place. He also predicts future political processes based on historical logic.
Many of the arrangements Yunus Oguz made in the novel, relying on history, were realized in a short time. Today, our flag is already waving in Khankendi. This idea is an important indicator of how strong the writer’s historical thinking is.
The novel “Cığır” is not just the success of one writer, but of the entire Azerbaijani historical novel school. It is a work worthy of the highest awards. As “Yazarlar” (Writers), on behalf of the community of writers and soldiers who have gone through the path of war and know what trench life means, we award our dear Yunus Oguz with the “Writer of the Century” award for the novel “Cığır”. May it be auspicious! Of course, Yunus Oguz is a writer worthy of much more. He has been awarded from time to time by various independent institutions of the Turkic world. And this process continues uninterruptedly.
Such works serve the formation of national memory and for this very reason, they should receive their due appreciation.
I hope that one of the next pieces of news will be about “Cığır” being awarded the State Prize.
Yunus Oguz’s work is not limited only to the borders of Azerbaijan. Just as he is known in Azerbaijan, he is also famous in Turkey, Uzbekistan, and other countries where our compatriots live. For example, in Uzbekistan, Yunus Oguz is known and loved at least as much as he is in Azerbaijan. Yunus Oguz is a common thinker and beloved writer of the Turkic world. His works reflect the views of an author who thinks about the common history, common memory, and common future of the Turkic world.
Historical novels, scientific research, journalistic writings, and the idea of Turkism together make Yunus Oguz a special school in modern Azerbaijani literature. The main idea of this school is simple: A nation that knows its history writes its own future. When talking about Yunus Oguz’s historiography, Academician Nizami Jafarov notes that history is learned in two ways: academic historiography. Sometimes this is also called cell historiography or university historiography. Here, more academism, facts, schemes, and models are taught. History is not interfered with; it is presented as it is as much as possible. This historiography is completely different. And then there is learning history dynamically from literature and novels. Yunus Oguz’s historiography is very dynamic. There is historical chronology in Yunus Oguz’s historical novels and historical plays (“Attila”) and in his work in general. In his novel dedicated to Amir Teymur, Yunus Oguz tries to evaluate Amir Teymur’s historical role in the Turkic world in general and also connect it with Azerbaijan. I have witnessed (N. Jafarov has said this many times) that even in Tashkent, during the presentation and discussion of this novel at an event attended by the most famous historians of Uzbekistan, Yunus Oguz managed to maintain his position and, in a certain sense, make his ideas accepted. Nizami Jafarov, who appreciates Yunus Oguz’s work “Nadir Shah” more, notes that the Nadir Shah period has always been presented in Azerbaijani historiography as a period of fragmentation and contradictions. Nadir Shah has not been viewed as a positive commander. There has been more talk about it as a destructive, artificial empire after the Safavids. But with the work “Nadir Shah”, Yunus Oguz substantiates that Nadir Shah had an irreplaceable role in the creation of the ethnic, political, and geographical landscape created by our modern Azerbaijani history.
National Press and Journalism Day in Azerbaijan – July 22nd is the birthday of the well-known writer, history researcher, publicist, and tireless researcher of the Turkic world, Yunus Oguz. It is as if the Almighty gifted the pen itself to the writer who opened his eyes to the world on this day of the calendar, writing him into the ranks of those born as writers.
On such a significant day, when looking at his work, it is clear that Yunus Oguz is not just a novelist. He is a thinker standing guard over national memory. His works teach the past, make one think about the present, and instill faith in the future.
Victory novels like “Cığır”, scientific-journalistic research like “The Turk Ethnonym and Customs”, and works that bring a new look to our ancient history show that Yunus Oguz is both a historian-writer and one of the modern carriers of the philosophy of national identity in Azerbaijani literature.
On the occasion of his birthday, we wish Yunus Oguz robust health, new creative successes, and that the scientific and artistic path he has started for the sake of the common history and national memory of the Turkic world continues with new substantial works. Because such owners of the pen do not just write books – they build spiritual bridges that carry the nation’s historical memory to the future. Thank you for being an interlocutor until the end. For now, goodbye!
Zaur Ustac,
Editor-in-chief of “Yazarlar” magazine,
Member of AVMVIB, AJB and AYB
22.06.2026. Shusha – 22.07.2026. Baku