“I was declared an ‘enemy of the people’ and threatened with exile.”

May 19 and 20Ganja State Drama Theater will visit Baku for two days. A performance of Nushaba Mammadli’s drama “Javad khan” directed by Ganja theater Asgar Askerov will take place in the building of the Musical Theater. That is, the play will have its Baku premiere.

Before the premiere, the author of the historical drama “Javad Khan”, journalist-publicist, writer-dramatist Nushaba Mammadli shares her thoughts with the readers of Pressklub.az.

– You started writing in journalism and became a newspaper editor in Ganja. She according to First of all, I am pleased to talk to my master colleague…

– Thank you very much. I also enjoy reading your articles.

– Thank you. Ms. Nushaba, am I not mistaken in saying that the Javad khan incident is the main line of your work? Before this drama, your story about him “Green grass sprouts” was published, and then your book “Javad khan” was published.

– Indeed, “Javad khan” is my main work. He has always been a cult in our family. My father’s great-grandfather Asad worked in the office of Mirza Javad khan. My ancestors were both witnesses and participants in the great history of Azerbaijan. I heard about Javad khan as a child. The words of my father, and later of my brother Murshud Mammadli, of whom I have always been proud, were etched in my mind.

I remember, in 1981, I saw Javad khan in a dream. I saw it that, he hands me a book. When I try to pick up this book, it turns to sand and almost falls to the ground. Javad khan captures it and does not allow it to scatter and extends it to me in book form. I’m getting this book and I wake up. Then I understood that, I have to write a work about Javad khan. And I also wrote. First a play, then a story and and finally, the novel. I suffered a lot about the play. Even people who sympathized with me considered Javad khan an enemy and considered him a black spot in our history. Soviet ideology had done its job. It was as if I had been subjected to moral terror. In desperation, he was a leader in Ganja, an ideological secretary of the Central Committee, and very patriotic and I sent the drama “Javad khan” to Hasan Hasanov, a patriotic man. I said when I sent that, If my work is bad, throw it away. If so, please help. Teacher Hasan knew me from Ganja. At that time, I was a journalist at the Kirovabadsky Rabochi newspaper. A few days later I called him and he said he liked the work and said he would defend. I was very happy. However, the play was staged in 1991 at the Ganja State Theater. Then I was supported by Elmira Aliyeva, a theater critic and head of the department at the Ministry of Culture, whom I remember very much.

– If I am not mistaken, what you have written is the primary source about Javad khan in Azerbaijani literature. So where did you learn the source, the historical facts, that is, where did you find it? Did you work only in the archives, or did the people of Ganja have oral stories?

– As I said, from the conversations about Javad khan and and from Dubrovin’s History of the Russian War in the Caucasus. I am proud that, For the first time I wrote a work about our great hero Javad khan.

– You are not related to Javad Khan?

– No, I have no relatives.

– The performance of “Javad khan” was staged in Ganja theater in 1991. Which structure do you like best?

– Both are good performances. In 1991, my brother Murshud Mammadli asked Polad Bulbuloglu that, The play “Javad khan” should be performed. Elmira Aliyeva was also very supportive in this work. Murshud has supported me all my life. He also delivered my first book to Bakhtiyar Vahabzade. Teacher Bakhtiar also blessed me.

– Why wasn’t a film about him based on your work?

– Be patient Rustamkhanli read my novel “Javad khan”. He called me before the film was made and said that, read the work with admiration and said he wanted to use this work. I told him too that, if he uses it, then let my name be in the script. He did not agree. There was a scandal between us.

– Be patient Did Rustamkhanli benefit from your work in his novel about Javad khan?

– I think Be patient the teacher did not use my work in the novel.

– You also have a very important public activity, the Tomris Society, which you founded in the 90s, still lives?

– Tomris for Progress is still active. During the war, we helped the wounded and the families of martyrs.

– You have an honorary title and awards in journalism, literature and culture. You don’t think so that, Does living in Ganja – a provincial city – limit your activities or keep it in the background?

– I do not think so that, Ganja was a provincial city. Ganja is the western capital of our republic, the capital of Mard. And again that, provincialism is in the mind, in the brain. For me, Ganja is the most precious place. I’m comfortable here.

– You were the first to make a proposal to return the historical name of Ganja.

– February 13, 1987 was the congress of the Union of Journalists of Azerbaijan. I was sitting in the Presidium, behind the leadership. First Secretary Kamran Bagirov, Secretary of the Central Committee Ramiz Ahmadov, Chairman of the Union of Journalists Haji Hajiyev sat in front, I was close to them. I worked as a deputy editor of the Kirovabadskiy rabochiy newspaper. There were representatives from Moscow, press officials. Haji teacher told me that, We want to build a house for journalists in Zugulba, it would be good if you raise this issue. I said, well. It was as if a rebellion had broken out inside me that, after all, I wanted to speak about the return of Ganja’s name. My grandfather was killed in the Ganja uprising in 1920. This uprising is written in golden letters in our history. To the Bolshevik dictatorship snowIt was the largest uprising in the world, killing about 30,000 people. Kirov is one of the perpetrators of that massacre and giving his name to our city was an insult to me personally.

I said when I was promised that, We have many historical figures from Ganja, but the name of their hometown is not on the map. I want that, Let the name of Ganja be restored, it is our spiritual capital. There was thunderous applause. Kamran Bagirov, who did not sit down, slapped his hand on the table and he said that, As you applaud, the enemy of the people is sitting among us. He said that whoever directed this enemy here, we will clarify it and give the necessary punishment. He made a very fiery speech, and the hall applauded even louder than before. One or two people also stood up and spoke that, If Nizami Ganjavi himself were alive, he wanted the city to be called Kirovabad. Believe me, my ears were ringing and my head was spinning. May God have mercy on my slave Mammadli, he stood up and said in a low voice that, 20We had a daughter named Fitna, who was deported to Siberia. I do not want to put this girl on the day of Fitna.

When I took a break, writer Khalida Hasilova and Mammad Alim were with me. I was waiting for a lot of support from a writer that, Shame on you, you did what he said. You don’t know that, culture to us, Nizami Ganjavi Russia Forgive and owe them?

Two months before that incident, there were protests in Kazakhstan, where troops were deployed and massacred. I was tied to Kazakhstan that, As if I have relatives in exile, I work on their behalf. They even wanted to open the grave of my father, who was buried in Imzamzadeh cemetery in 1981, the commission came, in fact, his father was buried here, or he still lives in Kazakhstan.

My mother-in-law was a relative of Omar Faiq Nemanzadeh, their relatives were in exile there, I did not know them at all. No one from my family was there. They wanted to open a criminal case against me. Then Bakhtiyav Vahabzadeh came to Ganja, called a meeting, gathered everyone, and said, “I will cry for the mother of the one who hit Nushaba.” He said kind words about me. Khalil Rza also helped me a lot. He came to Ganja, I felt behind him. I understood that, Not everyone was a zombie, and if these people were in that hall, they wouldn’t be able to leave me alone. Somehow, those days are over.

– I was very impressed, Ms. Nushaba. Have you continued the path of your grandfather in this form, be there. Let’s get to your creativity. Your works have been translated into different languages, but they are not widespread enough in Azerbaijan, why?

– I do not know.

– What are you doing now, what are you working on?

– I am currently working on a play about our independent poet Ahmad Javad. And I ask God Almighty to delay this work.