Bekir Vaap oğlu Çoban-zade (pronounced ,

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

: Беки́р Ваа́пович Чоба́н-заде́; – 13 October 1937) was a Crimean Tatar poet and professor of

Turkic languages The Turkic languages are a language family of over 35 documented languages, spoken by the Turkic peoples of Eurasia from Eastern Europe and Southern Europe to Central Asia, East Asia, North Asia (Siberia), and Western Asia. The Turkic l ...

who was one of the victims of the

Great Purge The Great Purge or the Great Terror (russian: Большой террор), also known as the Year of '37 (russian: 37-й год, translit=Tridtsat sedmoi god, label=none) and the Yezhovshchina ('period of Yezhov'), was Soviet General Secreta ...

. In the midst of a successful academic career, at the age of 44, Çoban-zade was arrested by

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

authorities for alleged subversive activities against the state and was sentenced to death. His writings have outlived him; his poetry, in particular, continues to enjoy popularity among Crimean Tatars.

Biography

Çoban-zade was born in a family of humble origins in the village near Qarasubazar,

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a p ...

. He was born with one red eye. His father was a shepherd ("çoban" in Crimean Tatar), and his last name means 'son of shepherd'. As a young boy, he helped his father herd the sheep, and these early experiences in the countryside left a lasting impression on the sensitive boy. Many of his poems are replete with descriptions of Crimean pastoral scenes. He received his early education in

and

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

. In 1916, he went to

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

to enroll at the

Pázmány Péter Catholic University Pázmány Péter Catholic University (PPCU) ( hu, Pázmány Péter Katolikus Egyetem (''PPKE'')) is a private university in and near Budapest, Hungary, belonging to the Catholic Church and recognized by the state. Founded in 1635, the PPCU is ...

and received his Ph.D. in 1919. After he returned to Crimea, he taught

Crimean Tatar language Crimean Tatar () also called Crimean (), is a Kipchak Turkic language spoken in Crimea and the Crimean Tatar diasporas of Uzbekistan, Turkey, Romania, and Bulgaria, as well as small communities in the United States and Canada. It sh ...

and literature at the

Crimean Tatar Pedagogical Institute The Crimean Tatar Pedagogical Institute (), also known as Totayköy Pedagogical Institute (), was a Crimean Tatar university which existed from 1922 to 1931. Originally located in Totayköy (now ), the institute moved to Simferopol, after two ye ...

Simferopol Simferopol () is the second-largest city in the Crimean Peninsula. The city, along with the rest of Crimea, is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine, and is considered the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. However, it is u ...

(Aqmescit) and later accepted the chair of Turkology at the Crimean University (now known as Taurida National University) in 1922. Early in 1925, he moved to

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

to become professor of

Turkology Turkology (or Turcology or Turkic studies) is a complex of humanities sciences studying languages, history, literature, folklore, culture, and ethnology of people speaking Turkic languages and Turkic peoples in chronological and comparative conte ...

at the

Baku State University Baku State University (BSU) ( az, Bakı Dövlət Universiteti (BDU)) is a public university located in Baku, Azerbaijan. Established in 1919 by the Parliament of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the university started with faculties of history an ...

. He had a remarkable facility with languages. In January 1937, Çoban-zade was placed on leave without pay by an order of the

Soviet Academy of Sciences The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991, uniting the country's leading scientists, subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (until 1946 ...

and subsequently arrested. During a 20-minute trial, he was found guilty and condemned to death. He was executed on October 13, 1937. Twenty years after his death, in response to an appeal from Çobanzade's wife, a military court of the USSR reversed the decision against him. The court declared that the charges against Çoban-zade were baseless.

External links

Fond Bekir Çoban-zadeInternational Committee for Crimea
A Crimean Tatar Poet and Turkic Scholar {{DEFAULTSORT:Coban-zade, Bekir 1893 births 1937 deaths People from Bilohirsk Raion People from Taurida Governorate Crimean Tatar writers Linguists from Ukraine Great Purge victims from Ukraine Academics of Baku State University Crimean Tatar people executed by the Soviet Union Executed writers Soviet rehabilitations 20th-century linguists

Biography

See also

Further reading

External links