You, Me, Him and the Telephone

A Short Story by:

Anar Rizayev

Translated by Vafa Talyshly and prepared for web by Arzu Aghayeva in 2001

Telephone numbers aren’t all alike.

But there are human voices at the end of all of them…

Bad days aren’t all alike,

Sometimes it is you who remains silent;

Sometimes, the telephone.

—Vagif Samadoghlu

انجومنین بیرینجی بولتنی

انجومنیمیزین بیرینجی بولتنی نشر اولونموشدور. اونو بورادان یئندیرین.‏

نخستین بولتن انجمن ما با مقالات، شعرها، و داستان‌هایی به ترکی آذربایجانی، فارسی، و ‏انگلیسی منتشر شده‌است. آن را از این نشانی دریافت کنید.‏

The first issue of our Bulletin with articles, poems, and stories in Azeri, Farsi, and English ‎has been published. Please download it from here.‎

Anket Anketov

Mir Jalal
‎(1932)‎

From the day that Anketov was appointed as Chief of the United Bath ‎Houses, people stood outside his office, waiting to make their appeals to ‎him. Sometimes there was a long queue - someone complaining about his ‎boss, another asking for a raise, another wanting to change positions, ‎another wanting to study at the university while another wanted to take a ‎vacation at a health resort.‎

The Case of Sakineh Ashtiani

International Women's Day

Leila Mojtahedi

Violations of Human Rights and Issues of Equity in the Islamic ‎Republic of Iran:

The Case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani

Ashtiani’s own mother tongue is officially banned in Iran. Is it any wonder then, that she cannot ‎understand the court proceedings and the content of the verdict which has condemned her to ‎death by stoning? Compounding the problem is the overt use of Arabic terms and concepts in ‎Iran’s legal discourse. Arabic terms like “rajm” are drawn from classic Islamic jurisprudence and ‎Sharia literature. It is hard enough for an average Iranian citizen to make sense of such terms, let ‎alone an oppressed woman like Ashtiani whose own mother tongue is banned in her country.

An Azerbaijani American in Baku

Farzin Farzad

Every morning I pass by an impressive statue on my walk to campus. The protagonist is a ‎commanding figure, riding his horse through the clouds, pointing his scimitar toward the sky. It ‎stands on a tall stone base that pushes the total height to about 23 meters (25 yards). It ‎commands attention.

اکرم آیلیسلی‌نین آزادلیغی‌نی قورویون!‏

دونیا قلم انجومنی چاغیریر:‏
آذربایجان حکومتینه آذربایجان دیلینده یا اؤز دیلینیزده یازین و اکرم آیلیسلی و عائیله‌سینی هده‌له‌‌ین‌لره اعتراض ائدین! ‏آذربایجان حکومتینیدن اونو و عائیله‌سینی قوروماغی ایسته‌یین!‏
اونا یازدیغی سؤزلر اوزره قویولدوغو جزا تدبیرلرینه سون قویولسون!‏

آرتیق خبرلر و آدرسلری بورادا اوخویون.‏

Dünya PEN-i çağırır:‎
Əkrəm Aylislinin azadlığını qoruyun!‎
Azərbaycan hökumətinə azərbaycan dilində ya öz dilinizdə yazın və Əkrəm Aylisli və ailəsini ‎hədələyənlərə etiraz edin! Azərbaycan hökumətindən onu və ailəsini qorumağı istəyin!‎
Ona yazdığı sözlər üzrə qoyulduğu cəza tədbirlərinə son qoyulsun!‎

Artıq xəbərlər və adresləri burada oxuyun.

PEN International: Please write immediately in Azerbaijani or your own language:‎
‎• Protesting the threats against Akram Aylisli and urging the Azerbaijani authorities to provide ‎him and his family with protection against attack.
‎• Urging that there be an investigation into any person threatening Aylisli and that those ‎found responsible be brought to prosecution.
‎• End the harassment and penalties imposed against Akram Aylisli linked to his writings.‎

Address, etc. here.‎

The tragedy of the Azerbaijani Ethnic Minority

Farzin Farzad

We are divided. We are a community that escaped religious indoctrination, racism, and the systematic and social eradication of our language, culture, and our identity.

We arrived at the doorstep of the “land of free” to take advantage of all of the liberal economic and social policies that America’s forefathers enshrined in the Constitution. We developed into wealthy, highly-educated, elite members of American society and broke free from a theocratic experiment that is tantamount to a prison on a grand scale. Yet somehow we still can’t seem to formulate who we are. We remain in the most tragic prison of all, in an identity crisis. Are we American, Iranian, or Azerbaijani?

Shah the Butcher!

Alireza Asgharzadeh

A condensed and free translation of Səməd Vurğun’s “Cəllad!”

Hey Butcher!
Don’t you know?
The pile upon pile of books you’re burning
Are signs of a thousand creativities?
Are desires & hopes of a thousand hearts?